Dominions cricket team

A Dominions cricket team, representing the Dominions of the British Empire, played seven cricket matches, all in England during wartime.^[1] Only once did the team play at first-class level, when it played against England at Lord's in late August 1945. This was the seventh match of first-class status to be played in England since 1939.

All but two of the England team either already had, or would later gain, Test caps, and the other two (Eddie Phillipson and Jack Davies) would play over 150 first-class matches apiece, but the Dominions side was far more uneven in this regard. Such luminaries as Learie Constantine (captaining the team in his final first-class match) and Keith Miller rubbed shoulders with the likes of Hartley Craig for whom this was his only first-class game.

The Dominions won the toss and batted, and Donnelly's 133 helped them to 307 all out; Wright took 5–90. England's reply started badly as they fell to 96/6, but a stand of 177 between captain Hammond (121) and Edrich (78) saw them to 287. In their second innings, the Dominions' total of 336 was massively helped by Miller's 185; Wright claimed 5–105. Chasing 357 to win, 102 from Hammond and 56 from Davies were not enough and they were dismissed for 311; the Dominions thus won by 45 runs.

England team

• Jack Robertson
• Laurie Fishlock
• James Langridge
• Eddie Phillipson
• Billy Griffith (wicket-keeper)
• Wally Hammond (captain)
• Harold Gimblett
• Bill Edrich
• Jack Davies
• Doug Wright
• Eric Hollies

Dominions team

• Hartley Craig ()
• Desmond Fell ()
• Jack Pettiford ()
• Keith Miller ()
• Martin Donnelly ()
• Learie Constantine () (captain)
• Cec Pepper ()
• Bob Cristofani ()
• Graham Williams ()
• Reginald Ellis ()
• Colin Bremner () (wicket-keeper)

References

• England v Dominions in 1945 – scorecard from CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 November 2006.