TheNew Zealand Services cricket team played 35 matches in England during the 1945 season between late May and mid-September.[1]
Only one match, against H.D.G. Leveson-Gower's XI atScarborough, was counted asfirst-class and the team played three times atLord's. Several of the one- and two-day matches were written up inWisden Cricketers' Almanack for 1946. In February 2017, a retrospective account of all known tour games was recorded in the bookOvershadowed: The New Zealand Services Cricket Team in England 1945 by Rob Franks.
The side was captained byKen James, who had toured England as a wicketkeeper with the1927 and1931 New Zealand teams, and played forNorthamptonshire in the late 1930s as a professional. Other former and futureTest players in the team at different times includedStewie Dempster,Ted Badcock,Martin Donnelly,Roger Blunt andAlex Moir.Tom Pritchard, who playedcounty cricket forWarwickshire for several seasons from 1946, was also a member of the New Zealand Services side.
In addition to the former Test cricketers living in England during wartime, a range of players were called upon to join the team, including airmen from RNZAF; sailors from RNZN; ex-POWs and army servicemen based in England during the summer of 1945. Over 20 (former or future) first-class cricketers represented the New Zealand Services team.
The one first-class match against Leveson-Gower's XI was lost by eight wickets. Donnelly scored 100 in the first innings and 86 in the second, and Badcock took six for 166 against a side that included severalEngland Test players. ButLen Hutton scored 188 and though the New Zealanders declared their second innings with the game apparently saved, Leveson-Gower's XI hit 63 in 25 minutes to win.[2]
Rob Franks,Overshadowed: The New Zealand Services Cricket Team in England 1945, 2017