After the launch the question arose of how to make the most of the days at sea.
“In my case, you eat,” Larter says. “Honestly, I have never had, before or since, such a sustained period of great eating.
“The waiters loved us. They brought big carts of wonderful food and they knew we would eat it.”
With large quantities of food available and an Ashes series to prepare for, players had to stay fit.
“We had a workout in the morning and then we had badminton courts reserved for us. We would push weights, jump and things like that,” Larter says.
The England management wanted to go one step further.
By chance, Dexter discovered that British athlete Gordon Pirie was on board. Pirie won silver in the 5,000 meters at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne.
“They invited him to organize us,” Larter says. “He arrived with his shorts on and decided the best exercise would be to run around the boat.
“It’s a pretty long way around one of those big ships, but I did what I was told.”
Not everyone in the touring group was as nice as Larter. Trueman, who was never shy about speaking his mind, had just bowled more than 1,100 overs in the English summer.
“Fred expressed an opinion that in no way meant that he was spinning his wheels,” Larter says. “That’s not what we did to get fit. To get fit, we played cricket.
“Fred said he had just played all those overs in the season and he wasn’t going to run around a bounce for anyone. The Gordon Pirie thing died down after that.”
For Larter, the trip was not only his first tour of England, but also his first outing outside the country. On the upper deck he mingled with the wealthy travelers, below he met the Poms migrating to a new life in the depths.
“We found the biggest reception was downstairs,” he says. “There were people emigrating or moving away for all sorts of reasons. Many of them were young, wanting to make a new life. It was interesting to meet them. There were more than a couple of decent pubs and you could have a pint in peace.”
The trip was not a direct trip to Perth. Surprisingly, England prepared for a tour of Australia by jumping into Sri Lanka to play a match in Colombo.
“We went out to the field and Ted Dexter said I’d open the bowling alley,” Larter says.
“I scored a run, ran and fell on my face. A real collapse. I got up, came back, went back in and did the same thing.
“I had lost my land legs. They didn’t go where I wanted because I was on the boat.
“Ted came over and said ‘what’s wrong?’ I said they’re not working! He got me out. Barry Knight had to finish the over.
“We were entertained and looked after by the British Army. They had a big barbecue for us on the beach. How do you get to that from a small town in Suffolk? On the beach in Sri Lanka with all these nice people. It was a revelation, just being there.”
