1946–47 Ashes series
Encyclopedia
The 1946–47 Ashes series consisted of five cricket
Test matches
, each of six days with five hours play each day and eight ball overs
. Unlike pre-war Tests in Australia, matches were not timeless
and played to a finish. It formed part of the MCC tour of Australia in 1946–47
and England played its matches outside the Tests in the name of the Marylebone Cricket Club
. The England team
was led by the veteran Wally Hammond
and his vice-captain Norman Yardley
with the strong batting line up of Len Hutton
, Cyril Washbrook
, Bill Edrich
, Denis Compton
and Joe Hardstaff
, but a weak bowling attack that relied on pre-war bowlers like the 37-year-old Bill Voce
of Bodyline
fame and the mercurial leg-spinner Doug Wright
. The two successes of the tour were the newly capped Alec Bedser
, who would carry the England bowling attack until 1955, and Godfrey Evans
who would be England's first choice wicketkeeper until 1959. England had drawn the Victory Tests
2-2 in 1945 and were thought to be equal in strength, but Hammond lost 3-0 to Don Bradman's Australian team
which had only two other pre-war players - Lindsay Hassett
and Sid Barnes
, who had played 5 Tests between them - and was packed with fresh talent in the shape of Arthur Morris
, Keith Miller
, Ray Lindwall
, Colin McCool
, Ernie Toshack
and Don Tallon
. There were several controversial umpiring decisions
which assumed greater significance as they favoured Australia and in particular Don Bradman.
“Few seasons have created so much advance interest as 1946-47”, a tour had been planned for 1940-41, but this was cancelled due to the Second World War. The Australian Board of Control asked for a rapid resumption of Test cricket
to revive the sport in Australia, which had not hosted a Test match since 1937. Their case was made in person by the Attorney-General of Australia
Dr. H.V. Evatt
and the Marylebone Cricket Club
reluctantly agreed as it wanted to re-establish cricketing relations and needed money to rebuild cricket in post-war Britain
. The MCC asked Hammond to lead a "Goodwill Tour" and he was told that good sportsmanship was more important than winning the series, which could be seriously contested later in the 1948 Ashes series
. As a result he looked on the tour as an extended holiday, a view not shared by Don Bradman, who was determined to win the series, and this led to a strained relationship between the two captains. The tour itself was a great success as crowds flocked to see the matches - more than in any series in Australia since - and it made a record £50,000
profit for the MCC.
Due to the war this was the first Test to be played in Australia since 3 March 1937 and there were eight Australian debutants; Ian Johnson
, Ray Lindwall
, Colin McCool
, Keith Miller
, Arthur Morris
, Don Tallon
, Ernie Toshack
and George Tribe
. However, Johnson, Lindwall, McCool, Miller, Tallon and Toshack had played in an Australia vs New Zealand match the previous season which was belatedly recognised as a Test, the only game between the two countries treated as such before 1973. As a result only Morris and Tribe are now seen as debutants with vice-captain Lindsay Hassett
having played only four Tests before the war and Sid Barnes
one. Don Bradman made himself available for selection at the last moment against the advice of his doctor due to the severe attack of fibrositis during the war, and ailment from which the England captain Wally Hammond
also suffered. There were no English debutants; Hammond, Len Hutton
, Cyril Washbrook
, Bill Edrich
, Denis Compton
, Paul Gibb
, Bill Voce
and Doug Wright
were all pre-war players, vice-captain Norman Yardley
had played one Test before the war and Alec Bedser
and Jack Ikin
had debuted against India in 1946
. The vaunted England batting line up had done well so far on the tour
, with Hutton making 522 runs (87.00), Washbrook 461 runs (51.22), Edrich 221 runs (44.20), Compton 423 runs (60.43) and Hammond 277 runs (55.40), but their bowling had been weakened by injuries. Gibbs was preferred as wicketkeeper over Godfrey Evans
because of his batting form in South Africa in 1938-39. There had been a drought in Queensland since 1941 and the curator had tried boring for water
without success. The Woolloongabba wicket, traditionally green and helpful to fast bowlers, was a dry, lifeless brown and good for runs. Bradman won the toss and had no difficulty in choosing to bat first.
The innings began well for England as Wally Hammond
caught Arthur Morris
in the slips and Alec Bedser
(2/159) had Don Bradman struggling in his third over, the Australian captain twice edging the ball to the close fielders. He was protected by Sid Barnes
who controlled the strike and hooked the England bowlers until "Big Al"
jumped up like a goalkeeper
, knocked up the ball and took the catch on the rebound. Barnes (31) was officially reprimanded for using the hook and eliminated this stroke from his repertoire for the rest of the series. At 72/2 Bradman was still struggling on 28 after an hour at the crease when he gave his famous catch to Jack Ikin
off Bill Voce
. The England players were so sure it was out (along with half the Australian team in the dressing room) that they did not immediately appeal and did so only after Bradman refused to walk. In a controversial umpiring decision Umpire Borwick gave him not out and Bradman later said he thought he had jammed the ball into the ground before it went to Ikin and that he was willing to let the umpire be the judge. Hammond was furious at what he saw as gamesmanship
that only spoke to the Australian captain when calling the toss for the rest of the series. After this incident Bradman recovered his confidence and with Bedser off the field due to a stomach ailment (a legacy of his service in Italy
) made 159 runs in 160 minutes. His vice-captain Lindsay Hassett
dug himself in for 128 and they added 274 for the third wicket. Hassett's brother was getting married that day and agreed to wait until he was out before they began the service. They gave up when he was 97 and he was still on 98 when they completed the service. Bradman was bowled by Bill Edrich
(3/107) early on the second day and Hassett added another 106 run with his fellow-Victorian
Keith Miller
who hit 6 fours and a six in his 79. Hassett also hit a six, but was dropped three times before he was caught by Norman Yardley
off Bedser (2/159). The English leg-spinner Doug Wright
(5/167) had Miller lbw
, but the wicketkeeper Paul Gibb
dropped Colin McCool
off Bedser for 1 and McCool (95) and Ian Johnson
(47) took the score to 595/5 by the end of the second day. Most of the third day was lost to heavy rain and bad light. When play resumed it was thought that Australia would declare, but Bradman gave 'a crooked little smile..."I remember when England made 900 against us and kept us in the field for three days
"' and 10 minutes before play he told Hammond that he was going to bat on. "Bradman adopted his grim Napoleonic pose, as if the fate of his country rested on the retention of 'the Ashes
'" and as the batting captain told the ground staff not to cut the grass on the pitch and had a three ton roller pulled over the wicket to draw up the moisture. Australia would not be batting for long and this increased the pace of the wicket for his fast bowlers, but a former Australian player called it "kicking a beaten opponent when he is down". The last 5 Australian wickets fell for 50 runs, mostly from Ray Lindwall
who hit 3 fours and 2 sixes in his 31. Australia's 645 was their highest total at home, overtaking the 604 made in their previous home Test at Melbourne in 1936-37
.
Len Hutton
and Cyril Washbrook
went out to bat with thunder in the air and Hutton never settled down to the short-pitched bowling of Lindwall and Miller and was bowled for 7 in “a real shock attack…Miller’s success was gained by one ball of perfection mixed with many of faulty direction which had England’s record holder twisting and turning in a most unbatsmanlike fashion”. Soon after Bill Edrich
came out play was stopped for bad light as a thunderstorm broke over the ground. Play resumed only 10 minutes late the next day, but "England were twice caught on sticky wickets. They stood no chance. On a typical Brisbane sticky the good length ball and the half-volley became almost unplayable. Sometimes it rose chest high. At others it skidded along the ground." In their "opening blitz" Keith Miller
dug the ball in short and "nearly every ball from Lindwall rose head high". “Edrich batted for 105 minutes. He suffered more than 40 body blows with a nonchalant contempt for danger and seemed content to be battered black and blue rather than lose his wicket. It was grim concentration and unflinching courage of the type rarely seen in Australia, and he was undaunted even after a terrific sickener under the ribs from Miller". He was out for 16, but Alan Kippax
said it was "one of the best knocks he had ever witnessed" and worthy of a century. Wally Hammond
had made his finest innings just such a wicket at Melbourne in 1936-37 while making 32 and here made the same number of runs, which Arthur Morris
called it "the most thorough batting lesson he had ever received" Ray Lindwall
wrote that Hammond and Edrich "were hit on the body repeatedly. Their concentration never faltered and their skill never waned...This was vintage batting of a kind that probably no Australian could produce". Miller used a limited leg-trap and an English pressman wrote that this was Bodyline
, to the anger of Vic Richardson
, Alan Kippax
and Clarrie Grimmett
who had seen the real thing. Miller slowed his pace as the ball leapt so much that it could hit the batsman, but not get them out and dismissed all five batsman that day, his 7/60 in the innings remaining his best return for Australia for the rest of his career. Only three hours play were allowed that day and just after Hammond and Yardley walked off after appealing for light a second thunderstorm hit Brisbane. "Those who huddled in the pavilion...will never forget (as will the residents of Brisbane, who lost thousands of planes of glass) the darkness that came over the ground and the roar of the storm coming in the distance. This was the day when jagged pieces of hail, as big as cricket balls, plummeted on the ground, and the covers and the stumps went swirling away in the flood". In 30 minutes the ground was a lake with the water almost reaching the height of the picket fence
on the boundary. At any other venue the game would have ended, but the drought-stricken ground soaked up most of the water overnight, the Queensland sun soon dried out the ground and play began on time at noon, much to the surprise to some pressmen and players who arrived late. Ernie Toshack
's left-arm medium pace should have won him a hatful of wickets the previous day, but he could not bowl as Bradman suggested. So, before play began Bradman took him down the pitch and showed him exactly where he wanted him to bowl and even make him bowl a practice over alongside to make sure he got it right. Resuming on 117/5 Hammond and Yardley were both out to Toshack (3/17), the Yorkshire vice-captain after a gritty innings of 29 over two hours, and Miller wrapped up the tail to have England out for 141.
off Miller first ball, Washbrook was out the same way and Ernie Toshack
had Edrich lbw
to leave them 32/3. Only Denis Compton
(15) stayed in for over an hour and eight batsmen got into double figures. Wally Hammond
hit Toshack for two sixes and played so well on the sticky pitch that the Australians thought he was "bound to make many runs in the series, but from that moment nothing went right for him". Under Bradman's guidance Toshack took 6/82, Miller missed out on a 10 wicket haul with 2/17 and George Tribe
took his best Test figures of 2/48. Ray Lindwall
was taken to hospital with suspected malaria
from his service in the Soloman Islands
, but was found to be chickenpox
which caused more concern as he may have infected the rest of the team. Lindwall was replaced by twelfth man Ken Meuleman
, Colin McCool
bowled only one over in the match and Ian Johnson
wasn't used at all. The only real stand was that of 47 between Jack Ikin
(32) and Paul Gibb
(11) as England were out for 176 having lost 15 wickets in 3½ hours.
Australia won the First Test by an innings and 332 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the series. It was their first victory over England at Brisbane
and was their largest victory in Tests, overtaking their previous best of an innings and 200 runs in the Fifth Test at Melbourne in 1936-37
, their last match against England in Australia. This remained a record until Australia beat South Africa by an innings and 360 runs at Johannesburg in 2001-02, but it remains their greatest victory in Australia and against England. Ironically in their previous Test against England in 1938
Australia lost by an innings and 579 runs, the largest margin of victory in Tests. It was the first time that two sides had won and lost by an innings in successive Tests. Australia's 645 was their highest total at home, beating the 604 they made in the Fifth Test of 1936-37. The win was regarded as a lottery as torrential rain ruined the wicket as England started to bat, but in Brisbane
it was ever thus. On Bradman's Test debut in 1928-29 Australia was caught batting after a rainstorm and were out for 66. They lost by a record 675 runs and Bradman was dropped for the only time in his career. In 1936-37
Australia was caught again on a rain-affected wicket and were out for 58, Bradman made a duck and lost his first Test as captain by 322 runs. In the next Test between Australia and England at the Gabba in 1950-51 20 wickets fell in an afternoon after another rainstorm. 77,344 attended the match with receipts of £14,515
.
Arriving in Sydney
England tried to put the disastrous Brisbane Test behind them. The wicketkeeper-batsman Paul Gibb
was dropped in favour of Godfrey Evans
, who was to hold the position for 13 years and who did not concede a bye
in the Test. Bill Voce
had pulled a muscle and the off-spinner Peter Smith
was brought into the team for the traditional spinning wicket at the SCG
, but already had a numb spinning finger from an injury on the ship that brought the team to Australia. Ray Lindwall
was still ill with chickenpox
and was replaced by the tidy fast-medium bowler Fred Freer
of Victoria
. The pitch looked perfect, Wally Hammond
called correctly and chose to bat.
Fred Freer
(1/25) began his Test career by bowling Cyril Washbrook
for 1, but though he kept his line and length Keith Miller
was wild and they and Toshack only bowled 23 overs in the innings. The spinners bowled 73 overs as the pitch took spin on the first day, against all expectation. Len Hutton
(30) and Bill Edrich
(71) added 78 for the second wicket before Ian Johnson
removed him with his third ball in Tests, caught behind down the leg side. Don Tallon
promptly took two more catches off Colin McCool
(3/73) to dismiss Hammond and Compton and England were 99/4. Bradman had pulled a thigh muscle in the First Test and was granted permission by Hammond to retire from play, Ken Meuleman
taking his place and Hassett taking command. Johnson had not bowled in the First Test, but now had a spell of 11-8-3-1 as the England batsmen remained glued to the wicket. Hammond had previously told Compton to stop 'capering about' the wicket and "The oracle was listened to with great respect, and his dictum was largely taken up by those who followed him in the England XIs". Jack Ikin
, whose usually played within the crease anyway made a gritty 60 and added 49 with the fighting Edrich. Thereafter wickets fell steadily to Johnson who ended with 6/42 as England was spun out for 255.
