Sixty-eight years on, it remains one of the most significant cricket tours in New Zealand history.
And now the country's most famous player, Richard Hadlee, has overseen a book, The Skipper's Diary, to ensure the 1949 tour of England has an enhanced place in New Zealand's cricket literature.
There's a personal link, too. Hadlee's father Walter captained the touring team and the book is based on his meticulously maintained record of the 1949 tour to England.
The project took about four years from inception. There's a DVD with the book. Richard Hadlee puts it this way: "The book is Dad's diary; the DVD is the 49ers."
Door to door, the tour ran eight months, including five weeks at sea getting to England and a 36-day voyage home through the Panama Canal.
The first day's play was April 20 and the last September 13, including four three-day tests, all drawn.
Richard Hadlee's book is based on father Walter's 1949 diary. Photo / John Stone
Not only did the tour prove a winner on the park, it also provided important revenue for financially ailing New Zealand Cricket. Their share of the tour takings amounted to £17,000 and enabled a travel fund for future tours to be established.
"It got New Zealand Cricket back on its feet," said Hadlee, one of the game's great allrounders.
Walter Hadlee had set specific targets for the tour, such as eight players to score 1000 or more runs, and five bowlers to get 50 or more wickets. The great Bert Sutcliffe scored 2627 runs, second only at the time to Australian hero Don Bradman for runs on an England tour, and his fellow lefthander, the English-based Martin Donnelly, made 2287.
The New Zealand batsmen recorded 29 centuries and 30 century stands. Canterbury left arm spinner Tom Burtt took a remarkable 128 wickets at 22 runs apiece.
The team played 36 games, 32 of them first-class. Hadlee, who died in 2006, set an objective of winning 15 first-class games, and had to settle for 13. Just one tour game was lost.
Out of the tour, New Zealand were accorded four-day test status. Future New Zealand teams owed the '49ers' a significant debt. And they did it all on £1 a day, travelling by train overnight between matches. Rationing was still in place and there was no shortage of challenges.
"I'm very proud to have replicated Dad's diary the way it was and tell the story through his writings," Hadlee said. "It's telling it the way it was, what England was like in 1949."
Strong bonds were forged on the tour, friendships that lasted a lifetime. Only one player of the 15, the then 19-year-old John Reid, is still alive.
Hadlee and his four brothers were raised on stories of his father's team. In studying the tour in more detail, he said he had not been surprised at what he discovered, but had his views reinforced.
"Things like values, playing the game hard but fair, the spirit of the game was paramount.
"As a leader, Dad was a tough man, expected and demanded everyone pull their weight, get out and do the job."
Hadlee hopes the 514-page book and two-hour DVD helps preserve an important part of New Zealand cricket history.
"I wanted to honour Dad for his contribution to New Zealand cricket, as player, captain, selector and chairman, and I wanted to recognise the achievements of the 49ers.
"They were a special group of players, a special team. Their brand of cricket was outstanding and they put New Zealand on the map."
Three charities will benefit from the book: the New Zealand Cricket Museum, the Cricketers Trust, to help former players in financial need, and the Cricket Live foundation, which sets up cricket schools in Sri Lanka and India, takes children off the streets and helps them learn life skills through cricket. Hadlee is patron of the foundation and museum.
The book can be obtained online through: www.theskippersdiary1949.com.
