The 1933 West Indies tour of England — three Tests, fifteen first-class fixtures, Headley's 169 not out at Old Trafford and Constantine's bouncer-led attack at Jardine — established the Caribbean side as more than a touring novelty and set the template for the West Indies team that would, a generation later, dominate the game.
West Indies had played Tests since 1928 but were still building a Test programme. The 1933 tour was their first real high-profile English summer, four years after the small 1928 visit.
West Indies had been a Test side since 1928 but had toured England previously only as an amateur curiosity. The 1933 squad, captained by Jackie Grant and built around Constantine, Martindale and the 23-year-old George Headley, was a substantial Test outfit.
They lost the three-Test series 2-0 (one drawn). The drawn middle Test at Old Trafford produced two of the tour's iconic moments: Headley's 169 not out (his first hundred in England) and Constantine's bouncers at Jardine, who responded with 127. The first Test at Lord's ended in an innings defeat; the Oval Test ended in another innings defeat.
The tour's reception in England was warmer than the 1928 visit. Wisden's 1934 'Five Cricketers of the Year' included Headley. The fast-bowling tactics that England had pioneered as Bodyline now travelled back, complicating the moralism of MCC's earlier protests.
Lord's Test: West Indies lose by an innings.
Old Trafford Test: Headley 169*; Constantine bowls at Jardine.
Jardine 127; match drawn.
Oval Test: West Indies lose by an innings.
Wisden 1934 names Headley among the year's Five.
Jun 1933
First Test at Lord's; England win by innings.
Jul 1933
Old Trafford: Headley 169*, Jardine 127, draw.
Aug 1933
Oval: England win by innings.
Apr 1934
Wisden 1934 names Headley among the Five.
“They are coming, those islands' bowlers.”
Headley would tour England again in 1939 and score twin hundreds at Lord's. Constantine remained based in Lancashire as a league professional; Martindale played until 1939. West Indies recorded their first Test series win on this trip's return tour by England in 1934-35.
The arrival, in earnest, of West Indies as a Test power — and a tour that drew the first complete Headley reputation in England.
The 1933 tour is the moment West Indies cricket turns from novelty to force. Subsequent histories of Caribbean cricket date the modern team's arrival to this summer, and the Lancashire leagues' welcome of Constantine to its tail-end.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.