The situation was not yet lost, England had at least played on the spinning wicket first and it could only get worse for Australia. Doug Wright
was the terror of the County Championship
for running through side on just such wickets and Hammond also had Peter Smith and the part time spin of Ikin, Compton and Hutton. Sid Barnes
and Arthur Morris
only batted for 9 minutes when the rain came down and the teams left the field. On their return Bill Edrich
(3/71) made the ball kick up with his fast bowling, and Morris was bowled while taking evasive action. Ian Johnson
came in as a nightwatchman
and he and Barnes angered the crowd by launching into a series of bad light appeals - up to 12 were counted - before the umpires gave way and play was ended with an hour to spare. This gamesmanship
ensured that Australia would not have to play on a sticky wicket like England at Brisbane and allowed Bradman to rest his leg until play resumed on the Monday. Clif Cary
opined in his radio commentary that the light was bright enough to play by and the umpires had been pressured into a decision by the Australian batsmen, as did the English pressmen. They were labelled "biased, unsportsmanlike squealers" and that Barnes and his captain Bradman would never used such underhand tactics, but at the end of the series Barnes admitted on radio that he had bluffed the umpires into the decision. Sunday was a rest day and the sun dried out the wicket beautifully, it rolled to perfection and produced the flat wicket anticipated on the first day. Barnes had been reprimanded for hooking the ball in the First Test and as a result denied himself strokeplay and slowly ground his way through the day. Johnson was out for 7, and Barnes added 59 with Lindsay Hassett
(34) and 63 with Keith Miller
(40). Alec Bedser
(1/153) bowled well and stopped the runs from getting away, but with defensive fields many catches went begging, but Peter Smith (2/172) failed to find his form (he was hospitalised with appendicitis
on the tour). Don Bradman had lowered himself down the order and "limped as if in extreme pain, and several times lay on the ground as if ill" Wright (1/169) “bowled beautifully with the most wretched luck”, in one over "On four occasions Hammond, usually most undemonstrative, threw his hands in the air as the ball beat Bradman and shaved the stumps, and in between these near dismissals there was a confident appeal for leg before wicket
. When Bradman was on 22 when he appeared to snick another catch to Jack Ikin
at short leg, but "this time there may have been some cause for doubt; it was an appeal that could have gone either way". Bradman was given not out and by the end of the day Barnes was 109, Bradman 52 and Australia 252/4. On the Tuesday Bradman gave "an amazing exhibition in amassing 234 runs - that is, amazing for one who was supposed to be a cripple. He played all the shots, pulled leg muscle and all, and often ran between the wickets with the speed of an Olympic sprinter
". Forced to play off the back foot due to his pulled leg muscle Bradman still looked like he had three strokes for every one of Barnes and by the end of the day had caught him up in runs. During this long partnership Len Hutton
joked with the crowd on the boundary and ate 14 bananas given to him from the Hill
. In desperation Hammond called on his vice-captain Norman Yardley
to bowl his medium pacers, which he did not even do for Yorkshire
, and to everyone's surprise he caught Bradman lbw
for 234. It war only the second time Bradman had been lbw in a Test against England, the first being to Maurice Tate
on his debut in 1928. He had added 405 for the fifth wicket with Barnes, and in 1946 this was the highest partnership for that wicket in Test or first-class cricket and the second highest Test partnership after the 451 Bradman-Ponsford
partnership at the Oval
in 1934
. In the next over Barnes hit Bedser to Ikin also for 234, his maiden Test century and the highest score of his career. He said later that he had got himself out so as the have the same score as Bradman "which could well have been so for he was a man of quixotic
mood and temperament". However, Alec Bedser
wrote "It was when I was bowling to Sid at Sydney that I first discovered that I could move the ball to leg by use of my wrist and fingers...I held the ball in the same manner as a leg-break bowler
with the fingers across the seam...and on pitching I was surprised to see the ball go away like a leg-break. It also surprised Sid Barnes
". Australia ended the fourth day on 571/6. The next morning the lower order struck out, with Fred Freer
hitting 3 fours and a six in his 28 not out and George Tribe
5 fours in his 25 not out until Bradman declared on 659/8.
Len Hutton
and Cyril Washbrook
walked out 404 runs behind on the first innings and England needing to bat out five sessions and 24 minutes to save the game. Hutton survived an lbw appeal from Fred Freer
on his first ball, then hit 12 runs off the rest of the over. In the absence of Ray Lindwall
the fast bowler Keith Miller
"bumped the ball
with more fury and recklessness than anyone in years" and even appealed for lbw when Hutton ducked and the ball hit his back, but his first over went for 11 more runs. Freer's second over gave another 9 and Miller's second over 15, but on the last ball before lunch Hutton's glove strap was caught on his bat and he overbalanced and trod on the wicket. He had made 37 runs in 24 minutes of “batting champagne” which "was the talk of Sydney for the rest of the match” receiving “four times as much publicity as the huge totals of 234", Johnnie Moyes
called it "a glorious piece of batting, a choice miniature that I shall carry with me always" Bill Edrich
came in and another 69 runs were added before Washbrook was out for 40. Denis Compton
found his form and the 'Middlesex Twins'
put on 102 for the third wicket. Compton was caught by Bradman off Freer (2/49) for 54, but Hammond came in to see out the day with England 247/3, still 157 runs behind with five hours of play left. When Edrich "reached his century he was accorded one of the most sustained ovations I have heard, and no one deserved it more...the roar when he reached it was it the Heavens had split". Hammond made 37, his highest score of the series before he was caught by Don Tallon
off Colin McCool
(5/109) and Edrich continued resolutely until bowled by McCool for 119 in 5¼ hours, top-scoring in both innings and returning the best English bowling analysis of the match. Norman Yardley
hit 4 fours in his 35 before he too was bowled by McCool and the last four wickets fell for 25 runs to have England out for 371 with more than two hours before stumps.
's tour of 1897-98. It was the third Test in a row that Australia had made its highest home score; 604 in the Fifth Test at Melbourne in 1936-37, 645 in the First Test and 659/8 in the Second Test in the current series. The match had an attendance of 196,253 and £26,544
was made in receipts.
would have to win the last three Tests to regain the Ashes
, though Don Bradman had done this in the last series in Australia. The Melbourne
wicket had a reputation for fast, pacey wickets, but after two shocks at Brisbane
and Sydney
few were surprised that it was not living up to its reputation; "The 1947 wicket was not as tame as all that, but it was, for Melbourne, exceedingly meek". Ray Lindwall
was fit again and resigned his job when his employers refused him leave to play in the Test. Fred Freer
was dropped and the Chinaman
bowler George Tribe
was replaced by the leg-spinner Bruce Dooland
. Arthur Morris
had failed in the two Tests, but was given another chance instead of Ken Meuleman
. Peter Smith
was ill with appendicitis
and James Langridge had strained a muscle in catching practice the day before the match, so Hammond had no spinner apart from Doug Wright
and the 37-year-old fast bowler Bill Voce
was recalled. Don Bradman won the toss and chose to bat on New Year's Day
.
Arthur Morris
was the first man out for 21, lbw to Alec Bedser
(3/99), but Sid Barnes
hooked a ball into Bill Edrich
's knee at short leg and Hammond insisted that he leave the field for treatment. Barnes (45) added 76 with Bradman before he went the same way as Morris for and Hammond took Lindsay Hassett
off Doug Wright
for 12. Bill Voce
left the field with a strained leg muscle after lunch and Bradman looked set for a big score until he chopped Norman Yardley
(2/50) onto his stumps for 79. Yardley, scarcely a change bowler before the tour was only given the ball because of the injuries, but bowled tidily and moved the ball. Ian Johnson
was out lbw first ball and Australia were 188/5 on a good pitch, soon 192/6 when Godfrey Evans
snapped up Keith Miller
(33) of Wright. Australia's all-round strength came to their rescue as Colin McCool
played the innings of his life, 104 not out, adding 63 with Don Tallon
(35) and leaving Australia 253/6 at the end of the day. Edrich returned to the fray in the first over of the second day and had Tallon caught behind in the first over, but Bruce Dooland
(19) "defended steadily while McCool punished the bowling unmercifully. Hooking and driving with absolute confidence". as they added 83. In the end Edrich (3/50) removed Dooland and Toshack to leave McCool 104 not out and Australia were out for 365
Ray Lindwall
returned to Test bowling by dismissing Len Hutton
with a beautiful swinging ball which moved from middle stump to flick the edge of his bat and was caught by Colin McCool
at first slip. Bill Edrich
joined Cyril Washbrook
and together they took the score to 147/1 by the end of the second day, Edrich hit 10 fours in his 85 while Washbrook struck only 1 four in his 54. Resuming in the morning Lindwall (2/62) had Erich lbw for 89, much to his disappointment as like McCool he had been promised £1 a run if he made a century. Edrich had now made the highest score in the last three England innings (71, 119 and 89) and had returned the best figures in the last two Australian innings (3/79 and 3/50) and looked good for a big score. When he returned to the England dressing room he complained that he had hit the ball into his pads and should not have been out. This was overheard by an English pressman and was widely reported, becoming a major point of contention, especially as Denis Compton
out lbw to Ernie Toshack
when padding up of a ball that landed outside the stumps, causing the Middlesex player to stare at Umpire Scott
in disbelief before his walked off. Wally Hammond
came on and, annoyed at the two dismissals, gave a simple caught-and-bowled to Bruce Dooland
, who then caught and bowled Cyril Washbrook
for 62 and England had collapsed from 155/1 to 179/5. Jack Ikin
(48) and Norman Yardley
(61) dug in for two over hours and restored the innings with a stand of 113 until McCool (2/53) bowled the vice-captain and Dooland (4/69) removed Ikin and Voce with successive balls. With England 298/8 there was still a chance that they could overtake Australia for the first time in the series. Godfrey Evans
made 17 and added 26 with Alec Bedser
who swung the bat for 27 not out making 27 runs for the last wicket with Wright until the spinner was bowled by Johnson and England were out for 351, 14 runs behind.
Bill Voce
was still unable to bowl and Bill Edrich
opened the bowling. Sid Barnes
appealed against the light, which was rejected, and he and Arthur Morris
were 32/0 at the end of the third day. They took their stand to 68 when Barnes was caught by Godfrey Evans
off Norman Yardley
(3/67). The Yorkshireman kept up his reputation as a wicket-taker by dismissing Don Bradman (49) for the third successive time and Keith Miller
(34). Yardley usually obtained his wickets in partnership with Alec Bedser
(3/176) or Doug Wright
(3/131), who bowled so well that batsmen felt they had to hit out at the other end. However Morris batted through the day for his maiden Test century of 155 adding 91 with Bradman, 65 with Miller and 91 with McCool (43) before he was bowled by Bedser. Bedser also accounted for McCool and Ian Johnson was run out for a duck and Australia were 341/7. At this point the game ran away from England as Don Tallon
(92) and Ray Lindwall
(100) thumped the ball for 154 runs in 99 minutes. Wally Hammond
kept the slips in place and Tallon hit 10 fours through the gaps, Lindwall 13 fours and a 6 as the England captain "sphinx
-like marched from slip at one end to slip at the other, apparently, as Plum Warner
wrote of him, just 'letting the game go on'". When Wright finally caught and bowled Tallon Australia were 495/8 and Lindwall just reached his maiden Test century off 90 balls - by hitting Bedser into the sightscreen - before Dooland and Toshack fell. Tallon's 92 remained the highest score by an Australian wicketkeeper until Rod Marsh
equalled it with 92 not out in the 1970-71 Ashes series and surpassed it with 132 against New Zealand in 1973–74. Australia made 536 and England needed 551 runs to win, or to bat out 7 hours for a draw.
Len Hutton
survived another "opening blitz" from Lindwall and Miller and was the silent partner in a stand of 138 with Cyril Washbrook
. They took England to 91/0 at the start of the sixth and last day and had added 137 when Hutton was caught by Bradman off Ernie Toshack
after batting almost three hours for 40 runs. Washbrook held the innings together with his 112, bringing all "his concentration to bear he revealed a variety of shots that were a delight to watch, combined with a defence which could as dour as if he had been playing in a blood match against Yorkshire
and not merely a Test in Australia". But wickets fell regularly at the other end and at 247/6 England were looking at defeat. With 53 runs in 89 minutes Norman Yardley
dug himself in with Wally Hammond
, 26 runs in 77 minutes, Alec Bedser
, 25 runs in 49 minutes, and Godfrey Evans
0 runs in 15 minutes. The rain helped, but only 45 minutes were lost in the day due to the umpires as the English batsmen refused to appeal for light on the orders of Hammond even though Bradman twice suggested that they come off the field. Bill O'Reilly
said "I could not understand why the English batsman seemed loath to appeal against the weather, even when the rain was coming down solidly. There are no praises for gallant gestures in Tests matches". In the end England survived the match on 310/7 with Yardley and Evans still at the crease.
Australia drew with England to maintain their 2-0 series lead and retain the Ashes
. It was the third time that a Test match had been drawn in Australia, the previous two were the fifth and eight Tests ever to be played during Alfred Shaw
's tour of 1881-82, the last Tests played before the Ashes
were inaugurated. 1,562 runs were scored in the Test, only the seventh time in 146 Tests that 1,500 runs had been scored in Anglo-Australian Tests, the last being the 1,601 runs made in four days in the Lords Test of 1930
. By taking 2/50 and 3/67 and making 61 and 53 not out Norman Yardley
established himself as a Test all-rounder
and by dismissing Bradman in each innings he prevented the Don from making a century against England at the MCG
for the only time in his career. 343,675 attended the match - second only to the 350,534 at the Third Test at MCG
in 1936-37 - with record receipts of £44,063
.
After the Third Test the MCC team toured Tasmania and Clif Cary
of the Sunday Express
wrote that "Social successes are one of the causes of their cricket failure...There are tourists who do not give the impression that cricket is their main consideration". This was thought to be aimed at Denis Compton
and one Australian Test cricketer
told Cary "It will make Compton and others will pull up their socks, and we might never get them out at Adelaide." There were also calls for Wally Hammond
to resign the captaincy in favour of Norman Yardley
, but these were silenced when he made 188 against South Australia
, his 167th - and last - first class century. He became the seventh man to make 50,000 first class runs after W.G. Grace, Jack Hobbs
, Phil Mead
, Frank Woolley
, Patsy Hendren
and Herbert Sutcliffe
and "for some time afterwards he was kept busy answering congratulatory letters, telegrams, and cables from admirers in all parts of the world". The Adelaide Oval
had been "Bradman's Front Lawn" since he had moved to South Australia
in 1935 and "if ever a Test wicket was laid down to kill it was that 22 yards long graveyard of a spin bowler's hope. It was as dead and lifeless as Mussolini
and at the end of the sixth, and final day, was playing as truly as when the match began". Bill Voce
was dropped in favour of the batsman Joe Hardstaff
, so England went into the match with only two specialist bowlers - Alec Bedser
and Doug Wright
. Sid Barnes
was ill and was replaced by the Victorian
strokemaker Merv Harvey
who was promoted into then opening slot. The Test was played in "stifling, almost insufferable heat" with temperatures rising up to 105°F (40.5°C) and a brief shower only served to help bind the wicket when it might have started to break. Hammond won the toss and chose to bat.
The fast bowling of Ray Lindwall
and Keith Miller
was seen off by England's opening partnership as Len Hutton
(94) and Cyril Washbrook
(65) made another century stand; 137 runs in 178 minutes. Bradman declined to take the new ball when 200 runs were made (as was the custom in those days) and was rewarded when Bruce Dooland
(3/133) removed Washbrook and Edrich and Colin McCool
caught Hutton lbw. Wally Hammond
was in so much pain from fibrositis that he took 12 aspirin
before he went out to bat and was bowled by Ernie Toshack
for 18 to leave England were 202/4. Denis Compton
(147) stroked his way to 147, adding 118 with Joe Hardstaff
(67), 61 with Jack Ikin
(21) and 74 with Norman Yardley
(18 not out). It was his third first-class century in a row and "It was amazing to see Compton occasionally run down the pitch, change his mind, and either play the ball like a baseball
bunt, or scamper back to ground his bat in time to get the benefit of the doubt on a stumping appeal". Lindwall thought he should have been stumped before he reached his century, "but I could well understand the umpire's explanation...that the glare of the sun suddenly became so intense that he was unable to see clearly the white line of the popping crease". In any case Lindwall quickly ended the innings with the new ball, he caught and bowled Compton to have England 455/7. In the next over he sent Alec Bedser
's off-stump cart-wheeling back to the wicketkeeper, then bowled Godfrey Evans
first ball, shaved Doug Wright's stumps before bowling him second ball - 3 wickets in 4 balls to end the innings for 460. This was the nearest that Lindwall ever got to a hat-trick
.
Australia had 30 minutes to bat until stumps, but Merv Harvey
was out for 12 runs off 15 balls and Bradman came to the wicket. In the Second Test at Sydney Alec Bedser
had caught Sid Barnes
with an in-swinging leg-break and had developed this delivery, soon known as Bedser's “Special Ball” and clean-bowled Bradman for a duck. Bradman wrote "The ball with which Alec Bedser
bowled me in the Adelaide Test Match was, I think, the finest ever to take my wicket. It must have come three-quarters of the way straight on my off-stump, then suddenly dipped in to pitch on the leg stump, only to turn off the pitch and hit the middle and off stumps". He returned to the Australian dressing room telling the waiting batsmen that it had been an unplayable ball. Keith Miller
thought he was making excuses for being out for a duck and that "He did no service to those who still had to face Alec", but Bradman maintained that it had been good enough to bowl him if he had been on 300. Australia began the third day on 24/2, but soon made a complete recovery from their bad start. Doug Wright
(3/152) had trouble with his no balls due to his odd run up "He waves his arms widely, and rocks on his legs like a small ship pitching and tossing in a fairly heavy sea. Whenever he bowls in Australia there are people who whistle and cat-call as he goes through his strange approach to the stumps." As a result Bedser (3/97) was called on to bowl virtually all day until he could barely stand from heat exhaustion. Bill Edrich
(0/88) had opened the bowling, but could make no impression on the dull pitch and Norman Yardley
(3/101) was called upon to bowl 31 overs. Morris made 122 with 12 fours and 2 sixes, adding 189 with Lindsay Hassett
(78). Keith Miller
hit his maiden Test century; 141 not out in 4½ hours with 9 fours and a six, adding 150 with Ian Johnson
(52), 27 with Lindwall (20) and 63 with Dooland (29). Toshack was brilliantly run out by Edrich for a duck and Australia were out for 487, a lead of 27 on the first innings.
