The West Indies cricket team toured England in the 1906 season. The team played 19 matches between 11 June and 18 August 1906 of which 13 were regarded as first-class.

A somewhat more formal selection process seems to have been followed than for the 1900 tour but the team was still selected by representatives from Barbados, British Guiana and Trinidad. The team was perhaps a little stronger than that of 1900 but two tours to the West Indies in 1901-02 and 1904-05 had shown again that the combined West Indies team was of quite a modest standard compared to English first-class counties. Despite this the same mistake was made as in 1900 and an overly ambitious tour programme was arranged. This included 19 matches, mostly against first-class counties. As in 1900 they suffered a series of heavy defeats early on but later in the tour had some success, particularly in heavily defeating Yorkshire. The first-class teams fielded somewhat weakened sides to make the matches more competitive but the early defeats had again limited public interest.

Sydney Smith was the star all-rounder of the team in the early matches but he later lost form, especially his batting. He was particularly effective against the minor teams. Richard Ollivierre and Oliver Layne also performed as useful all-rounders. Percy Goodman, Bertie Harragin, Lebrun Constantine, George Challenor and Harold Austin all batted well on occasions. Harragin missed a number of matches through injury. Austin was perhaps a disappointment. As in 1900 the Jamaican players did little.

Tommie Burton left the tour early. No reason for this is given in contemporary publications but it is reported that his tour "ended in acrimony when he was sent home after refusing to carry out menial duties for white members of the side.

Touring team

Since the first tour to England in the summer of 1900 there had been two further tours by English teams to the West Indies. These were the tours captained by Richard Bennett in 1901–02 and by Lord Brackley in 1904–05. The selection of the West Indies team took place after the 1905–06 Inter-Colonial Tournament in January 1906. The team was selected by two representatives from each of the three competing colonies; Jamaica, Grenada and St. Vincent being unrepresented. Charles Ollivierre was now playing for Derbyshire and so was unavailable.

The 15 players that made up the team consisted of:

Name H.B.G. Austin (c) Barbados C.K. Bancroft Barbados W.T. Burton British Guiana Dr. J.J. Cameron Jamaica G. Challenor Barbados L.S. Constantine Trinidad A.B. Cumberbatch Trinidad P.A. Goodman Barbados A.E.A. Harragin Trinidad O.H. Layne Barbados G.C. Learmond Trinidad C.S. Morrison Jamaica R.C. Ollivierre St. Vincent J.E. Parker British Guiana S.G. Smith Trinidad

Burton, Constantine, Goodman and Learmond had been part of the 1900 team. Richard Ollivierre was the brother of Charles Ollivierre who had toured in 1900.

R.H. Mallett was the manager. Austin was elected as captain while Goodman and Harragin were chosen for the selection committee.

The majority of the team was white. The Professionals Burton, Cumberbatch and Layne were black as were Constantine and Ollivierre amongst the Amateurs.

Strangely Cumberbatch was invariably reported in contemporary publications as being "C. P. Cumberbatch" whereas it appears that he was actually "A.B. Cumberbatch", C. P. Cumberbatch being a different player.

Preliminaries

13 of the team departed from Barbados aboard RMS "Trent" on 22 May arriving in Southampton on 4 June via Cherbourg. Bancroft and Cameron were already in England. Mr Mallet met the team at Southampton.

In England the team stayed initially at the Manchester Hotel, Aldersgate Street, London. The team practised at Lord's and played a number of preliminary matches, some arranged by WG Grace.

Matches

Status

Of the 19 matches 6 were not regarded as first-class. These were the matches against Lord Brackley's XI, Minor Counties XI, Wiltshire, South Wales, Northumberland and Durham, and Norfolk. These are shown in italics below.

Match 1 v W.G. Grace's XI

By a strange coincidence this match started on exactly the same day and date as the 1900 tour, i.e. Monday 11 June. The home team was styled W.G. Grace's XI rather than London County, mainly because London County had lost its first-class status at this time. The tourists left out Cameron, Morrison, Ollivierre and Parker.

W.G. Grace's team won the toss and batted. The highlight of their innings was 105 by Albert Lawton out of 193 in 85 minutes, adding 150 for the fourth wicket with Edward Sewell in 70 minutes, the whole innings lasting just hours. When they batted the West Indians did badly and were 87/6 at the close. Only Lebrun Constantine with 89 avoided complete disaster. Batting fourth he was ninth out and his runs were made out of 124 and came in just 95 minutes and scoring 60 of the 66 runs scored for the last four wickets.

W.G. Grace did not enforce the follow-on and Archie Cumberbatch and Oliver Layne took a number of early wickets and reduced Grace's team to 53/7. However the tail added good runs with William Murch making a useful 53. Layne ending up with 6/74. Getting 376 for victory was never on but the tourists disappointed with 128 having been 7/38 at one stage. Bertie Harragin top scored with 50 made in 30 minutes with 5 6s, 4 4s and 2 2s, including 3 6s in one over from WG. The match was finished inside two days.

Match 2 v Essex

Ollivierre and Parker replaced Burton and Challenor. Essex won the toss, batted and made 226 on a cold day. Left-handed New Zealander Dan Reese top scored with 70 out of 178 in 140 minutes. When they batted the tourists did well with Oliver Layne making 106 in 3 hours, Harold Austin 74 in hours and Bertie Harragin 51 in 40 minutes to give the West Indians a first innings lead of 153. Austin and Harragin added 151 for the fourth wicket in 125 minutes.

