Indian cricket team in England in 1946

The Indian national cricket team toured England in the 1946 season and played 29 first-class fixtures with 11 wins, 4 defeats and 14 draws. The 1946 season marked a return to normal first-class cricket in England following the end of World War II. The Test series between England and India was the first to be played in England since the West Indies tour in 1939. England won the series 1–0 with two matches drawn, their success largely due to the impact of debutant Alec Bedser who took 22 wickets in his first two Tests.

The Second World War in Europe having ended in May 1945, it was only possible to arrange eleven first-class matches in the 1945 English cricket season and so 1946, despite postwar recovery and continued rationing, was the first season in which a normal schedule of matches could be established in the County Championship and in Test cricket with the arrival of the Indian tourists.

In its review of the 1946 season, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack remarked that "the Indians were the first postwar touring side, and although they were outplayed in the Tests they raised the status and the dignity of their country's sport".Wisden also mentioned that "the weather in 1946 might have been dreadful, but it didn't stop the crowds flocking to games". The state of the weather was mentioned by John Arlott who wrote his first match report for The Guardian when the Indians played Worcestershire at New Road, Worcester on 4, 6 and 7 May. Arlott wrote that "New Road was bleak that Saturday morning... dark under the cloud, it was swept by a bitter gale howling across from Diglis". In his review of the tour, S. Canynge Caple wrote that the Indian tourists were very popular, their tour returning a sizeable profit, because large crowds turned out when the weather was fine in an otherwise "extremely dreary summer".

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