Though delayed by 23 minutes by a short thunderstorm and bounced by Lindwall and Miller Len Hutton
(76) and Cyril Washbrook
(30) made their third century stand - exactly 100 - to match the record of Hobbs
and Sutcliffe
in 1924-25
. They looked set to make more, but Washbrook was given out to a ball that Don Tallon
scooped off the ground off Lindwall (2/60). Washbrook "stood there transfixed. Even some of the Australian leg-side fielders expressed amazement". Tallon was known for his impetuous appealing - "he was often roaring before he had studied facts and it was his over-eagerness that brought about the shocking decision", This caused another umpiring controversy, but Tallon maintained the appeal and Bradman backed him. The Australian reporter Ray Robinson wrote "the hesitant umpire would have been wiser to have asked his square-leg colleague whether it carried to the gloves or was gathered on the half-volley". Washbrook told Hammond that the ball had gone into the ground and the England captain tried to locate a press photograph of the ball touching the ground to show the ABC
. Bill Edrich
made a solid 46, but wickets fell regularly to Ernie Toshack
(4/76). Hammond with his last stroke in Australia hit the ball for a certain four until it was superbly taken by Lindwall, “Every time he missed or edged the ball he was out". England were 255/8 when Godfrey Evans
joined Denis Compton
, only 228 runs ahead and it was essential that they stayed together. Evans, who usually tried to run cheeky singles off almost every ball, spent a record 95 minutes before making a run. Bradman was ready to accept a second draw to ensure that he won the series, set defensive fields and wasted time "set his side a frightful example by taking minutes almost, to walk lazily after the ball and field it". Clif Cary
thought this was his only mistake of the series, as he could have bought the last two wickets for 40-50 runs with a day and a half to make the runs on a perfect pitch. Compton made his second century of the match at the other end and they added 85 for the ninth wicket, but Tallon missed a stumping off Evans on 282/8 and Lindwall thought Compton should have been stumped before he reached three figures. His hundred was hit off the last ball before lunch, but Hammond waited until the first ball after lunch before declaring at 340/8. This decision was much discussed and was thought to be unique, but the West Indies captain Jackie Grant
had done this against England at the Queen's Park Oval
in Trinidad
in 1934-35. It wasted 10 minutes as the teams changed sides.
Hammond had left the Australians 3¼ hours to make 314 runs to win, not impossible as they had some excellent strokemakers in their team. Merv Harvey
made no attempt to get the runs and spent 100 minutes making 31, keeping Arthur Morris
company in an opening stand of 116 until he was bowled by Yardley. Bradman could have sent Keith Miller
in at number 3, both to make quick runs and so that he could avoid a pair of ducks, but he came out himself. He struggled for 20 minutes against Alec Bedser
to get off the mark when Umpire Scott called the Surrey bowler for a no ball and the Don got off the mark. Bradman made 56 not out and added 99 with Morris who completed his third successive Test century of 124 not out. Australia finished the day on 214/1 and the game was a draw.
(147 and 103 not out) and Arthur Morris
(122 and 124 not out) became the seventh and eight batsmen to make a pair of centuries in a Test after Warren Bardsley
, Jack Russell, Herbert Sutcliffe
(twice), Wally Hammond
, George Headley
(twice) and Eddie Paynter
. It was the first time that two batsmen achieved this feat in the same Test, to be repeated by Ian
and Greg Chappell
against New Zealand in 1973-74. In honour of the event they were presented with silver watches by the South Australian Cricket Association
, as was Ray Lindwall
for his 3 wickets in 4 balls. 1,502 runs were scored in the Test, the eighth time 1,500 runs had been scored in an Anglo-Australian Test. The full attendance was 135,980 and receipts of £18,117
.
The MCC played New South Wales immediately before the Fifth Test and it rained, as in every other match on their tour. The ground staff ran on to cover the MCC-NSW wicket and left the Test wicket under the rain. As a result it was over-watered and while not dangerous it favoured the bowlers and produced the best cricket of the series. Len Hutton
was sent to hospital after being hit on the chin by a Ginty Lush bouncer in that match, but returned to make 40 and 74. Jack Fingleton
called on Lindwall and Miller to not subject him to another fast bowling barrage, which could damage his weakened left arm and end his career. Wally Hammond
had a crippling attack of fibrositis the day before the Test and was unable to turn without pain and reluctantly withdrew in favour of Norman Yardley
. He remained in the dressing room and gave advice, but there was an improvement in the way England played on the field. Joe Hardstaff
was also unfit and they were replaced by the popular Surrey
opener Laurie Fishlock
and the off-spinner
Peter Smith
, who had just taken a record 9/121 at the SCG
. Sid Barnes
returned to the Australian team
after his illness and Merv Harvey
was dropped, the batsman Ron Hamence
replaced the injured Ian Johnson
and George Tribe
was preferred to Bruce Dooland
. Yardley won the toss and chose to bat.
After a good length ball from Ray Lindwall
removed Cyril Washbrook
's stumps Len Hutton
and Bill Edrich
weathered the fat bowling and added 150 for the second wicket. Edrich was caught off Lindwall for 60, Laurie Fishlock
fell to Colin McCool
, and Lindwall knocked Denis Compton
's his bat out of his hands and on the stumps. Norman Yardley
came in he appealed for bad light, which was turned down even though it was so dim that the Australian cameramen were unable to take clear photographs. Lindwall removed Yardley and Jack Ikin
and England ended the day on 237/6. Hutton had batted throughout the day with typical Yorkshire grit for 122 not out, but was struck down by acute tonsillitis
the following day and was taken to hospital with a temperature of 103°F (39.5°C). He was ill for the rest of the Test - a severe blow to the England team - and was flown back to England for a throat operation immediately afterwards. His latest innings gave him 888 runs (111.00) against Australia. The Saturday Hutton took ill was lost to rain, but on the Sunday the field was dried by the sun and mushrooms grew in the outfield. Lindwall bowled Godfrey Evans
and Peter Smith
in the morning to give him 7/63, Miller had Doug Wright
and England were out for 280. Lindwall thought that George Tribe
had bowled just as well, but had no luck and returned 0/95.
Sid Barnes
(71) and Arthur Morris
(57) added 126 for Australia's first wicket until both were removed by Alec Bedser
(2/49) soon after tea. Despite the 102°F (39°C) heat, the English fielding improved on the previous Tests, with Godfrey Evans
, Denis Compton
and Laurie Fishlock
to the fore. Compton amused the crowd by chasing a piece of paper across the ground and grabbing it with a rugby tackle
to the laughter of the 40,000 crowd. McCool and Tribe had managed to turn the ball on the first day and at last Doug Wright
found things turning his way. Hammond had set stereotyped fields in the first four Tests and was loath to change them, but the new captain Norman Yardley
was keen to take advice from his professionals. He changed the field as each batsmen came in and gave Wright a field of close catchers instead of trying to save runs. At the start of each Test Wright would receive telegrams and letters from well-wishers who had lamented his bad luck "Never a match went by in which he did not hopelessly defeat the defences of the leading run-getters. Times out of number he had Barnes, Bradman, Hassett and their like groping forward hypnotised by the magic of his spinning witchcraft". Wright bowled unchanged for nearly two hours and took the wickets of Don Bradman, who came down the wicket, misjudged the spin and bowled for 12, and Keith Miller
taken by Jack Ikin
at slip. Australia started the fourth day on 189/4 and Bedser and Wright bowled unchanged for 11 overs each. Bedser shut up his end and conceded only 15 runs while Wright span his way through the Australian batting with a spell of 5/42 with Hassett, McCool, Tallon, Lindwall and Tribe all falling to catches close to the wicket. Only Ron Hamence
stood up and made 31 not out in 1¾ hours and when Ernie Toshack
was run out against Australia were dismissed for 253, a deficit of 17 runs.
(2/46) catching Laurie Fishlock
lbw through sheer pace with the first ball of the innings. Cyril Washbrook
, Bill Edrich
and Peter Smith
all made 24 and only Denis Compton
made more with 76 before he was caught in Toshack's leg-trap. Colin McCool
took 5/44 with "the English batsmen seemed like rabbits fascinated in the presence of a snake". As Hutton was unable to bat England were out for 186 on the last day, leaving Australia 214 to win.
On a pitch taking spin Yardley depended on Bedser and Wright to win the match and the spinner came on after only one over from Edrich. The roller had pressed the wicket and Sid Barnes
and Arthur Morris
decided to make runs while its effects lasted. They made 45 for the first wicket when Morris gambled on a third run when Compton misfielded and was run out. Bradman edged a ball from Wright to Edrich at slip, who dropped it, but Barnes was taken by Evans off Bedser. In the end it was Edrich's dropped catch that decided the day as Bradman and Hassett dropped anchor and took and hour to make 13 runs, tiring out the bowlers as they did so. When Bedser and Wright were rested they attacked their replacements Edrich and Smith, who were replaced by Yardley and Wright after two overs. Australia reached tea with 110/2 and in the last session they chased the runs. Bradman was out to Bedser (2/76) for 63 and Hassett to Wright (2/93) for 47, but Keith Miller
was told to get runs quickly before time ran out. "No message ever had a readier recipient" and he struck 6 fours in his unbeaten 34 off 44 balls. a grateful Bradman spoke of "the sheer artistry, the classical style and power of an innings by Miller" when interviewed just after the Test Hamance was out for 1, but5 Australia reached 214/5 and won by 5 wickets.
. It was the first time that they had played an Ashes series without a Test defeat since Warwick Armstrong
's 5-0 win in Australia in 1920-21
and 3-0 win in England in 1921
, just after the last war. The full attendance was 93,011 and receipts of £12,619
. The total attendance for the Test series was 853,122 with receipts of £115,858
. Bradman said that "The quick resumption of Anglo-Australian Tests had justified itself in every way, psychologically, technically, financially". Len Hutton
was flown home for a throat operation, the injured Paul Gibb
, James Langridge, Joe Hardstaff
went home by sea with Bill Ferguson
and the heavy baggage while the rest of the England team sailed east to play in New Zealand.
, Vic Richardson
, Alan McGilvray
, Alan Kippax
, Bill O'Reilly
, Clif Cary
and E.W. Swanton. The English press corps formed the Empire Cricket-Writers Club XI, which played cricket with some famous old names; Arthur Mailey
, George Duckworth
, Richard Whitington
, Bill Bowes
, Jack Fingleton
, Vivian Jenkins
, E.W. Swanton, E.M. Wellings and J.M. Kilburn.
had been a professional until 1938 when his business interests allowed him to turn amateur
, allowing him to captain England. Bill Edrich
was a professional who became an amateur in 1947 and captain of Middlesex
in 1950. The Australians were all amateurs until the Packer Revolution
, even though they played like professionals. Of particular note is that Doug Wright
was the biggest wicket-taker on either side with 23 wickets (43.04), but with a higher average than anyone else who has held this position. He was also the chief first–class wicket-taker of the 1946-47 season – 51 wickets (33.31) and bowled just over a third of England’s overs; 246.3 compared to 240.2 by Alec Bedser
and 246.5 by the rest. Norman Yardley
topped England’s bowling averages with 10 wickets (37.20) even though he had not bowled for Yorkshire
in 1946, though he had taken 6/29 for the MCC against Cambridge University
, coming on as the seventh bowler.
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
Test matches
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
, each of six days with five hours play each day and eight ball overs
Over (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, an over is a set of six consecutive balls bowled in succession. An over is normally bowled by a single bowler. However, in the event of injury preventing a bowler from completing an over, it is completed by a teammate....
. Unlike pre-war Tests in Australia, matches were not timeless
Timeless Test
A timeless Test is a match of Test cricket played under no limitation of time, which means the match is played until one side wins or the match is tied, with theoretically no possibility of a draw. The format means that it is not possible to play defensively for a draw when the allotted time runs...
and played to a finish. It formed part of the MCC tour of Australia in 1946–47
MCC tour of Australia in 1946–47
The Marylebone Cricket Club tour of Australia in 1946-47 under the captaincy of Wally Hammond was its eighth since it took official control of overseas tours in 1907-1908 and the first since the Second World War. The touring team played as England in the 1946–47 Ashes series against Australia, but...
and England played its matches outside the Tests in the name of the Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
. The England team
English cricket team in Australia in 1946-47
The English cricket team in Australia in 1946–47 was captained by Wally Hammond, with Norman Yardley as his vice-captain and Bill Edrich as the senior professional. It played as England in the 1946-47 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour...
was led by the veteran Wally Hammond
Wally Hammond
Walter Reginald "Wally" Hammond was an English Test cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning his career as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed captain of England...
and his vice-captain Norman Yardley
Norman Yardley
Norman Walter Dransfield Yardley was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, as a right-handed batsman and occasional bowler. An amateur, he captained Yorkshire from 1948 to 1955 and England on fourteen occasions between 1947 and 1950,...
with the strong batting line up of Len Hutton
Len Hutton
Sir Leonard "Len" Hutton was an English Test cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England in the years around the Second World War as an opening batsman. He was described by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket...
, Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook was an English cricketer, who played for Lancashire and England. He had a long career, split by World War II, and ending when he was aged 44. Washbrook, who is most famous for opening the batting for England with Len Hutton, which he did fifty one times, played a total of 592...
, Bill Edrich
Bill Edrich
William John "Bill" Edrich DFC was a distinguished cricketer who played for Middlesex, MCC, Norfolk and England.Edrich's three brothers, Brian, Eric and Geoff, and also his cousin, John, all played first-class cricket...
, Denis Compton
Denis Compton
Denis Charles Scott Compton CBE was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches, and a footballer...
and Joe Hardstaff
Joe Hardstaff junior
Joseph Hardstaff junior was an English cricketer, who played in twenty three Tests for England from 1935 to 1948...
, but a weak bowling attack that relied on pre-war bowlers like the 37-year-old Bill Voce
Bill Voce
Bill Voce was an English cricketer. He played for the Nottinghamshire and England, and was an instrumental part of England's infamous Bodyline tour of Australia in 1932–1933.-Life and career:...
of Bodyline
Bodyline
Bodyline, also known as fast leg theory bowling, was a cricketing tactic devised by the English cricket team for their 1932–33 Ashes tour of Australia, specifically to combat the extraordinary batting skill of Australia's Don Bradman...
fame and the mercurial leg-spinner Doug Wright
Doug Wright (cricketer)
Douglas Vivian Parson Wright, better known as Doug Wright was an English cricketer. A leg-spinner for Kent and England from 1932 to 1957 he took a record seven hat-tricks in first class cricket. He played for Kent for 25 years and was their first professional captain from late 1953 to 1956...
. The two successes of the tour were the newly capped Alec Bedser
Alec Bedser
Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE was a professional English cricketer. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club...
, who would carry the England bowling attack until 1955, and Godfrey Evans
Godfrey Evans
Thomas Godfrey Evans CBE was an English cricketer who played for Kent and England.Described by Wisden as 'arguably the best wicket-keeper the game has ever seen', Evans collected 219 dismissals in 91 Test match appearances between 1946 and 1959 and a total of 1066 in all first-class matches...
who would be England's first choice wicketkeeper until 1959. England had drawn the Victory Tests
Victory Tests
The Victory Tests were a series of cricket matches played in England from 19 May to 22 August 1945, between a combined Australian Services XI and an English national side...