Batting again Essex did much better with Percy Perrin and Charlie McGahey scoring well and at the end of the second day they were 212/2, Perrin and McGahey adding 136 in the last 90 minutes of play. The tourists took a number of quick wickets early on the third day but a partnership of 95 for the last wicket in 50 minutes left them a target of 243. Only Sydney Smith with 46* scored many runs and they fell 111 runs short.

Match 3 v Lord Brackley's West Indian XI

This match was ruled not first-class by the M.C.C. Lord Brackley's team consisted of 11 of those who had toured the West Indies with him in the 1904–05 season. Hayes was playing in a county match and was unavailable. Burton, Challenor and Morrison replaced Cumberbatch, Goodman and Parker.

Batting first the West Indies did badly and were dismissed for 158 with George Simpson-Hayward taking 7/37 with his lobs. Richard Ollivierre was top score with 41 in 50 minutes. Teddy Wynyard scored a rapid 76 in the reply of 213 with Charles Morrison taking 5/58.

Second time round the tourists started badly and were 99/6. A useful partnership of 149 in 80 minutes for the seventh wicket between Harold Austin and Bertie Harragin enabled them to set Lord Brackley's XI a target of 244. Harragin made 86 in 90 minutes. When the home side batted Morrison took quick wickets and the score was 80/4 at the close. Wynyard, who had opened in the first innings, batted down the order because of injury and used a runner. He was again the top scorer with 70* in 125 minutes and led the team to an exciting two wicket victory. Ollivierre was no-balled when, seeing Wynyard out of his ground, he threw at the stumps in an attempt to run him out.

Match 4 v Minor Counties XI

Cumberbatch, Goodman and Parker replaced Austin, Bancroft and Burton. Goodman captained the side, won the toss and batted first, Ollivierre kept wicket in Bancroft's absence. The tourists made a disappointing score of just 204 with Bertie Harragin scoring 68 out of 94 in 65 minutes. The Minor Counties got within 12 runs of the West Indian score with 62 in 88 minutes from William Coleman from Hertfordshire the top scorer.

The second time around the tourists did much better. Sydney Smith with 93 and Harragin with 63 adding 130 runs for the fifth wicket in 80 minutes. Set a target of 351 the Minor Counties were quickly 11/3 and never got close. Smith took 5/45 to go with his 4/86 in the first innings and his scored of 23 and 93.

After the match Harragin attempted to beat his West Indian record for throwing the cricket ball. However he only reached 124 yards 2 feet 10 inches compared to his record of 128 yards 4 inches.

Match 5 v Surrey

Austin, Bancroft and Burton replaced Cumberbatch, Goodman and Learmond. Surrey batted first and reached 174/2 at lunchtime. When 6 wickets were down Keith Bancroft dislocated a finger and Richard Ollivierre replaced him as wicket-keeper. Oliver Layne ended up with 7/76. The tourists did badly when they batted and were 103/8 at the end of the first day.

On the second morning the West Indians followed-on and were quickly 57/4. Bertie Harragin and Harold Austin then added 90 in 65 minutes. Harragin's innings of 57 lasted 75 minutes. The tourists were headed for an innings defeat but a ninth wicket stand of 48 in 30 minutes between Lebrun Constantine and Tommie Burton enabled them to set a target of 47. In the match 5 of the West Indian batsmen were run out. The match ended a day early.

After the match Harragin made another attempt at throwing the cricket ball. This time he reached only 119 yards 2 feet.

Match 6 v Wiltshire

Cameron, Cumberbatch, Goodman and Learmond replaced Bancroft, Constantine, Morrison and Parker. Ollivierre kept wicket. This was Cameron's first match of the tour and was to be Burton's last. Wiltshire won the toss and batted. This was a 2-day match.

Rain prevented play until after 2:30 on the first day. Wiltshire scored 233 with Arthur Newman scoring 72 with 4 6s. Sydney Smith took 8/93. In reply the West Indians were dismissed for 149 with Smith top scorer with 52 and William Overton taking 5/58.

A draw looked likely but the pitch was ruined by rain and the tourists lost by 86 runs. Smith took 4/46 in the second Wiltshire innings and with 26 was top scorer again in the West Indians second innings. Ollivierre, who had kept wicket for most of the match, took 4/5 in 2.4 overs, all bowled. The West Indians started their innings with only 90 minutes remaining but were dismissed 4 minutes before the end of the match.

Match 7 v Hampshire

Bancroft, Constantine and Morrison replaced Burton, Layne and Learmond. Batting first the tourists made a disappointing score of just 166, Sydney Smith again top score with 48 adding 84 with Percy Goodman in 75 minutes. William Langford took 8/82. Charlie Llewellyn with 60 and Phil Mead with 132 added 124 for the third wicket. At the close of play Hampshire were in a commanding position at 235/3. Mead was eventually out after an innings lasting 170 minutes and Hampshire had a first innings lead of 183.

The West Indians batted better second time around. Richard Ollivierre made 67 and Smith again excelled with 100, the pair adding 100 for the fifth wicket in 55 minutes. Ollivierre hit in splendid fashion. Set 111 Hampshire were 61/4 but made the target comfortably. Smith took 4/53 and 7 wickets in the match.

Match 8 v South Wales

Parker replaced Harragin. The South Wales side consisted of players from Glamorgan and Monmouthshire. The game was virtually won on the first day when the West Indians won the toss, scored 324 and had the South Wales team at 93/6. The tourists were 23/4 but Sydney Smith again batted well scoring 140* in 145 minutes. He added 126 with Lebrun Constantine in 65 minutes and then 110 with Richard Ollivierre in 70 minutes.