International Cavaliers

The International Cavaliers were an ad hoc cricket team made up of famous cricketers in order to encourage local cricket. Their teams included many prominent cricketers from the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s as many retired veterans and talented young players were in the team at one point or another. International tours were arranged to South Africa in 1960-61, Africa and India in 1962-63 and the West Indies in 1964-65, 1965-66 and 1969-70.[1] These were usually made up of Test players whose countries were not touring that season (a more common occurrence at the time) or who were not required for their Test side.

In England from 1965 to 1970 Denis Compton and Godfrey Evans arranged 40-over one-day games for the International Cavaliers made up of international and local players against county teams on Sundays, which at the time were always rest days in Test matches and the County Championship. The BBC showed the games on television, providing extra revenue, and the games allowed spectators to see a wide range of famous players at county grounds. In the first season they drew 280,000 spectators, compared to 327,000 on the other six days of the week. [2] Ted Dexter wrote, "We had such an amazing side - Sobers, Compton, Graeme Pollock - I was only able to creep in at 6 or 7. When we went to Lord's for the first time we told them to be ready, there'd be a big crowd. They said 'No, no, there won't'. They sold out of everything by twelve. We took the place by storm."[3]

In 1966 they beat the touring West Indies cricket team by 21 runs, with Compton making 43 and Trevor Bailey taking 3/41,[4] and again by 7 wickets, with Dexter taking 2/42 and making 104,[5] and in 1969 they defeated New Zealand by 38 runs.[6] They also played various other teams, such as the Rest of the World XI, Duke of Norfolk's XI, F.S Trueman's XI, E.R. Dexter's XI and Oxford University Past and Present. They were a financial success and their popularity with the fans led to the increase of limited overs cricket in England. As a result the MCC devised their own limited overs competition, but as the BBC were happy showing the Cavaliers they had to ban county cricketers from playing to get the television rights and a sponsor. After several lawsuits the John Player County League began in 1969, and the Cavaliers were disbanded in 1970.[7]

Famous International Cavaliers Source
Name Country
Neil Adcock  South Africa
Dennis Amiss  England
Trevor Bailey  England
Eddie Barlow  South Africa
Ken Barrington  England
Richie Benaud  Australia
Geoff Boycott  England
Mike Brearley  England
Basil Butcher  Guyana
Chandra Chandrasekhar  India
Brian Close  England
Denis Compton  England
Bevan Congdon  New Zealand
Colin Cowdrey  England
Mike Denness  England
Ted Dexter  England
John Edrich  England
Godfrey Evans  England
Keith Fletcher  England
Roy Fredericks  Guyana
Lance Gibbs  Guyana
Tom Graveney  England
Tony Greig  England
Charlie Griffith  Guyana
Wes Hall  Barbados
John Hampshire  England
Ray Illingworth  England
Rohan Kanhai  Guyana
Alan Knott  England
Jim Laker  England
Denis Lindsay  South Africa
Clive Lloyd  Guyana
Brian Luckhurst  England
Colin McDonald  Australia
Garth McKenzie  Australia
Colin Milburn  England
Hanif Mohammad  Pakistan
Arthur Morris  Australia
Deryck Murray  Trinidad and Tobago
Mushtaq Mohammad  Pakistan
Seymour Nurse  Barbados
Chris Old  England
Norm O'Neill  Australia
The Nawab of Pataudi  India
Pat Pocock  England
Graeme Pollock  South Africa
Peter Pollock  South Africa
John Reid  New Zealand
Barry Richards  South Africa
Lawrence Rowe  Jamaica
Saeed Ahmed  Pakistan
Bobby Simpson  Australia
M.J.K. Smith  England
John Snow  England
Gary Sobers  Barbados
Brian Statham  England
Bert Sutcliffe  New Zealand
Bob Taylor  England
Fred Titmus  England
Fred Trueman  England
Frank Tyson  England
Derek Underwood  England
Willie Watson  England
Everton Weekes  Barbados

Further reading

Notes

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