2-2 in 1945 and were thought to be equal in strength, but Hammond lost 3-0 to Don Bradman's Australian team
Australian cricket team in Australia in 1946-47
The 1946-47 Australians defeated the touring England team 3-0 in the 1946-47 Ashes series. First class cricket had continued in Australia until January 1942 and as grade cricket had continued throughout the war there had been less of an hiatus than in England...
which had only two other pre-war players - Lindsay Hassett
Lindsay Hassett
Arthur Lindsay Hassett MBE was a cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia. The diminutive Hassett was an elegant middle-order batsman, described by Wisden as, "... a master of nearly every stroke ... his superb timing, nimble footwork and strong wrists enabled him to make batting look a...
and Sid Barnes
Sid Barnes
Sidney George Barnes was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following the Second World War...
, who had played 5 Tests between them - and was packed with fresh talent in the shape of Arthur Morris
Arthur Morris
Arthur Robert Morris MBE is a former Australian cricketer who played 46 Test matches between 1946 and 1955. An opener, Morris is regarded as one of Australia's greatest left-handed batsmen. He is best known for his key role in Don Bradman's Invincibles side, which made an undefeated tour of...
, Keith Miller
Keith Miller
Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
, Ray Lindwall
Ray Lindwall
Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
, Colin McCool
Colin McCool
Colin Leslie McCool was an Australian cricketer who played in 14 Tests from 1946 to 1950. McCool, born in Paddington, New South Wales, was an all-rounder who bowled leg spin and googlies with a round arm action and as a lower order batsman was regarded as effective square of the wicket and against...
, Ernie Toshack
Ernie Toshack
Ernest Raymond Herbert Toshack was an Australian cricketer who played in 12 Tests from 1946 to 1948. A left arm medium paced bowler who was known for his accuracy and stamina in his application of leg theory, Toshack was best known for being as member of Don Bradman's Invincibles that toured...
and Don Tallon
Don Tallon
Donald "Don" Tallon was an Australian cricketer who played 21 Test matches as a wicket-keeper between 1946 and 1953...
. There were several controversial umpiring decisions
Umpiring in the 1946–47 Ashes series
The England team were unhappy with the umpiring in the 1946–47 Ashes series, in particular when Don Bradman was not given out when caught by Jack Ikin for 28 in the First Test and 22 in the Second...
which assumed greater significance as they favoured Australia and in particular Don Bradman.
“Few seasons have created so much advance interest as 1946-47”, a tour had been planned for 1940-41, but this was cancelled due to the Second World War. The Australian Board of Control asked for a rapid resumption of Test cricket
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
to revive the sport in Australia, which had not hosted a Test match since 1937. Their case was made in person by the Attorney-General of Australia
Attorney-General of Australia
The Attorney-General of Australia is the first law officer of the Crown, chief law officer of the Commonwealth of Australia and a minister of the Crown. The Attorney-General is usually a member of the Federal Cabinet, but there is no constitutional requirement that this be the case since the...
Dr. H.V. Evatt
H. V. Evatt
Herbert Vere Evatt, QC KStJ , was an Australian jurist, politician and writer. He was President of the United Nations General Assembly in 1948–49 and helped draft the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights...
and the Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
reluctantly agreed as it wanted to re-establish cricketing relations and needed money to rebuild cricket in post-war Britain
Economic history of the United Kingdom
The economic history of the United Kingdom deals with the history of the economy of the United Kingdom from the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain on May 1st, 1707, with the political union of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland...
. The MCC asked Hammond to lead a "Goodwill Tour" and he was told that good sportsmanship was more important than winning the series, which could be seriously contested later in the 1948 Ashes series
1948 Ashes series
The 1948 Ashes series was that year's edition of the long-standing cricket rivalry between England and Australia. Starting on 10 June 1948, England and Australia played five Tests. Australia had not lost a Test since the Second World War and were strong favourites...
. As a result he looked on the tour as an extended holiday, a view not shared by Don Bradman, who was determined to win the series, and this led to a strained relationship between the two captains. The tour itself was a great success as crowds flocked to see the matches - more than in any series in Australia since - and it made a record £50,000
Australian pound
The pound was the currency of Australia from 1910 until 13 February 1966, when it was replaced by the Australian dollar. It was subdivided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence.- Earlier Australian currencies :...
profit for the MCC.
First Test – Brisbane
Preliminaries
Cause of the dead Brisbane wicket when Australia batted was the drought which had been suffered in Queensland for such a long period...People who were praying for water were among those to give the tourists a tremendous Brisbane welcome. Rain had fallen in every match in which the Englishmen had played and the record was maintained until the end of the tour, and the Test storm at Brisbane, the second of the match, was the worst I have ever witnessed.
- Clif Cary
Clif CaryClif Cary was an Australian cricket reporter of the 1930s and 1940s. He was the "sports editor on the commercial radio network with the largest sports audience in the Commonwealth" and in 1946 he published Test Cricket and Records, "a splendid, authentic and comprehensive history of the many great...
Due to the war this was the first Test to be played in Australia since 3 March 1937 and there were eight Australian debutants; Ian Johnson
Ian Johnson (cricketer)
Ian William Geddes Johnson CBE was an Australian cricketer who played 45 Test matches as a slow off-break bowler between 1946 and 1956. Johnson captured 109 Test wickets at an average of 29.19 runs per wicket and as a lower order batsman made 1,000 runs at an average of...
, Ray Lindwall
Ray Lindwall
Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
, Colin McCool
Colin McCool
Colin Leslie McCool was an Australian cricketer who played in 14 Tests from 1946 to 1950. McCool, born in Paddington, New South Wales, was an all-rounder who bowled leg spin and googlies with a round arm action and as a lower order batsman was regarded as effective square of the wicket and against...
, Keith Miller
Keith Miller
Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
, Arthur Morris
Arthur Morris
Arthur Robert Morris MBE is a former Australian cricketer who played 46 Test matches between 1946 and 1955. An opener, Morris is regarded as one of Australia's greatest left-handed batsmen. He is best known for his key role in Don Bradman's Invincibles side, which made an undefeated tour of...
, Don Tallon
Don Tallon
Donald "Don" Tallon was an Australian cricketer who played 21 Test matches as a wicket-keeper between 1946 and 1953...
, Ernie Toshack
Ernie Toshack
Ernest Raymond Herbert Toshack was an Australian cricketer who played in 12 Tests from 1946 to 1948. A left arm medium paced bowler who was known for his accuracy and stamina in his application of leg theory, Toshack was best known for being as member of Don Bradman's Invincibles that toured...
and George Tribe
George Tribe
George Edward Tribe was an Australian cricketer who played in 3 Tests from 1946 to 1947, as well as an Australian rules footballer with the Footscray Football Club in the VFL....
. However, Johnson, Lindwall, McCool, Miller, Tallon and Toshack had played in an Australia vs New Zealand match the previous season which was belatedly recognised as a Test, the only game between the two countries treated as such before 1973. As a result only Morris and Tribe are now seen as debutants with vice-captain Lindsay Hassett
Lindsay Hassett
Arthur Lindsay Hassett MBE was a cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia. The diminutive Hassett was an elegant middle-order batsman, described by Wisden as, "... a master of nearly every stroke ... his superb timing, nimble footwork and strong wrists enabled him to make batting look a...
having played only four Tests before the war and Sid Barnes
Sid Barnes
Sidney George Barnes was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following the Second World War...
one. Don Bradman made himself available for selection at the last moment against the advice of his doctor due to the severe attack of fibrositis during the war, and ailment from which the England captain Wally Hammond
Wally Hammond
Walter Reginald "Wally" Hammond was an English Test cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning his career as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed captain of England...
also suffered. There were no English debutants; Hammond, Len Hutton
Len Hutton
Sir Leonard "Len" Hutton was an English Test cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England in the years around the Second World War as an opening batsman. He was described by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket...
, Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook was an English cricketer, who played for Lancashire and England. He had a long career, split by World War II, and ending when he was aged 44. Washbrook, who is most famous for opening the batting for England with Len Hutton, which he did fifty one times, played a total of 592...
, Bill Edrich
Bill Edrich
William John "Bill" Edrich DFC was a distinguished cricketer who played for Middlesex, MCC, Norfolk and England.Edrich's three brothers, Brian, Eric and Geoff, and also his cousin, John, all played first-class cricket...
, Denis Compton
Denis Compton
Denis Charles Scott Compton CBE was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches, and a footballer...
, Paul Gibb
Paul Gibb
Paul Gibb was an English cricketer, who played in eight Tests for England from 1938 to 1946. He also played first-class cricket for Cambridge University and Yorkshire, mostly as a batsman but occasionally also keeping wicket.Gibb was educated at St Edward's School, Oxford, and played first-class...
, Bill Voce
Bill Voce
Bill Voce was an English cricketer. He played for the Nottinghamshire and England, and was an instrumental part of England's infamous Bodyline tour of Australia in 1932–1933.-Life and career:...
and Doug Wright
Doug Wright (cricketer)
Douglas Vivian Parson Wright, better known as Doug Wright was an English cricketer. A leg-spinner for Kent and England from 1932 to 1957 he took a record seven hat-tricks in first class cricket. He played for Kent for 25 years and was their first professional captain from late 1953 to 1956...
were all pre-war players, vice-captain Norman Yardley
Norman Yardley
Norman Walter Dransfield Yardley was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, as a right-handed batsman and occasional bowler. An amateur, he captained Yorkshire from 1948 to 1955 and England on fourteen occasions between 1947 and 1950,...
had played one Test before the war and Alec Bedser
Alec Bedser
Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE was a professional English cricketer. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club...
and Jack Ikin
Jack Ikin
John Thomas Ikin, known as Jack Ikin was an English cricketer, who played in eighteen Tests from 1946 to 1955...
had debuted against India in 1946
Indian cricket team in England in 1946
The Indian cricket team toured England in the 1946 season and played 29 first-class fixtures with 11 wins, 4 defeats and 14 draws. The 1946 season marked a return to normal first-class cricket in England following the end of World War II...
. The vaunted England batting line up had done well so far on the tour
MCC tour of Australia in 1946–47
The Marylebone Cricket Club tour of Australia in 1946-47 under the captaincy of Wally Hammond was its eighth since it took official control of overseas tours in 1907-1908 and the first since the Second World War. The touring team played as England in the 1946–47 Ashes series against Australia, but...
, with Hutton making 522 runs (87.00), Washbrook 461 runs (51.22), Edrich 221 runs (44.20), Compton 423 runs (60.43) and Hammond 277 runs (55.40), but their bowling had been weakened by injuries. Gibbs was preferred as wicketkeeper over Godfrey Evans
Godfrey Evans
Thomas Godfrey Evans CBE was an English cricketer who played for Kent and England.Described by Wisden as 'arguably the best wicket-keeper the game has ever seen', Evans collected 219 dismissals in 91 Test match appearances between 1946 and 1959 and a total of 1066 in all first-class matches...
because of his batting form in South Africa in 1938-39. There had been a drought in Queensland since 1941 and the curator had tried boring for water
Water well
A water well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, boring or drilling to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn by an electric submersible pump, a trash pump, a vertical turbine pump, a handpump or a mechanical pump...
without success. The Woolloongabba wicket, traditionally green and helpful to fast bowlers, was a dry, lifeless brown and good for runs. Bradman won the toss and had no difficulty in choosing to bat first.
Australia - First Innings
Bradman had only made 28, when he played Bill VoceBill VoceBill Voce was an English cricketer. He played for the Nottinghamshire and England, and was an instrumental part of England's infamous Bodyline tour of Australia in 1932–1933.-Life and career:...
into the slips. Jack IkinJack IkinJohn Thomas Ikin, known as Jack Ikin was an English cricketer, who played in eighteen Tests from 1946 to 1955...
caught the ball and threw it high in the air in joy. He had caught the great Bradman, and Australia, he thought, were three down for under a hundred on a good wicket. That was how it looked to Ikin, to some of the other English players and some of the crowd, and that was how it looked to me sitting watching from the dressing room. Bradman, however, thought it was a bump ball and he stayed, as he was fully entitled to do if there was any doubt in his mind... the umpire gave him not out and he went on to make 187 of Australia's total of 645.
- Keith Miller
Keith MillerKeith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
Wally Hammond
Walter Reginald "Wally" Hammond was an English Test cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning his career as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed captain of England...
caught Arthur Morris
Arthur Morris
Arthur Robert Morris MBE is a former Australian cricketer who played 46 Test matches between 1946 and 1955. An opener, Morris is regarded as one of Australia's greatest left-handed batsmen. He is best known for his key role in Don Bradman's Invincibles side, which made an undefeated tour of...
in the slips and Alec Bedser
Alec Bedser
Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE was a professional English cricketer. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club...
(2/159) had Don Bradman struggling in his third over, the Australian captain twice edging the ball to the close fielders. He was protected by Sid Barnes
Sid Barnes
Sidney George Barnes was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following the Second World War...
who controlled the strike and hooked the England bowlers until "Big Al"
Alec Bedser
Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE was a professional English cricketer. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club...
jumped up like a goalkeeper
Goalkeeper
In many team sports which involve scoring goals, a goalkeeper is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by intercepting shots at goal...
, knocked up the ball and took the catch on the rebound. Barnes (31) was officially reprimanded for using the hook and eliminated this stroke from his repertoire for the rest of the series. At 72/2 Bradman was still struggling on 28 after an hour at the crease when he gave his famous catch to Jack Ikin
Jack Ikin
John Thomas Ikin, known as Jack Ikin was an English cricketer, who played in eighteen Tests from 1946 to 1955...
off Bill Voce
Bill Voce
Bill Voce was an English cricketer. He played for the Nottinghamshire and England, and was an instrumental part of England's infamous Bodyline tour of Australia in 1932–1933.-Life and career:...
. The England players were so sure it was out (along with half the Australian team in the dressing room) that they did not immediately appeal and did so only after Bradman refused to walk. In a controversial umpiring decision Umpire Borwick gave him not out and Bradman later said he thought he had jammed the ball into the ground before it went to Ikin and that he was willing to let the umpire be the judge. Hammond was furious at what he saw as gamesmanship
Gamesmanship
Gamesmanship is the use of dubious methods to win a game. It has been described as "Pushing the rules to the limit without getting caught, using whatever dubious methods possible to achieve the desired end"...
that only spoke to the Australian captain when calling the toss for the rest of the series. After this incident Bradman recovered his confidence and with Bedser off the field due to a stomach ailment (a legacy of his service in Italy
Italian Campaign (World War II)
The Italian Campaign of World War II was the name of Allied operations in and around Italy, from 1943 to the end of the war in Europe. Joint Allied Forces Headquarters AFHQ was operationally responsible for all Allied land forces in the Mediterranean theatre, and it planned and commanded the...
) made 159 runs in 160 minutes. His vice-captain Lindsay Hassett
Lindsay Hassett
Arthur Lindsay Hassett MBE was a cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia. The diminutive Hassett was an elegant middle-order batsman, described by Wisden as, "... a master of nearly every stroke ... his superb timing, nimble footwork and strong wrists enabled him to make batting look a...
dug himself in for 128 and they added 274 for the third wicket. Hassett's brother was getting married that day and agreed to wait until he was out before they began the service. They gave up when he was 97 and he was still on 98 when they completed the service. Bradman was bowled by Bill Edrich
Bill Edrich
William John "Bill" Edrich DFC was a distinguished cricketer who played for Middlesex, MCC, Norfolk and England.Edrich's three brothers, Brian, Eric and Geoff, and also his cousin, John, all played first-class cricket...
(3/107) early on the second day and Hassett added another 106 run with his fellow-Victorian
Victorian Bushrangers
The Victorian cricket team, nicknamed the Bushrangers, is an Australian cricket team based in Melbourne, that represents the state of Victoria. It is administered by Cricket Victoria and draws its players from Melbourne's Premier Cricket competition...
