West Indian cricket team in England in 1906

The West Indian 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.^[1]