There were several administrative difficulties during the tour. Bill Dowling—the chairman of the Australian Board of Control—had informed Loxton that no Test match was to begin until a receipt for 6,500 pounds had been handed over to Australian authorities. The Australian manager had also been told to rebuff any Pakistani overtures for a reciprocal tour, as it was feared that they lacked public appeal and would have caused financial losses due to a fall in ticket sales. Despite previous assurances to prepare turf pitches, the locals made a matting surface for the First Test. During the Second Test, when asked by General Ayub Khan—head of the ruling military junta—why Pakistan had not been invited to Australia, Loxton exploited the opportunity to complain about the wickets. When the tourists were greeted by another matting track in the Third Test, Ayub threatened to shoot the groundsmen if they prepared any more non-turf surfaces. The financial issue reared its head before the Second Test against India in Kanpur, when Loxton belligerently refused to start the match after the payment had failed to arrive on time. An Indian official asked the Australian manager to not "spoil a beautiful friendship over money", to which the Australian manager replied "Try me. I want it please...You know the rules." The match proceeded after the cheque was delivered, and India inflicted Australia's only defeat for the tour and their first Test win over the visitors. Another mishap occurred during the Fifth Test at Eden Gardens in Calcutta; the Australians left their hotel and took to the field with ten men, having failed to notice that Ian Meckiff had overslept and been left behind by the team bus. During the First Test against Pakistan in Dacca, one of the umpires took off his shoes and put them on the ground while play was in progress. Loxton took a photo of the scene and lodged it to cricket authorities, asking them to make a ruling on whether a batsman would be out if the ball struck the umpire's loose shoes and bounced up into a fielder's hands. However, he never received a reply.