Keith Miller
Keith Miller
Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
who hit 6 fours and a six in his 79. Hassett also hit a six, but was dropped three times before he was caught by Norman Yardley
Norman Yardley
Norman Walter Dransfield Yardley was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, as a right-handed batsman and occasional bowler. An amateur, he captained Yorkshire from 1948 to 1955 and England on fourteen occasions between 1947 and 1950,...
off Bedser (2/159). The English leg-spinner Doug Wright
Doug Wright (cricketer)
Douglas Vivian Parson Wright, better known as Doug Wright was an English cricketer. A leg-spinner for Kent and England from 1932 to 1957 he took a record seven hat-tricks in first class cricket. He played for Kent for 25 years and was their first professional captain from late 1953 to 1956...
(5/167) had Miller lbw
Leg before wicket
In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's...
, but the wicketkeeper Paul Gibb
Paul Gibb
Paul Gibb was an English cricketer, who played in eight Tests for England from 1938 to 1946. He also played first-class cricket for Cambridge University and Yorkshire, mostly as a batsman but occasionally also keeping wicket.Gibb was educated at St Edward's School, Oxford, and played first-class...
dropped Colin McCool
Colin McCool
Colin Leslie McCool was an Australian cricketer who played in 14 Tests from 1946 to 1950. McCool, born in Paddington, New South Wales, was an all-rounder who bowled leg spin and googlies with a round arm action and as a lower order batsman was regarded as effective square of the wicket and against...
off Bedser for 1 and McCool (95) and Ian Johnson
Ian Johnson (cricketer)
Ian William Geddes Johnson CBE was an Australian cricketer who played 45 Test matches as a slow off-break bowler between 1946 and 1956. Johnson captured 109 Test wickets at an average of 29.19 runs per wicket and as a lower order batsman made 1,000 runs at an average of...
(47) took the score to 595/5 by the end of the second day. Most of the third day was lost to heavy rain and bad light. When play resumed it was thought that Australia would declare, but Bradman gave 'a crooked little smile..."I remember when England made 900 against us and kept us in the field for three days
Australian cricket team in England in 1938
The 1938 Ashes series between Australia and England was drawn. England and Australia won a Test each, with two of the other Tests drawn and the third game of the series, scheduled for Manchester, abandoned without a ball being bowled, only the second instance of this in more than 60 years of Test...
"' and 10 minutes before play he told Hammond that he was going to bat on. "Bradman adopted his grim Napoleonic pose, as if the fate of his country rested on the retention of 'the Ashes
The Ashes
The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is one of the most celebrated rivalries in international cricket and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues...
'" and as the batting captain told the ground staff not to cut the grass on the pitch and had a three ton roller pulled over the wicket to draw up the moisture. Australia would not be batting for long and this increased the pace of the wicket for his fast bowlers, but a former Australian player called it "kicking a beaten opponent when he is down". The last 5 Australian wickets fell for 50 runs, mostly from Ray Lindwall
Ray Lindwall
Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
who hit 3 fours and 2 sixes in his 31. Australia's 645 was their highest total at home, overtaking the 604 made in their previous home Test at Melbourne in 1936-37
English cricket team in Australia in 1936-37
The England cricket team toured Australia in the 1936-37 season to play a five-match Test series against Australia for The Ashes. The tour was organised by the Marylebone Cricket Club and matches outside the Tests were played under the MCC name....
.
England - First Innings
... hailstones fell the size of golf-ballsGolf ballA golf ball is a ball designed to be used in the game of golf.Under the Rules of Golf, a golf ball weighs no more than 1.620 oz , has a diameter not less than 1.680 in , and performs within specified velocity, distance, and symmetry limits...
, and the trim field was swiftly reduced to a lake whereon floated the stumps. What was equally extraordinary was the strength of the tropical Queensland sun which next morning sucked away the moisture, so against all prediction, and thanks also to the sandy soil perfect for drainage, play was possible sharp at time. I recall broadcasting home from the ground... describing the scene of desolation with part of the playing arena still under a foot of water... English listeners who had gone to bed with this comforting information had to be told when they woke up next morning that fifteen English wickets had fallen and the game was over.
- E.W. Swanton
Len Hutton
Sir Leonard "Len" Hutton was an English Test cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England in the years around the Second World War as an opening batsman. He was described by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket...
and Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook was an English cricketer, who played for Lancashire and England. He had a long career, split by World War II, and ending when he was aged 44. Washbrook, who is most famous for opening the batting for England with Len Hutton, which he did fifty one times, played a total of 592...
went out to bat with thunder in the air and Hutton never settled down to the short-pitched bowling of Lindwall and Miller and was bowled for 7 in “a real shock attack…Miller’s success was gained by one ball of perfection mixed with many of faulty direction which had England’s record holder twisting and turning in a most unbatsmanlike fashion”. Soon after Bill Edrich
Bill Edrich
William John "Bill" Edrich DFC was a distinguished cricketer who played for Middlesex, MCC, Norfolk and England.Edrich's three brothers, Brian, Eric and Geoff, and also his cousin, John, all played first-class cricket...
came out play was stopped for bad light as a thunderstorm broke over the ground. Play resumed only 10 minutes late the next day, but "England were twice caught on sticky wickets. They stood no chance. On a typical Brisbane sticky the good length ball and the half-volley became almost unplayable. Sometimes it rose chest high. At others it skidded along the ground." In their "opening blitz" Keith Miller
Keith Miller
Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
dug the ball in short and "nearly every ball from Lindwall rose head high". “Edrich batted for 105 minutes. He suffered more than 40 body blows with a nonchalant contempt for danger and seemed content to be battered black and blue rather than lose his wicket. It was grim concentration and unflinching courage of the type rarely seen in Australia, and he was undaunted even after a terrific sickener under the ribs from Miller". He was out for 16, but Alan Kippax
Alan Kippax
Alan Falconer Kippax was a cricketer for New South Wales and Australia. Regarded as one of the great stylists of Australian cricket during the era between the two World Wars, Kippax overcame a late start to Test cricket to become a regular in the Australian team between the 1928–29 and...
said it was "one of the best knocks he had ever witnessed" and worthy of a century. Wally Hammond
Wally Hammond
Walter Reginald "Wally" Hammond was an English Test cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning his career as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed captain of England...
had made his finest innings just such a wicket at Melbourne in 1936-37 while making 32 and here made the same number of runs, which Arthur Morris
Arthur Morris
Arthur Robert Morris MBE is a former Australian cricketer who played 46 Test matches between 1946 and 1955. An opener, Morris is regarded as one of Australia's greatest left-handed batsmen. He is best known for his key role in Don Bradman's Invincibles side, which made an undefeated tour of...
called it "the most thorough batting lesson he had ever received" Ray Lindwall
Ray Lindwall
Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
wrote that Hammond and Edrich "were hit on the body repeatedly. Their concentration never faltered and their skill never waned...This was vintage batting of a kind that probably no Australian could produce". Miller used a limited leg-trap and an English pressman wrote that this was Bodyline
Bodyline
Bodyline, also known as fast leg theory bowling, was a cricketing tactic devised by the English cricket team for their 1932–33 Ashes tour of Australia, specifically to combat the extraordinary batting skill of Australia's Don Bradman...
, to the anger of Vic Richardson
Vic Richardson
Victor York Richardson OBE was a leading Australian sportsman of the 1920s and 1930s, captaining the Australian cricket team and the South Australian Australian rules football team, representing Australia in baseball and South Australia in golf, winning the South Australian state tennis title and...
, Alan Kippax
Alan Kippax
Alan Falconer Kippax was a cricketer for New South Wales and Australia. Regarded as one of the great stylists of Australian cricket during the era between the two World Wars, Kippax overcame a late start to Test cricket to become a regular in the Australian team between the 1928–29 and...
and Clarrie Grimmett
Clarrie Grimmett
Clarence Victor "Clarrie" Grimmett was a cricketer; although born in New Zealand, he played most of his cricket in Australia. He is thought by many to be one of the finest early spin bowlers, and usually credited as the developer of the flipper.Grimmett was born in Caversham a suburb of Dunedin,...
who had seen the real thing. Miller slowed his pace as the ball leapt so much that it could hit the batsman, but not get them out and dismissed all five batsman that day, his 7/60 in the innings remaining his best return for Australia for the rest of his career. Only three hours play were allowed that day and just after Hammond and Yardley walked off after appealing for light a second thunderstorm hit Brisbane. "Those who huddled in the pavilion...will never forget (as will the residents of Brisbane, who lost thousands of planes of glass) the darkness that came over the ground and the roar of the storm coming in the distance. This was the day when jagged pieces of hail, as big as cricket balls, plummeted on the ground, and the covers and the stumps went swirling away in the flood". In 30 minutes the ground was a lake with the water almost reaching the height of the picket fence
Picket fence
A picket fence is a variety of fence that has been used mostly for domestic boundaries. Until the introduction of advertising on fences in the 1980s, a Cricket field was also usually surrounded by a picket fence, giving rise to the expression rattling the pickets for a ball hit firmly into the...
on the boundary. At any other venue the game would have ended, but the drought-stricken ground soaked up most of the water overnight, the Queensland sun soon dried out the ground and play began on time at noon, much to the surprise to some pressmen and players who arrived late. Ernie Toshack
Ernie Toshack
Ernest Raymond Herbert Toshack was an Australian cricketer who played in 12 Tests from 1946 to 1948. A left arm medium paced bowler who was known for his accuracy and stamina in his application of leg theory, Toshack was best known for being as member of Don Bradman's Invincibles that toured...
's left-arm medium pace should have won him a hatful of wickets the previous day, but he could not bowl as Bradman suggested. So, before play began Bradman took him down the pitch and showed him exactly where he wanted him to bowl and even make him bowl a practice over alongside to make sure he got it right. Resuming on 117/5 Hammond and Yardley were both out to Toshack (3/17), the Yorkshire vice-captain after a gritty innings of 29 over two hours, and Miller wrapped up the tail to have England out for 141.
England - Second Innings
Bradman made England follow on 504 runs behind, Hutton was caught by Sid BarnesSid Barnes
Sidney George Barnes was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following the Second World War...
off Miller first ball, Washbrook was out the same way and Ernie Toshack
Ernie Toshack
Ernest Raymond Herbert Toshack was an Australian cricketer who played in 12 Tests from 1946 to 1948. A left arm medium paced bowler who was known for his accuracy and stamina in his application of leg theory, Toshack was best known for being as member of Don Bradman's Invincibles that toured...
had Edrich lbw
Leg before wicket
In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's...
to leave them 32/3. Only Denis Compton
Denis Compton
Denis Charles Scott Compton CBE was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches, and a footballer...
(15) stayed in for over an hour and eight batsmen got into double figures. Wally Hammond
Wally Hammond
Walter Reginald "Wally" Hammond was an English Test cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning his career as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed captain of England...
hit Toshack for two sixes and played so well on the sticky pitch that the Australians thought he was "bound to make many runs in the series, but from that moment nothing went right for him". Under Bradman's guidance Toshack took 6/82, Miller missed out on a 10 wicket haul with 2/17 and George Tribe
George Tribe
George Edward Tribe was an Australian cricketer who played in 3 Tests from 1946 to 1947, as well as an Australian rules footballer with the Footscray Football Club in the VFL....
took his best Test figures of 2/48. Ray Lindwall
Ray Lindwall
Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
was taken to hospital with suspected malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
from his service in the Soloman Islands
Solomon Islands campaign
The Solomon Islands campaign was a major campaign of the Pacific War of World War II. The campaign began with Japanese landings and occupation of several areas in the British Solomon Islands and Bougainville, in the Territory of New Guinea, during the first six months of 1942...
, but was found to be chickenpox
Chickenpox
Chickenpox or chicken pox is a highly contagious illness caused by primary infection with varicella zoster virus . It usually starts with vesicular skin rash mainly on the body and head rather than at the periphery and becomes itchy, raw pockmarks, which mostly heal without scarring...
which caused more concern as he may have infected the rest of the team. Lindwall was replaced by twelfth man Ken Meuleman
Ken Meuleman
Kenneth Douglas Meuleman was an Australian cricketer who played in one Test in 1946....
, Colin McCool
Colin McCool
Colin Leslie McCool was an Australian cricketer who played in 14 Tests from 1946 to 1950. McCool, born in Paddington, New South Wales, was an all-rounder who bowled leg spin and googlies with a round arm action and as a lower order batsman was regarded as effective square of the wicket and against...
bowled only one over in the match and Ian Johnson
Ian Johnson (cricketer)
Ian William Geddes Johnson CBE was an Australian cricketer who played 45 Test matches as a slow off-break bowler between 1946 and 1956. Johnson captured 109 Test wickets at an average of 29.19 runs per wicket and as a lower order batsman made 1,000 runs at an average of...
wasn't used at all. The only real stand was that of 47 between Jack Ikin
Jack Ikin
John Thomas Ikin, known as Jack Ikin was an English cricketer, who played in eighteen Tests from 1946 to 1955...
(32) and Paul Gibb
Paul Gibb
Paul Gibb was an English cricketer, who played in eight Tests for England from 1938 to 1946. He also played first-class cricket for Cambridge University and Yorkshire, mostly as a batsman but occasionally also keeping wicket.Gibb was educated at St Edward's School, Oxford, and played first-class...
(11) as England were out for 176 having lost 15 wickets in 3½ hours.
Result
The First Test at Brisbane taught the Englishmen many things and on the second day one English player summed up those thoughts. He said to me - "We are the first Ambassadors ever embroiled in a war while on a goodwill mission." And war it was, even though it was waged on only one side.
- Clif Cary
Clif CaryClif Cary was an Australian cricket reporter of the 1930s and 1940s. He was the "sports editor on the commercial radio network with the largest sports audience in the Commonwealth" and in 1946 he published Test Cricket and Records, "a splendid, authentic and comprehensive history of the many great...
Australia won the First Test by an innings and 332 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the series. It was their first victory over England at Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
and was their largest victory in Tests, overtaking their previous best of an innings and 200 runs in the Fifth Test at Melbourne in 1936-37
English cricket team in Australia in 1936-37
The England cricket team toured Australia in the 1936-37 season to play a five-match Test series against Australia for The Ashes. The tour was organised by the Marylebone Cricket Club and matches outside the Tests were played under the MCC name....
, their last match against England in Australia. This remained a record until Australia beat South Africa by an innings and 360 runs at Johannesburg in 2001-02, but it remains their greatest victory in Australia and against England. Ironically in their previous Test against England in 1938
Australian cricket team in England in 1938
The 1938 Ashes series between Australia and England was drawn. England and Australia won a Test each, with two of the other Tests drawn and the third game of the series, scheduled for Manchester, abandoned without a ball being bowled, only the second instance of this in more than 60 years of Test...
Australia lost by an innings and 579 runs, the largest margin of victory in Tests. It was the first time that two sides had won and lost by an innings in successive Tests. Australia's 645 was their highest total at home, beating the 604 they made in the Fifth Test of 1936-37. The win was regarded as a lottery as torrential rain ruined the wicket as England started to bat, but in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
it was ever thus. On Bradman's Test debut in 1928-29 Australia was caught batting after a rainstorm and were out for 66. They lost by a record 675 runs and Bradman was dropped for the only time in his career. In 1936-37
English cricket team in Australia in 1936-37
The England cricket team toured Australia in the 1936-37 season to play a five-match Test series against Australia for The Ashes. The tour was organised by the Marylebone Cricket Club and matches outside the Tests were played under the MCC name....
Australia was caught again on a rain-affected wicket and were out for 58, Bradman made a duck and lost his first Test as captain by 322 runs. In the next Test between Australia and England at the Gabba in 1950-51 20 wickets fell in an afternoon after another rainstorm. 77,344 attended the match with receipts of £14,515
Australian pound
The pound was the currency of Australia from 1910 until 13 February 1966, when it was replaced by the Australian dollar. It was subdivided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence.- Earlier Australian currencies :...
