The MCC team was seen off by family, friends and well-wishers on the ’'Orsava'’. Cowdrey's parents came to see him off and Len Hutton assured them that he would look after the young player. They were not the only well-wishers to see him off. Frank Tyson saw "a spare, stooped old man, dressed immaculately in a pin-stripe suit" telling the Cowdrey "When you reach Australia, just remember one thing – Hate the Bastards!". He spoke with such vehemence that Tyson asked George Duckworth who the old gent was, ""That" was Douglas Jardine", a fellow Oxford University man who had come down especially to see Cowdrey. Soon after the voyage began Cowdrey and Tyson were warned by the captain Len Hutton that they were secondary players who were expected to play little part in the Test matches, but in the end their efforts would prove decisive in England's victory. They traveled first-class on the "Orsova" which took six weeks to arrive in Western Australia, after stopping for a one-day game against Ceylon, where Cowdrey made 66 not out. On their arrival in Perth Cowdrey received a telegram that his father had died, "but soldiered on, thanks to the advice and encouragement of his young teammate Peter May and father figure and captain Len Hutton". Hutton made a small bet that Vic Wilson, a strapping Yorkshire farmer who could hit the ball many a mile, would score more Test runs than Cowdrey on the tour (a wager he lost).