View source for India in Great Britain, 1946 (cricket)

==England selections==
England staged two Test trials, the first in June a week before the First Test and the second in July a week before the Second Test. It was seven years since England had last played a Test match and there was a winter tour of Australia and New Zealand to come so the selectors wanted to look at a large number of players to try and quickly establish the best possible team.

A total of 35 players were used in the two Test trials and, in the end, England used 19 players in the three Test matches, with as many as 10 making only a single appearance. The mainstays of the team who each played in all three Tests were middle order batsman and team captain Walter Hammond, opening batsmen Len Hutton and Cyril Washbrook, middle order batsman Denis Compton and opening pace bowler Alec Bedser. The details below state the player's age at the beginning of the season, his batting hand, his type of bowling, and his [[County Championship]] team at the time:

'''Batsmen'''
* [[Walter Hammond]], 42, right-handed batsman (RHB), right-arm medium fast pace (RMF), [[Gloucestershire (cricket)|Gloucestershire]]
* [[Denis Compton]], 27, RHB, slow left-arm chinaman spin (SLC), [[Middlesex (cricket)|Middlesex]]
* [[Bill Edrich]], 30, RHB, right-arm fast medium pace (RFM), Middlesex
* [[Laurie Fishlock]], 39, RHB, slow left-arm orthodox spin (SLA), [[Surrey (cricket)|Surrey]]
* [[Joe Hardstaff junior]], 34, RHB, right-arm medium pace (RM), [[Nottinghamshire (cricket)|Nottinghamshire]]
* [[Len Hutton]], 29, RHB, leg break (LB), [[Yorkshire (cricket)|Yorkshire]]
* [[Cyril Washbrook]], 31, RHB, RM, [[Lancashire (cricket)|Lancashire]]

'''All-rounders'''
* [[Jack Ikin]], 28, left-handed batsman (LHB), leg-break and googly spin (LBG), Lancashire
* [[James Langridge]], 39, LHB, SLA, [[Sussex (cricket)|Sussex]]

'''Bowlers'''
* [[Alec Bedser]], 27, RHB, RMF, Surrey
* [[Bill Bowes]], 37, RHB, RFM, Yorkshire
* [[Alf Gover]], 36, RHB, RFM, Surrey
* [[Dick Pollard]], 33, RHB, RFM, Lancashire
* [[Frank Smailes]], 36, LHB, RM, Yorkshire
* [[Peter Smith]], 37, RHB, LBG, [[Essex (cricket)|Essex]]
* [[Bill Voce]], 36, RHB, left-arm fast medium pace (LFM), Nottinghamshire
* [[Doug Wright]], 31, RHB, LBG, [[Kent (cricket)|Kent]]

'''Wicket-keepers'''
* [[Godfrey Evans]], 25, RHB, wicket-keeper (WK), Kent
* [[Paul Gibb]], 32, RHB, WK, Yorkshire

For the first Test at Lord's, England had only three debutants compared with India's six. Bedser and batting all-rounder Jack Ikin were the only "new" players in that they had made two and five first-class appearances respectively before the war and each of them was now in his first full season. The third debutant was veteran seam bowler Frank Smailes who had been playing regularly for Yorkshire since 1932. England's other four players in this match were also experienced pre-war players: batsman Joe Hardstaff junior, wicket-keeper Paul Gibb, leg spinner Doug Wright and pace bowler Bill Bowes.

Team changes were made for the Second Test in view of the need to try out several players ahead of the winter tour of Australia. Pace bowler Dick Pollard was introduced, making his Test debut in place of Smailes. Like Smailes, Pollard was an experienced player active since 1933. Veteran pace bowler Bill Voce was recalled in place of his former [[bodyline]] series colleague Bowes.

England made six changes for the Third Test, which was drawn after being ruined by rain. Batsmen Laurie Fishlock, Bill Edrich and all-rounder James Langridge were recalled along with fast bowler Alf Gover. There were two debutants: wicket-keeper Godfrey Evans and leg spinner Peter Smith. They replaced Ikin, Hardstaff, Gibb, Voce, Pollard and Wright.

The season-long bad weather not only ruined the cricket but also prevented the selectors from being able to fully assess the suitability of their players for Test cricket ahead of the coming winter's tour of Australia and New Zealand. In the end, they were largely satisfied with the players selected because 16 of them were included in the 17-man tour party, the exception being Yorkshire batsman [[Norman Yardley]], who was being groomed for the captaincy. Of the players who took part in the 1946 series, England did not select Bowes, Gover or Smailes for the winter tour.

The one great "find" in 1946 was Alec Bedser who took 24 wickets in the series, including 22 in his first two Tests. Bedser fulfilled his potential and was easily England's best bowler for several seasons to come. Godfrey Evans, who played in one Test in 1946, was another new player who became an England regular and has often been hailed as England's best-ever wicket-keeper. But, in terms of long-term development of the national team, the 1946 series left England with more questions than answers. Pre-war players Hutton, Compton, Edrich, Washbrook and Wright all continued to represent England for many years but, as two forthcoming series against Australia would show, the England team in the immediate post-war period was just not good enough, mainly because of over-reliance on the best players Hutton, Compton and Bedser with the latter having to "carry" the England bowling for several seasons.