.
Second Test – Sydney
Preliminaries
From the batsman’s viewpoint it looked perfect. It was a rusty brown, but seemed to hold a thousand runs, and both Hammond and Bradman were enthusiastic in their keenness to win the toss. When the England skipper called correctly he smiled with confident pleasure.... Imagine Hammond's surprise when before an hour had passed the wicket, which looked so docile, was in fact a dangerous spin-taking nightmare.
- Clif Cary
Clif CaryClif Cary was an Australian cricket reporter of the 1930s and 1940s. He was the "sports editor on the commercial radio network with the largest sports audience in the Commonwealth" and in 1946 he published Test Cricket and Records, "a splendid, authentic and comprehensive history of the many great...
Arriving in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
England tried to put the disastrous Brisbane Test behind them. The wicketkeeper-batsman Paul Gibb
Paul Gibb
Paul Gibb was an English cricketer, who played in eight Tests for England from 1938 to 1946. He also played first-class cricket for Cambridge University and Yorkshire, mostly as a batsman but occasionally also keeping wicket.Gibb was educated at St Edward's School, Oxford, and played first-class...
was dropped in favour of Godfrey Evans
Godfrey Evans
Thomas Godfrey Evans CBE was an English cricketer who played for Kent and England.Described by Wisden as 'arguably the best wicket-keeper the game has ever seen', Evans collected 219 dismissals in 91 Test match appearances between 1946 and 1959 and a total of 1066 in all first-class matches...
, who was to hold the position for 13 years and who did not concede a bye
Bye (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a bye is a run scored by the batting team when the ball has not been hit by the batsman and the ball has not hit the batsman's body.-Scoring byes:...
in the Test. Bill Voce
Bill Voce
Bill Voce was an English cricketer. He played for the Nottinghamshire and England, and was an instrumental part of England's infamous Bodyline tour of Australia in 1932–1933.-Life and career:...
had pulled a muscle and the off-spinner Peter Smith
Peter Smith (cricketer)
Peter Smith, was an English cricketer, who played for Essex and England. Smith was one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1947. An all-rounder, Smith played for Essex from 1929 to 1951.-Life and career:...
was brought into the team for the traditional spinning wicket at the SCG
Sydney Cricket Ground
The Sydney Cricket Ground is a sports stadium in Sydney in Australia. It is used for Australian football, Test cricket, One Day International cricket, some rugby league and rugby union matches and is the home ground for the New South Wales Blues cricket team and the Sydney Swans of the Australian...
, but already had a numb spinning finger from an injury on the ship that brought the team to Australia. Ray Lindwall
Ray Lindwall
Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
was still ill with chickenpox
Chickenpox
Chickenpox or chicken pox is a highly contagious illness caused by primary infection with varicella zoster virus . It usually starts with vesicular skin rash mainly on the body and head rather than at the periphery and becomes itchy, raw pockmarks, which mostly heal without scarring...
and was replaced by the tidy fast-medium bowler Fred Freer
Fred Freer
Frederick Alfred William Freer was an Australian cricketer who played in one Test in 1946. He was a fast-medium bowler more accuarte than Keith Miller. He was called into the team for the Second Test in Sydney after Ray Lindwall was struck down by chickenpox...
of Victoria
Victorian Bushrangers
The Victorian cricket team, nicknamed the Bushrangers, is an Australian cricket team based in Melbourne, that represents the state of Victoria. It is administered by Cricket Victoria and draws its players from Melbourne's Premier Cricket competition...
. The pitch looked perfect, Wally Hammond
Wally Hammond
Walter Reginald "Wally" Hammond was an English Test cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning his career as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed captain of England...
called correctly and chose to bat.
England - First Innings
The game was all but decided in an evil hour HuttonLen HuttonSir Leonard "Len" Hutton was an English Test cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England in the years around the Second World War as an opening batsman. He was described by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket...
, ComptonDenis ComptonDenis Charles Scott Compton CBE was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches, and a footballer...
and HammondWally HammondWalter Reginald "Wally" Hammond was an English Test cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning his career as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed captain of England...
himself - the flower of England's batting - went one by one to the high, slow, teasing spin of Colin McCoolColin McCoolColin Leslie McCool was an Australian cricketer who played in 14 Tests from 1946 to 1950. McCool, born in Paddington, New South Wales, was an all-rounder who bowled leg spin and googlies with a round arm action and as a lower order batsman was regarded as effective square of the wicket and against...
and Ian JohnsonIan Johnson (cricketer)Ian William Geddes Johnson CBE was an Australian cricketer who played 45 Test matches as a slow off-break bowler between 1946 and 1956. Johnson captured 109 Test wickets at an average of 29.19 runs per wicket and as a lower order batsman made 1,000 runs at an average of...
, each giving the ball more and more air as though trying to discover whether there was any parabola they could not describe without impelling the forward step that would have allowed the ball to be met on the full-pitch or the half-volley.
- E.W. Swanton
Fred Freer
Fred Freer
Frederick Alfred William Freer was an Australian cricketer who played in one Test in 1946. He was a fast-medium bowler more accuarte than Keith Miller. He was called into the team for the Second Test in Sydney after Ray Lindwall was struck down by chickenpox...
(1/25) began his Test career by bowling Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook was an English cricketer, who played for Lancashire and England. He had a long career, split by World War II, and ending when he was aged 44. Washbrook, who is most famous for opening the batting for England with Len Hutton, which he did fifty one times, played a total of 592...
for 1, but though he kept his line and length Keith Miller
Keith Miller
Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
was wild and they and Toshack only bowled 23 overs in the innings. The spinners bowled 73 overs as the pitch took spin on the first day, against all expectation. Len Hutton
Len Hutton
Sir Leonard "Len" Hutton was an English Test cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England in the years around the Second World War as an opening batsman. He was described by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket...
(30) and Bill Edrich
Bill Edrich
William John "Bill" Edrich DFC was a distinguished cricketer who played for Middlesex, MCC, Norfolk and England.Edrich's three brothers, Brian, Eric and Geoff, and also his cousin, John, all played first-class cricket...
(71) added 78 for the second wicket before Ian Johnson
Ian Johnson (cricketer)
Ian William Geddes Johnson CBE was an Australian cricketer who played 45 Test matches as a slow off-break bowler between 1946 and 1956. Johnson captured 109 Test wickets at an average of 29.19 runs per wicket and as a lower order batsman made 1,000 runs at an average of...
removed him with his third ball in Tests, caught behind down the leg side. Don Tallon
Don Tallon
Donald "Don" Tallon was an Australian cricketer who played 21 Test matches as a wicket-keeper between 1946 and 1953...
promptly took two more catches off Colin McCool
Colin McCool
Colin Leslie McCool was an Australian cricketer who played in 14 Tests from 1946 to 1950. McCool, born in Paddington, New South Wales, was an all-rounder who bowled leg spin and googlies with a round arm action and as a lower order batsman was regarded as effective square of the wicket and against...
(3/73) to dismiss Hammond and Compton and England were 99/4. Bradman had pulled a thigh muscle in the First Test and was granted permission by Hammond to retire from play, Ken Meuleman
Ken Meuleman
Kenneth Douglas Meuleman was an Australian cricketer who played in one Test in 1946....
taking his place and Hassett taking command. Johnson had not bowled in the First Test, but now had a spell of 11-8-3-1 as the England batsmen remained glued to the wicket. Hammond had previously told Compton to stop 'capering about' the wicket and "The oracle was listened to with great respect, and his dictum was largely taken up by those who followed him in the England XIs". Jack Ikin
Jack Ikin
John Thomas Ikin, known as Jack Ikin was an English cricketer, who played in eighteen Tests from 1946 to 1955...
, whose usually played within the crease anyway made a gritty 60 and added 49 with the fighting Edrich. Thereafter wickets fell steadily to Johnson who ended with 6/42 as England was spun out for 255.
Australia - First Innings
We could have played on, but it was a Test match and we just had to win. I realised something drastic had to be done or three wickets might be lost. So I appealed after every second ball. I complained of the people moving about, the light, and, in fact, anything, in an effort to get the appeal upheld. Hammond and Yardley were inspecting the wet pitch. I knew there was a chance of losing valuable wickets so I just kept on appealing until the umpires answered me.
- Sid Barnes
Sid BarnesSidney George Barnes was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following the Second World War...
Doug Wright (cricketer)
Douglas Vivian Parson Wright, better known as Doug Wright was an English cricketer. A leg-spinner for Kent and England from 1932 to 1957 he took a record seven hat-tricks in first class cricket. He played for Kent for 25 years and was their first professional captain from late 1953 to 1956...
was the terror of the County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
for running through side on just such wickets and Hammond also had Peter Smith and the part time spin of Ikin, Compton and Hutton. Sid Barnes
Sid Barnes
Sidney George Barnes was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following the Second World War...
and Arthur Morris
Arthur Morris
Arthur Robert Morris MBE is a former Australian cricketer who played 46 Test matches between 1946 and 1955. An opener, Morris is regarded as one of Australia's greatest left-handed batsmen. He is best known for his key role in Don Bradman's Invincibles side, which made an undefeated tour of...
only batted for 9 minutes when the rain came down and the teams left the field. On their return Bill Edrich
Bill Edrich
William John "Bill" Edrich DFC was a distinguished cricketer who played for Middlesex, MCC, Norfolk and England.Edrich's three brothers, Brian, Eric and Geoff, and also his cousin, John, all played first-class cricket...
(3/71) made the ball kick up with his fast bowling, and Morris was bowled while taking evasive action. Ian Johnson
Ian Johnson (cricketer)
Ian William Geddes Johnson CBE was an Australian cricketer who played 45 Test matches as a slow off-break bowler between 1946 and 1956. Johnson captured 109 Test wickets at an average of 29.19 runs per wicket and as a lower order batsman made 1,000 runs at an average of...
came in as a nightwatchman
Nightwatchman (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a nightwatchman is a lower-order batsman who comes in to bat higher up the order than usual near the end of the day's play...
and he and Barnes angered the crowd by launching into a series of bad light appeals - up to 12 were counted - before the umpires gave way and play was ended with an hour to spare. This gamesmanship
Gamesmanship
Gamesmanship is the use of dubious methods to win a game. It has been described as "Pushing the rules to the limit without getting caught, using whatever dubious methods possible to achieve the desired end"...
ensured that Australia would not have to play on a sticky wicket like England at Brisbane and allowed Bradman to rest his leg until play resumed on the Monday. Clif Cary
Clif Cary
Clif Cary was an Australian cricket reporter of the 1930s and 1940s. He was the "sports editor on the commercial radio network with the largest sports audience in the Commonwealth" and in 1946 he published Test Cricket and Records, "a splendid, authentic and comprehensive history of the many great...
opined in his radio commentary that the light was bright enough to play by and the umpires had been pressured into a decision by the Australian batsmen, as did the English pressmen. They were labelled "biased, unsportsmanlike squealers" and that Barnes and his captain Bradman would never used such underhand tactics, but at the end of the series Barnes admitted on radio that he had bluffed the umpires into the decision. Sunday was a rest day and the sun dried out the wicket beautifully, it rolled to perfection and produced the flat wicket anticipated on the first day. Barnes had been reprimanded for hooking the ball in the First Test and as a result denied himself strokeplay and slowly ground his way through the day. Johnson was out for 7, and Barnes added 59 with Lindsay Hassett
Lindsay Hassett
Arthur Lindsay Hassett MBE was a cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia. The diminutive Hassett was an elegant middle-order batsman, described by Wisden as, "... a master of nearly every stroke ... his superb timing, nimble footwork and strong wrists enabled him to make batting look a...
(34) and 63 with Keith Miller
Keith Miller
Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
(40). Alec Bedser
Alec Bedser
Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE was a professional English cricketer. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club...
(1/153) bowled well and stopped the runs from getting away, but with defensive fields many catches went begging, but Peter Smith (2/172) failed to find his form (he was hospitalised with appendicitis
Appendicitis
Appendicitis is a condition characterized by inflammation of the appendix. It is classified as a medical emergency and many cases require removal of the inflamed appendix, either by laparotomy or laparoscopy. Untreated, mortality is high, mainly because of the risk of rupture leading to...
on the tour). Don Bradman had lowered himself down the order and "limped as if in extreme pain, and several times lay on the ground as if ill" Wright (1/169) “bowled beautifully with the most wretched luck”, in one over "On four occasions Hammond, usually most undemonstrative, threw his hands in the air as the ball beat Bradman and shaved the stumps, and in between these near dismissals there was a confident appeal for leg before wicket
Leg before wicket
In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's...
. When Bradman was on 22 when he appeared to snick another catch to Jack Ikin
Jack Ikin
John Thomas Ikin, known as Jack Ikin was an English cricketer, who played in eighteen Tests from 1946 to 1955...
at short leg, but "this time there may have been some cause for doubt; it was an appeal that could have gone either way". Bradman was given not out and by the end of the day Barnes was 109, Bradman 52 and Australia 252/4. On the Tuesday Bradman gave "an amazing exhibition in amassing 234 runs - that is, amazing for one who was supposed to be a cripple. He played all the shots, pulled leg muscle and all, and often ran between the wickets with the speed of an Olympic sprinter
Sprinter
Sprinter can refer to:in sport:* a person who participates in Sprint running* a cycling sprinter* Open-wheeled Sprint car racingmotor vehicles:* the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter , a cargo van...
". Forced to play off the back foot due to his pulled leg muscle Bradman still looked like he had three strokes for every one of Barnes and by the end of the day had caught him up in runs. During this long partnership Len Hutton
Len Hutton
Sir Leonard "Len" Hutton was an English Test cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England in the years around the Second World War as an opening batsman. He was described by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket...
joked with the crowd on the boundary and ate 14 bananas given to him from the Hill
Sydney Cricket Ground
The Sydney Cricket Ground is a sports stadium in Sydney in Australia. It is used for Australian football, Test cricket, One Day International cricket, some rugby league and rugby union matches and is the home ground for the New South Wales Blues cricket team and the Sydney Swans of the Australian...
. In desperation Hammond called on his vice-captain Norman Yardley
Norman Yardley
Norman Walter Dransfield Yardley was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, as a right-handed batsman and occasional bowler. An amateur, he captained Yorkshire from 1948 to 1955 and England on fourteen occasions between 1947 and 1950,...
to bowl his medium pacers, which he did not even do for Yorkshire
Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....
, and to everyone's surprise he caught Bradman lbw
LBW
LBW or lbw may refer to:*Laser beam welding, a type of high-precision energy beam welding*Leg before wicket, one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed in the sport of cricket...
for 234. It war only the second time Bradman had been lbw in a Test against England, the first being to Maurice Tate
Maurice Tate
Maurice William Tate was a Sussex and England cricketer of the 1920s and 1930s and the leader of England's Test bowling attack for a long time during this period...
on his debut in 1928. He had added 405 for the fifth wicket with Barnes, and in 1946 this was the highest partnership for that wicket in Test or first-class cricket and the second highest Test partnership after the 451 Bradman-Ponsford
Bill Ponsford
William Harold "Bill" Ponsford MBE was an Australian cricketer. Usually playing as an opening batsman, he formed a successful and long-lived partnership opening the batting for Victoria and Australia with Bill Woodfull, his friend and state and national captain...
partnership at the Oval
The Oval
The Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
in 1934
Australian cricket team in England in 1934
Australia won the 1934 Ashes series against England, winning two of the matches and losing one, with the other two tests drawn. The Australian tourists were captained by Bill Woodfull, while the home side were led by Bob Wyatt, with Cyril Walters deputising for Wyatt in the first Test.In the second...
