The Ashes: When Fred Truman refused to run round the boat – England’s last voyage by sea

After the launch, there was a question about how to fill the days at sea.

“In my case, you eat,” Larter says. “Honestly, I have never, either before or since, had such a sustained bout of great eating.

“The hosts loved us. They brought us these big carts of amazing food that they knew we would eat.”

With plenty of food on hand and an Ashes series to prepare for, players had to stay fit.

“We would do a workout in the morning, and then there would be badminton courts for us,” Larter says. “We would push weights and jump up and down and things like that.”

The England administration wanted to take things further.

By chance, Dexter found that British athlete Gordon Perry was on board. Perry won silver in the 5,000 meters at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne.

“He was invited to organize us,” Larter says. “He showed up in his shorts and decided the best exercise would be to run around the boat.

“It’s a long way to get to one of those big boats, but I did what I was told.”

Not everyone in the touring party was as accepting as Larter. Truman has never been shy about voicing his opinion, having just bowled over 1,100 overs in the English summer.

“Fred has expressed an opinion that in no way means he is rambling,” says Larter. “This was not what we did to stay fit. To stay fit, we played cricket.

“Fred said he’d thrown all that stuff into the season, and he wasn’t going to run around anybody’s boat. And the Gordon Perry thing went away after that.”

For Larter, the trip was not just his first tour of England, it was his first time abroad. On the upper deck he mingled with wealthy travellers, and below he encountered the Poms migrating to a new life below.

“We found that the greatest reception came downstairs,” he says. “There were people migrating or moving from one place to another for different reasons. Many of them were young people looking to make a new life. It was interesting to meet them. There were more than a couple of decent bars and you could enjoy a quiet drink.”

The flight was not a straight passage to Perth. Interestingly, England prepared for the tour of Australia by jumping to Sri Lanka to play a match in Colombo.

“We walked out on the field and Ted Dexter said I was going to open the bowling alley,” Larter says.

“I ran, I ran, and I fell flat on my face. It was really sprawling. I picked myself up, came back, went back in and did the same thing.”

“I lost my ground legs. They didn’t go where I wanted, because I was on the boat.

“Ted came over and said ‘What’s the problem?’ I said they weren’t working! He took me out. Barry Knight had to finish it.

“We were entertained and looked after by the British Army. They had a big barbecue for us on the beach. How do you get that from a small town in Suffolk? On the beach in Sri Lanka with all these lovely people. Just being there was eye-opening.”