From 1884 to 2025: Unusual Test Record of Mass Team Changes Mid-Series

From 1884 to 2025, Test cricket has seen rare occasions of mass team changes mid-series. The England vs India Oval Test 2025 joins this unusual record.

Unusual Test Record of Mass Team Changes Mid-Series (Image Source: Google)

In a plethora of new records created during the fifth Test at the Oval between England and India of the recently concluded series, one very important record was missed. Incidentally it was created even before the first ball was bowled on the first morning. Both England and India made four changes to their side from the fourth Test at Old Trafford. Generally, so many changes in the side are not made mid-series.

In fact, this is not the first time it occurred. Four changes in both the sides, mid series, were made earlier on five occasions:

1. Australia and India in November 1956
2. England and Pakistan in July 1962
3. England and West Indies in July 1976
4. Pakistan and Sri Lanka in March 1982
5. Pakistan and Sri Lanka in July 2015

There are few occasions when even more than four changes were made:

*During 1994-95 series in Australia, Australia made four and Pakistan five changes.

*In England in July 1959, England made six changes and India five for the third Test.

* The record was created in July 2002 when Sri Lanka made seven and Bangladesh five changes for the second of the two Test series played in Sri Lanka.

If we consider changes made by one team, mid-series, then the record is of 11 changes, made by Australia, because of a pay dispute in 1884-85. Australia played with a new side for the second Test at Melbourne while the England side remained unchanged. Australia continued to make further changes and played the next Test at Sydney with seven changes, resulting with the return of three of the striking players and four new additions. This way in total Australia used 26 different players in the first three Tests of the series.

Now we return to the Oval Test again. Changes made were as under:

For England: Out: Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Liam Dawson, Brydon Carse; In: Jacob Bethell, Gus Atkinson, Jamie Overton, Josh Tongue.

For India: Out: Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, Anshul Kamboj, Shardul Thakur; In: Dhruv Jurel, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Karun Nair.

By chance, when Gill talked about the changes at the toss, he mentioned only three changes and missed Akash Deep for Kamboj.

However, nothing can beat the saga of 1959 England-India series in England. The touring India team had 17 players and Abbas Ali Baig was added to take the place of the injured Vijay Manjrekar, mid series. The team was: Datta Gaekwad (captain), Pankaj Roy (vice-captain), Arvind Apte, Abbas Ali Baig, Chandu Borde, Nari Contractor, Ramakant Desai, Jayasinghrao Ghorpade, Subhash Gupte, M L Jaisimha, Nana Joshi (wicketkeeper), AG Kripal Singh, Vijay Manjrekar, VM Muddiah, Bapu Nadkarni, Surendranath, Naren Tamhane (wicketkeeper) and Polly Umrigar. Out of these 17 players appeared in the Tests in the series and only Muddiah missed.

There is another surprising fact related to this team. The manager of the team was Fatehsinghrao Gaekwad (Maharaja of Baroda) who was himself playing cricket for Baroda at that time and was only 29 years old. Many players of the tour team were older than him.

The third Test of the series at Leeds was won by England with more than two days to spare. India was outplayed on all fronts. This Test was remarkable as the teams played had eleven changes, compared with the Second Test.

For England: In: Parkhouse, Pullar, Close, Mortimore, Swetman and Rhodes with Pullar and H Rhodes making their debut; Out: Milton, Taylor, Horton, Greenhough, Evans and Statham.

For India: In: Arvind Apte, Datta Gaekwad, Chandu Borde, Bapu Nadkarni and Naren Tamhane with Apte making his debut. Out: Nari Contractor, Vijay Manjrekar, AG Kripal Singh, ML Jaisimha and Nana Joshi.

Some trivia on the constitution of the teams:

*Peter May played his 52nd successive Test and equalled the world record of FE Woolley.

*Debutant Rhodes made a grand debut and took wickets with his fourth and twelfth balls, to dismiss Roy and Borde.

*Swetman kept wicket nicely with a match record of taking five catches and did not concede a bye.

*Gilbert Parkhouse was recalled to Test cricket, after almost nine years and in the very first innings added 146 (England's best start for twenty-six Tests) with Pullar in three and a half hours.