. In the next over Barnes hit Bedser to Ikin also for 234, his maiden Test century and the highest score of his career. He said later that he had got himself out so as the have the same score as Bradman "which could well have been so for he was a man of quixotic
Quixotism
Quixotism is impracticality in pursuit of ideals, especially those ideals manifested by rash, lofty and romantic ideas or extravagantly chivalrous action. It also serves to describe an idealism without regard to practicality...
mood and temperament". However, Alec Bedser
Alec Bedser
Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE was a professional English cricketer. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club...
wrote "It was when I was bowling to Sid at Sydney that I first discovered that I could move the ball to leg by use of my wrist and fingers...I held the ball in the same manner as a leg-break bowler
Wrist spin
Wrist spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket. It refers to the cricket technique and specific hand movements associated with imparting a particular direction of spin to the cricket ball...
with the fingers across the seam...and on pitching I was surprised to see the ball go away like a leg-break. It also surprised Sid Barnes
Sid Barnes
Sidney George Barnes was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following the Second World War...
". Australia ended the fourth day on 571/6. The next morning the lower order struck out, with Fred Freer
Fred Freer
Frederick Alfred William Freer was an Australian cricketer who played in one Test in 1946. He was a fast-medium bowler more accuarte than Keith Miller. He was called into the team for the Second Test in Sydney after Ray Lindwall was struck down by chickenpox...
hitting 3 fours and a six in his 28 not out and George Tribe
George Tribe
George Edward Tribe was an Australian cricketer who played in 3 Tests from 1946 to 1947, as well as an Australian rules footballer with the Footscray Football Club in the VFL....
5 fours in his 25 not out until Bradman declared on 659/8.
England - Second Innings
Those who were lucky enough to see this remarkable display must have grieved with me that such a superlative innings was nipped off in its golden prime. He began by clipping the short stuff so hard that even if Australia had had 15 fieldsmen, the fours would still have come. Never have I seen a Test opening attack hit so hard.
- Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly (cricketer)William Joseph "Bill" O'Reilly , often known as Tiger O'Reilly, was an Australian cricketer, rated as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. Following his retirement from playing, he became a well-respected cricket writer and broadcaster.O'Reilly was one of the best spin bowlers to...
Len Hutton
Len Hutton
Sir Leonard "Len" Hutton was an English Test cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England in the years around the Second World War as an opening batsman. He was described by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket...
and Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook was an English cricketer, who played for Lancashire and England. He had a long career, split by World War II, and ending when he was aged 44. Washbrook, who is most famous for opening the batting for England with Len Hutton, which he did fifty one times, played a total of 592...
walked out 404 runs behind on the first innings and England needing to bat out five sessions and 24 minutes to save the game. Hutton survived an lbw appeal from Fred Freer
Fred Freer
Frederick Alfred William Freer was an Australian cricketer who played in one Test in 1946. He was a fast-medium bowler more accuarte than Keith Miller. He was called into the team for the Second Test in Sydney after Ray Lindwall was struck down by chickenpox...
on his first ball, then hit 12 runs off the rest of the over. In the absence of Ray Lindwall
Ray Lindwall
Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
the fast bowler Keith Miller
Keith Miller
Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
"bumped the ball
Bouncer (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a bouncer is a type of delivery, usually bowled by a fast bowler. It is pitched short so that it bounces on the pitch well short of the batsman and rears up to chest or head height as it reaches the batsman.Bouncers are used tactically to drive the batsman back on to his...
with more fury and recklessness than anyone in years" and even appealed for lbw when Hutton ducked and the ball hit his back, but his first over went for 11 more runs. Freer's second over gave another 9 and Miller's second over 15, but on the last ball before lunch Hutton's glove strap was caught on his bat and he overbalanced and trod on the wicket. He had made 37 runs in 24 minutes of “batting champagne” which "was the talk of Sydney for the rest of the match” receiving “four times as much publicity as the huge totals of 234", Johnnie Moyes
Johnnie Moyes
Alban George "Johnny" Moyes MBE MC was a cricketer who played for South Australia and Victoria. Following his brief playing career, Moyes, a professional journalist, he later gained greater fame as a writer and commentator on the game.As a right-hand batsman Moyes scored 883 runs at an average of...
called it "a glorious piece of batting, a choice miniature that I shall carry with me always" Bill Edrich
Bill Edrich
William John "Bill" Edrich DFC was a distinguished cricketer who played for Middlesex, MCC, Norfolk and England.Edrich's three brothers, Brian, Eric and Geoff, and also his cousin, John, all played first-class cricket...
came in and another 69 runs were added before Washbrook was out for 40. Denis Compton
Denis Compton
Denis Charles Scott Compton CBE was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches, and a footballer...
found his form and the 'Middlesex Twins'
Middlesex County Cricket Club
Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the...
put on 102 for the third wicket. Compton was caught by Bradman off Freer (2/49) for 54, but Hammond came in to see out the day with England 247/3, still 157 runs behind with five hours of play left. When Edrich "reached his century he was accorded one of the most sustained ovations I have heard, and no one deserved it more...the roar when he reached it was it the Heavens had split". Hammond made 37, his highest score of the series before he was caught by Don Tallon
Don Tallon
Donald "Don" Tallon was an Australian cricketer who played 21 Test matches as a wicket-keeper between 1946 and 1953...
off Colin McCool
Colin McCool
Colin Leslie McCool was an Australian cricketer who played in 14 Tests from 1946 to 1950. McCool, born in Paddington, New South Wales, was an all-rounder who bowled leg spin and googlies with a round arm action and as a lower order batsman was regarded as effective square of the wicket and against...
(5/109) and Edrich continued resolutely until bowled by McCool for 119 in 5¼ hours, top-scoring in both innings and returning the best English bowling analysis of the match. Norman Yardley
Norman Yardley
Norman Walter Dransfield Yardley was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, as a right-handed batsman and occasional bowler. An amateur, he captained Yorkshire from 1948 to 1955 and England on fourteen occasions between 1947 and 1950,...
hit 4 fours in his 35 before he too was bowled by McCool and the last four wickets fell for 25 runs to have England out for 371 with more than two hours before stumps.
Result
Australia won the Second Test by an innings and 33 runs to go 2-0 up in the series. It was the first time they had defeated England in successive Tests by an innings since Andrew StoddartAndrew Stoddart
Andrew Ernest Stoddart was an English cricketer and rugby union player. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1893.-Cricket career:...
's tour of 1897-98. It was the third Test in a row that Australia had made its highest home score; 604 in the Fifth Test at Melbourne in 1936-37, 645 in the First Test and 659/8 in the Second Test in the current series. The match had an attendance of 196,253 and £26,544
Australian pound
The pound was the currency of Australia from 1910 until 13 February 1966, when it was replaced by the Australian dollar. It was subdivided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence.- Earlier Australian currencies :...
was made in receipts.
Third Test – Melbourne
Preliminaries
With two defeats Wally HammondWally Hammond
Walter Reginald "Wally" Hammond was an English Test cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning his career as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed captain of England...
would have to win the last three Tests to regain the Ashes
The Ashes
The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is one of the most celebrated rivalries in international cricket and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues...
, though Don Bradman had done this in the last series in Australia. The Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
wicket had a reputation for fast, pacey wickets, but after two shocks at Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
and Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
few were surprised that it was not living up to its reputation; "The 1947 wicket was not as tame as all that, but it was, for Melbourne, exceedingly meek". Ray Lindwall
Ray Lindwall
Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
was fit again and resigned his job when his employers refused him leave to play in the Test. Fred Freer
Fred Freer
Frederick Alfred William Freer was an Australian cricketer who played in one Test in 1946. He was a fast-medium bowler more accuarte than Keith Miller. He was called into the team for the Second Test in Sydney after Ray Lindwall was struck down by chickenpox...
was dropped and the Chinaman
Chinaman
Chinaman is a contentious term referring to a Chinese person* whether of Han Chinese ethnicity* or a citizen of China, Chinese people.Or the term may also refer to:* A colloquial term for a square hay baler overhead feeding plunger...
bowler George Tribe
George Tribe
George Edward Tribe was an Australian cricketer who played in 3 Tests from 1946 to 1947, as well as an Australian rules footballer with the Footscray Football Club in the VFL....
was replaced by the leg-spinner Bruce Dooland
Bruce Dooland
Bruce Dooland was an Australian cricketer who played in 3 Tests from 1947 to 1948....
. Arthur Morris
Arthur Morris
Arthur Robert Morris MBE is a former Australian cricketer who played 46 Test matches between 1946 and 1955. An opener, Morris is regarded as one of Australia's greatest left-handed batsmen. He is best known for his key role in Don Bradman's Invincibles side, which made an undefeated tour of...
had failed in the two Tests, but was given another chance instead of Ken Meuleman
Ken Meuleman
Kenneth Douglas Meuleman was an Australian cricketer who played in one Test in 1946....
. Peter Smith
Peter Smith (cricketer)
Peter Smith, was an English cricketer, who played for Essex and England. Smith was one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1947. An all-rounder, Smith played for Essex from 1929 to 1951.-Life and career:...
was ill with appendicitis
Appendicitis
Appendicitis is a condition characterized by inflammation of the appendix. It is classified as a medical emergency and many cases require removal of the inflamed appendix, either by laparotomy or laparoscopy. Untreated, mortality is high, mainly because of the risk of rupture leading to...
and James Langridge had strained a muscle in catching practice the day before the match, so Hammond had no spinner apart from Doug Wright
Doug Wright (cricketer)
Douglas Vivian Parson Wright, better known as Doug Wright was an English cricketer. A leg-spinner for Kent and England from 1932 to 1957 he took a record seven hat-tricks in first class cricket. He played for Kent for 25 years and was their first professional captain from late 1953 to 1956...
and the 37-year-old fast bowler Bill Voce
Bill Voce
Bill Voce was an English cricketer. He played for the Nottinghamshire and England, and was an instrumental part of England's infamous Bodyline tour of Australia in 1932–1933.-Life and career:...
was recalled. Don Bradman won the toss and chose to bat on New Year's Day
New Year's Day
New Year's Day is observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar used in ancient Rome...
.
Australia - First Innings
Norman YardleyNorman YardleyNorman Walter Dransfield Yardley was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, as a right-handed batsman and occasional bowler. An amateur, he captained Yorkshire from 1948 to 1955 and England on fourteen occasions between 1947 and 1950,...
was bowling to me and, on a perfect pitch, he had been unable to make a single ball do anything. When Ian JohnsonIan Johnson (cricketer)Ian William Geddes Johnson CBE was an Australian cricketer who played 45 Test matches as a slow off-break bowler between 1946 and 1956. Johnson captured 109 Test wickets at an average of 29.19 runs per wicket and as a lower order batsman made 1,000 runs at an average of...
came in I told him the ball was not turning an inch. He plunged his left leg down the wicket, missed and was l.b.w.Leg before wicketIn the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's...
first ball. It had turned nearly a foot!
- Keith Miller
Keith MillerKeith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
Arthur Morris
Arthur Morris
Arthur Robert Morris MBE is a former Australian cricketer who played 46 Test matches between 1946 and 1955. An opener, Morris is regarded as one of Australia's greatest left-handed batsmen. He is best known for his key role in Don Bradman's Invincibles side, which made an undefeated tour of...
was the first man out for 21, lbw to Alec Bedser
Alec Bedser
Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE was a professional English cricketer. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club...
(3/99), but Sid Barnes
Sid Barnes
Sidney George Barnes was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following the Second World War...
hooked a ball into Bill Edrich
Bill Edrich
William John "Bill" Edrich DFC was a distinguished cricketer who played for Middlesex, MCC, Norfolk and England.Edrich's three brothers, Brian, Eric and Geoff, and also his cousin, John, all played first-class cricket...
's knee at short leg and Hammond insisted that he leave the field for treatment. Barnes (45) added 76 with Bradman before he went the same way as Morris for and Hammond took Lindsay Hassett
Lindsay Hassett
Arthur Lindsay Hassett MBE was a cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia. The diminutive Hassett was an elegant middle-order batsman, described by Wisden as, "... a master of nearly every stroke ... his superb timing, nimble footwork and strong wrists enabled him to make batting look a...
off Doug Wright
Doug Wright (cricketer)
Douglas Vivian Parson Wright, better known as Doug Wright was an English cricketer. A leg-spinner for Kent and England from 1932 to 1957 he took a record seven hat-tricks in first class cricket. He played for Kent for 25 years and was their first professional captain from late 1953 to 1956...
for 12. Bill Voce
Bill Voce
Bill Voce was an English cricketer. He played for the Nottinghamshire and England, and was an instrumental part of England's infamous Bodyline tour of Australia in 1932–1933.-Life and career:...
left the field with a strained leg muscle after lunch and Bradman looked set for a big score until he chopped Norman Yardley
Norman Yardley
Norman Walter Dransfield Yardley was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, as a right-handed batsman and occasional bowler. An amateur, he captained Yorkshire from 1948 to 1955 and England on fourteen occasions between 1947 and 1950,...
(2/50) onto his stumps for 79. Yardley, scarcely a change bowler before the tour was only given the ball because of the injuries, but bowled tidily and moved the ball. Ian Johnson
Ian Johnson (cricketer)
Ian William Geddes Johnson CBE was an Australian cricketer who played 45 Test matches as a slow off-break bowler between 1946 and 1956. Johnson captured 109 Test wickets at an average of 29.19 runs per wicket and as a lower order batsman made 1,000 runs at an average of...
was out lbw first ball and Australia were 188/5 on a good pitch, soon 192/6 when Godfrey Evans
Godfrey Evans
Thomas Godfrey Evans CBE was an English cricketer who played for Kent and England.Described by Wisden as 'arguably the best wicket-keeper the game has ever seen', Evans collected 219 dismissals in 91 Test match appearances between 1946 and 1959 and a total of 1066 in all first-class matches...
snapped up Keith Miller
Keith Miller
Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
(33) of Wright. Australia's all-round strength came to their rescue as Colin McCool
Colin McCool
Colin Leslie McCool was an Australian cricketer who played in 14 Tests from 1946 to 1950. McCool, born in Paddington, New South Wales, was an all-rounder who bowled leg spin and googlies with a round arm action and as a lower order batsman was regarded as effective square of the wicket and against...
played the innings of his life, 104 not out, adding 63 with Don Tallon
Don Tallon
Donald "Don" Tallon was an Australian cricketer who played 21 Test matches as a wicket-keeper between 1946 and 1953...
(35) and leaving Australia 253/6 at the end of the day. Edrich returned to the fray in the first over of the second day and had Tallon caught behind in the first over, but Bruce Dooland
Bruce Dooland
Bruce Dooland was an Australian cricketer who played in 3 Tests from 1947 to 1948....
(19) "defended steadily while McCool punished the bowling unmercifully. Hooking and driving with absolute confidence". as they added 83. In the end Edrich (3/50) removed Dooland and Toshack to leave McCool 104 not out and Australia were out for 365
England - First Innings
EdrichBill EdrichWilliam John "Bill" Edrich DFC was a distinguished cricketer who played for Middlesex, MCC, Norfolk and England.Edrich's three brothers, Brian, Eric and Geoff, and also his cousin, John, all played first-class cricket...
should have gather in another hundred in the following Test at MelbourneMelbourneMelbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
. He was 89, and batting with audacious unconcern, when ScottJohn Scott (cricketer)John Drake Scott was an Australian cricketer and Test match umpire. Scott played as a right-arm fast bowler and was also a useful lower-order right-handed batsman. He was the first man to dismiss Don Bradman in first-class cricket, in December 1927...
gave him out leg before to a ball from LindwallRay LindwallRaymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
which even some Australian fieldsmen believed had come from the bat. It was one of the hotly discussed decisions of the tour, and while Edrich was distressed and disappointed he was still able to grin as he walked from the field.
- Clif Cary
Clif CaryClif Cary was an Australian cricket reporter of the 1930s and 1940s. He was the "sports editor on the commercial radio network with the largest sports audience in the Commonwealth" and in 1946 he published Test Cricket and Records, "a splendid, authentic and comprehensive history of the many great...
