MCC tour of Australia in 1965–66

The Marylebone Cricket Club tour of Australia in 1965–66 under the captaincy of M.J.K. Smith was its fourteenth since it took official control of overseas tours in 1903-1904. The touring team played as England in the 1965–66 Ashes series against Australia, but as the MCC in all other games. In all there were 24 matches; 5 Test matches (which they drew 1–1), 10 other first-class matches (which they won 4–1) and 9 minor matches (which they won 8–0). The strength of the team's batting and the weakness of its bowling is shown by having 10 batsmen averaging over 40, but only one bowler under 30, the part-time leg-spinner Ken Barrington. The MCC team manager Billy Griffith encouraged the naturally cautious Smith to make sporting declarations and make run-chases in the tour matches, though this became less prevalent towards the end.

The MCC team were the first to travel to Australia by air instead of by sea, but still landed in Western Australia for their first games before travelling of the eastern states. En route they had stopped in Ceylon to play two light-hearted one day games, in which they were labelled "Marylebone Cricket Clowns" by the press. and Singapore. As they used economy class conditions were cramped on the long haul flights and several players complained of cramps, sore limbs and a mystery virus and many experienced jet lag for the first time.Fred Titmus left late because of stomach ailments, and said that it took until the First Test for him to fully recover.Ken Higgs and David Larter remained ill for most of the tour. Geoff Boycott picked up a stomach bug in Singapore and his arrival in Australia was delayed by a week. The England rugby union and rugby league teams that flew out to Australia that season suffered from the same ailments.

...
Wikipedia