Lives in Cricket No 3 - George Duckworth

Very ambitiously, indeed, in one account, ‘historically’, George Duckworth, organised three tours of the sub-continent with Commonwealth teams. In the aftermath of the granting of independence and the sometimes gory partition of ‘India’ into the Indian and Pakistani states, these were valiant as well as noble enterprises. They had the diplomatic significance of demonstrating the continuing friendliness of the world of cricket, itself almost entirely a facet of the old Empire. Frightening travellers’ tales emerge today in terms of visits to these regions – and this was a generation and more ago. There were ‘pessimistic prophecies’ aired, when the first of these parties of English, Australian and West Indian players embarked on the first of these visits to India, Pakistan and the then Ceylon in 1949/50, barely a year or so after independence. It was so successful that similar tours were planned for 1950/51 and 1953/54, in celebration of the Silver Jubilee of the Indian Board of Control. Once more, the smiling ebullience of the former wicket-keeper shone through, making light of adversity and overcoming many an obstacle. The first occurred when MCC backed out of its undertaking to tour in 1949/50 and Anthony De Mello, the enthusiastic president of the Indian Board of Control, asked George Duckworth to raise a side instead. It is clear that the Indian authorities had faith in this relatively untried administrator. There may have been helpful contacts with George Duckworth during the Indian tour of England of 1946 or through the always acute and international network of professionals playing Lancashire league cricket. What is surprising is that, in an era when communication between the continents was by no means ideal, George Duckworth had the capacity to arrange so complex a venture. While his genius in conjuring up elevens for charity and allied matches both during and after World War II made him an obvious choice as a recruiting officer, especially among league cricketers, De Mello must have been happy to trust him to handle the complications of travel through and around India. The first visit was reported in Wisden as a financial success and the second, when a very strong team was mustered, did equally well. The third, which followed an official England party, captained by Lancashire’s Nigel Howard, in 1952, was less successful. Including the MCC tour, it was the fourth visit in five years, so that some of the sheen may have been lost. This third side, called the ‘Silver Jubilee’ team, was also a weaker, and in terms of personnel, more The Legacy 53