Ray Lindwall
Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
returned to Test bowling by dismissing Len Hutton
Len Hutton
Sir Leonard "Len" Hutton was an English Test cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England in the years around the Second World War as an opening batsman. He was described by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket...
with a beautiful swinging ball which moved from middle stump to flick the edge of his bat and was caught by Colin McCool
Colin McCool
Colin Leslie McCool was an Australian cricketer who played in 14 Tests from 1946 to 1950. McCool, born in Paddington, New South Wales, was an all-rounder who bowled leg spin and googlies with a round arm action and as a lower order batsman was regarded as effective square of the wicket and against...
at first slip. Bill Edrich
Bill Edrich
William John "Bill" Edrich DFC was a distinguished cricketer who played for Middlesex, MCC, Norfolk and England.Edrich's three brothers, Brian, Eric and Geoff, and also his cousin, John, all played first-class cricket...
joined Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook was an English cricketer, who played for Lancashire and England. He had a long career, split by World War II, and ending when he was aged 44. Washbrook, who is most famous for opening the batting for England with Len Hutton, which he did fifty one times, played a total of 592...
and together they took the score to 147/1 by the end of the second day, Edrich hit 10 fours in his 85 while Washbrook struck only 1 four in his 54. Resuming in the morning Lindwall (2/62) had Erich lbw for 89, much to his disappointment as like McCool he had been promised £1 a run if he made a century. Edrich had now made the highest score in the last three England innings (71, 119 and 89) and had returned the best figures in the last two Australian innings (3/79 and 3/50) and looked good for a big score. When he returned to the England dressing room he complained that he had hit the ball into his pads and should not have been out. This was overheard by an English pressman and was widely reported, becoming a major point of contention, especially as Denis Compton
Denis Compton
Denis Charles Scott Compton CBE was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches, and a footballer...
out lbw to Ernie Toshack
Ernie Toshack
Ernest Raymond Herbert Toshack was an Australian cricketer who played in 12 Tests from 1946 to 1948. A left arm medium paced bowler who was known for his accuracy and stamina in his application of leg theory, Toshack was best known for being as member of Don Bradman's Invincibles that toured...
when padding up of a ball that landed outside the stumps, causing the Middlesex player to stare at Umpire Scott
John Scott (cricketer)
John Drake Scott was an Australian cricketer and Test match umpire. Scott played as a right-arm fast bowler and was also a useful lower-order right-handed batsman. He was the first man to dismiss Don Bradman in first-class cricket, in December 1927...
in disbelief before his walked off. Wally Hammond
Wally Hammond
Walter Reginald "Wally" Hammond was an English Test cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning his career as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed captain of England...
came on and, annoyed at the two dismissals, gave a simple caught-and-bowled to Bruce Dooland
Bruce Dooland
Bruce Dooland was an Australian cricketer who played in 3 Tests from 1947 to 1948....
, who then caught and bowled Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook was an English cricketer, who played for Lancashire and England. He had a long career, split by World War II, and ending when he was aged 44. Washbrook, who is most famous for opening the batting for England with Len Hutton, which he did fifty one times, played a total of 592...
for 62 and England had collapsed from 155/1 to 179/5. Jack Ikin
Jack Ikin
John Thomas Ikin, known as Jack Ikin was an English cricketer, who played in eighteen Tests from 1946 to 1955...
(48) and Norman Yardley
Norman Yardley
Norman Walter Dransfield Yardley was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, as a right-handed batsman and occasional bowler. An amateur, he captained Yorkshire from 1948 to 1955 and England on fourteen occasions between 1947 and 1950,...
(61) dug in for two over hours and restored the innings with a stand of 113 until McCool (2/53) bowled the vice-captain and Dooland (4/69) removed Ikin and Voce with successive balls. With England 298/8 there was still a chance that they could overtake Australia for the first time in the series. Godfrey Evans
Godfrey Evans
Thomas Godfrey Evans CBE was an English cricketer who played for Kent and England.Described by Wisden as 'arguably the best wicket-keeper the game has ever seen', Evans collected 219 dismissals in 91 Test match appearances between 1946 and 1959 and a total of 1066 in all first-class matches...
made 17 and added 26 with Alec Bedser
Alec Bedser
Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE was a professional English cricketer. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club...
who swung the bat for 27 not out making 27 runs for the last wicket with Wright until the spinner was bowled by Johnson and England were out for 351, 14 runs behind.
Australia - Second Innings
I don't think Bradman appreciated being dismissed by a man who was not considered anywhere approaching county class. It was always amusing to watch the Englishmen when Yardley took a wicket. The first time they seemed fairly amused, but when he was regularly breaking partnerships, their enthusiasm knew no bounds, and it is said that in Melbourne after he had obtained Bradman's wicket for the third time, Yardley blushed profusely when one excited team-mate slapped him on the back and shouted "Well, bowled, SpofforthFred SpofforthFrederick Robert "Fred" Spofforth , also known as "The Demon Bowler", was arguably the Australian cricket team's finest pace bowler of the nineteenth century and was the first bowler to take 50 Test wickets, and the first to take a test hat-trick in 1879...
".
- Clif Cary
Clif CaryClif Cary was an Australian cricket reporter of the 1930s and 1940s. He was the "sports editor on the commercial radio network with the largest sports audience in the Commonwealth" and in 1946 he published Test Cricket and Records, "a splendid, authentic and comprehensive history of the many great...
Bill Voce
Bill Voce was an English cricketer. He played for the Nottinghamshire and England, and was an instrumental part of England's infamous Bodyline tour of Australia in 1932–1933.-Life and career:...
was still unable to bowl and Bill Edrich
Bill Edrich
William John "Bill" Edrich DFC was a distinguished cricketer who played for Middlesex, MCC, Norfolk and England.Edrich's three brothers, Brian, Eric and Geoff, and also his cousin, John, all played first-class cricket...
opened the bowling. Sid Barnes
Sid Barnes
Sidney George Barnes was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following the Second World War...
appealed against the light, which was rejected, and he and Arthur Morris
Arthur Morris
Arthur Robert Morris MBE is a former Australian cricketer who played 46 Test matches between 1946 and 1955. An opener, Morris is regarded as one of Australia's greatest left-handed batsmen. He is best known for his key role in Don Bradman's Invincibles side, which made an undefeated tour of...
were 32/0 at the end of the third day. They took their stand to 68 when Barnes was caught by Godfrey Evans
Godfrey Evans
Thomas Godfrey Evans CBE was an English cricketer who played for Kent and England.Described by Wisden as 'arguably the best wicket-keeper the game has ever seen', Evans collected 219 dismissals in 91 Test match appearances between 1946 and 1959 and a total of 1066 in all first-class matches...
off Norman Yardley
Norman Yardley
Norman Walter Dransfield Yardley was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, as a right-handed batsman and occasional bowler. An amateur, he captained Yorkshire from 1948 to 1955 and England on fourteen occasions between 1947 and 1950,...
(3/67). The Yorkshireman kept up his reputation as a wicket-taker by dismissing Don Bradman (49) for the third successive time and Keith Miller
Keith Miller
Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
(34). Yardley usually obtained his wickets in partnership with Alec Bedser
Alec Bedser
Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE was a professional English cricketer. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club...
(3/176) or Doug Wright
Doug Wright (cricketer)
Douglas Vivian Parson Wright, better known as Doug Wright was an English cricketer. A leg-spinner for Kent and England from 1932 to 1957 he took a record seven hat-tricks in first class cricket. He played for Kent for 25 years and was their first professional captain from late 1953 to 1956...
(3/131), who bowled so well that batsmen felt they had to hit out at the other end. However Morris batted through the day for his maiden Test century of 155 adding 91 with Bradman, 65 with Miller and 91 with McCool (43) before he was bowled by Bedser. Bedser also accounted for McCool and Ian Johnson was run out for a duck and Australia were 341/7. At this point the game ran away from England as Don Tallon
Don Tallon
Donald "Don" Tallon was an Australian cricketer who played 21 Test matches as a wicket-keeper between 1946 and 1953...
(92) and Ray Lindwall
Ray Lindwall
Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
(100) thumped the ball for 154 runs in 99 minutes. Wally Hammond
Wally Hammond
Walter Reginald "Wally" Hammond was an English Test cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning his career as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed captain of England...
kept the slips in place and Tallon hit 10 fours through the gaps, Lindwall 13 fours and a 6 as the England captain "sphinx
Sphinx
A sphinx is a mythical creature with a lion's body and a human head or a cat head.The sphinx, in Greek tradition, has the haunches of a lion, the wings of a great bird, and the face of a woman. She is mythicised as treacherous and merciless...
-like marched from slip at one end to slip at the other, apparently, as Plum Warner
Plum Warner
Sir Pelham Francis Warner MBE , affectionately and better known as Plum Warner, or even "the Grand Old Man" of English cricket was a Test cricketer....
wrote of him, just 'letting the game go on'". When Wright finally caught and bowled Tallon Australia were 495/8 and Lindwall just reached his maiden Test century off 90 balls - by hitting Bedser into the sightscreen - before Dooland and Toshack fell. Tallon's 92 remained the highest score by an Australian wicketkeeper until Rod Marsh
Rod Marsh
Rodney William Marsh MBE is a former Australian wicketkeeper.A colourful character, Marsh had a Test career spanning from the 1970–71 to the 1983–84 Australian season. In 96 Tests, he set a world record of 355 wicketkeeping dismissals, the same number his pace bowling Western...
equalled it with 92 not out in the 1970-71 Ashes series and surpassed it with 132 against New Zealand in 1973–74. Australia made 536 and England needed 551 runs to win, or to bat out 7 hours for a draw.
England - Second Innings
...it was in this match that the Englishmen publicly rebuked BarnesSid BarnesSidney George Barnes was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following the Second World War...
for his false, senseless but successful light appeals at Sydney. In the final thirty minutes at Melbourne, Yardley, first with Bedser and then Evans, batted on, making no objection, even though the light was atrocious and rain was falling heavily. As England had lost seven wickets and had every chance of losing and none of winning it was a risky policy, but one in keeping with the manner in which Hammond played all the Tests, which to him were only sporting contests of goodwill.
- Clif Cary
Clif CaryClif Cary was an Australian cricket reporter of the 1930s and 1940s. He was the "sports editor on the commercial radio network with the largest sports audience in the Commonwealth" and in 1946 he published Test Cricket and Records, "a splendid, authentic and comprehensive history of the many great...
Len Hutton
Len Hutton
Sir Leonard "Len" Hutton was an English Test cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England in the years around the Second World War as an opening batsman. He was described by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket...
survived another "opening blitz" from Lindwall and Miller and was the silent partner in a stand of 138 with Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook was an English cricketer, who played for Lancashire and England. He had a long career, split by World War II, and ending when he was aged 44. Washbrook, who is most famous for opening the batting for England with Len Hutton, which he did fifty one times, played a total of 592...
. They took England to 91/0 at the start of the sixth and last day and had added 137 when Hutton was caught by Bradman off Ernie Toshack
Ernie Toshack
Ernest Raymond Herbert Toshack was an Australian cricketer who played in 12 Tests from 1946 to 1948. A left arm medium paced bowler who was known for his accuracy and stamina in his application of leg theory, Toshack was best known for being as member of Don Bradman's Invincibles that toured...
after batting almost three hours for 40 runs. Washbrook held the innings together with his 112, bringing all "his concentration to bear he revealed a variety of shots that were a delight to watch, combined with a defence which could as dour as if he had been playing in a blood match against Yorkshire
Roses Match
The Roses Match refers to any game of cricket played between Yorkshire County Cricket Club and Lancashire County Cricket Club. Yorkshire's emblem is the white rose, while Lancashire's is the red rose. The associations go back to the Wars of the Roses in the 15th century...
and not merely a Test in Australia". But wickets fell regularly at the other end and at 247/6 England were looking at defeat. With 53 runs in 89 minutes Norman Yardley
Norman Yardley
Norman Walter Dransfield Yardley was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, as a right-handed batsman and occasional bowler. An amateur, he captained Yorkshire from 1948 to 1955 and England on fourteen occasions between 1947 and 1950,...
dug himself in with Wally Hammond
Wally Hammond
Walter Reginald "Wally" Hammond was an English Test cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning his career as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed captain of England...
, 26 runs in 77 minutes, Alec Bedser
Alec Bedser
Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE was a professional English cricketer. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club...
, 25 runs in 49 minutes, and Godfrey Evans
Godfrey Evans
Thomas Godfrey Evans CBE was an English cricketer who played for Kent and England.Described by Wisden as 'arguably the best wicket-keeper the game has ever seen', Evans collected 219 dismissals in 91 Test match appearances between 1946 and 1959 and a total of 1066 in all first-class matches...
0 runs in 15 minutes. The rain helped, but only 45 minutes were lost in the day due to the umpires as the English batsmen refused to appeal for light on the orders of Hammond even though Bradman twice suggested that they come off the field. Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly (cricketer)
William Joseph "Bill" O'Reilly , often known as Tiger O'Reilly, was an Australian cricketer, rated as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. Following his retirement from playing, he became a well-respected cricket writer and broadcaster.O'Reilly was one of the best spin bowlers to...
said "I could not understand why the English batsman seemed loath to appeal against the weather, even when the rain was coming down solidly. There are no praises for gallant gestures in Tests matches". In the end England survived the match on 310/7 with Yardley and Evans still at the crease.
Result
A final memory of Melbourne 1947 is the generosity of the crowd towards Hammond's team. The English press had come under attack for certain loud assertions about umpiring mistakes...but this unpopularity had not rubbed off on the players.
- E.W. Swanton
Australia drew with England to maintain their 2-0 series lead and retain the Ashes
The Ashes
The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is one of the most celebrated rivalries in international cricket and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues...
. It was the third time that a Test match had been drawn in Australia, the previous two were the fifth and eight Tests ever to be played during Alfred Shaw
Alfred Shaw
Alfred Shaw was an eminent Victorian cricketer and rugby footballer, who bowled the first ball in Test cricket and was the first to take five wickets in a Test innings . He who organised the first British Isles rugby tour to Australasia in 1888...
's tour of 1881-82, the last Tests played before the Ashes
The Ashes
The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is one of the most celebrated rivalries in international cricket and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues...
were inaugurated. 1,562 runs were scored in the Test, only the seventh time in 146 Tests that 1,500 runs had been scored in Anglo-Australian Tests, the last being the 1,601 runs made in four days in the Lords Test of 1930
Australian cricket team in England in 1930
Australia won the 1930 Ashes series against England, winning two of the matches and losing one, with the other two tests drawn:*1st Test — England won by 93 runs - *2nd Test — Australia won by 7 wickets -...
. By taking 2/50 and 3/67 and making 61 and 53 not out Norman Yardley
Norman Yardley
Norman Walter Dransfield Yardley was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, as a right-handed batsman and occasional bowler. An amateur, he captained Yorkshire from 1948 to 1955 and England on fourteen occasions between 1947 and 1950,...
established himself as a Test all-rounder
All-rounder
An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a few batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are considered specialists...
and by dismissing Bradman in each innings he prevented the Don from making a century against England at the MCG
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
for the only time in his career. 343,675 attended the match - second only to the 350,534 at the Third Test at MCG
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
in 1936-37 - with record receipts of £44,063
Australian pound
The pound was the currency of Australia from 1910 until 13 February 1966, when it was replaced by the Australian dollar. It was subdivided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence.- Earlier Australian currencies :...
.
Fourth Test – Adelaide
Preliminaries
AlecAlec BedserSir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE was a professional English cricketer. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club...
remembers one occasion in Adelaide in 1947 when he had to bowl for most of one day in 102 degree heat. After his last over, he was completely befuddled and had to be led from the ground by his team mates. Not knowing where he was, he stumbled up the steps through the Father and Son Enclosure, past the Press Box and into the England dressing room. There the team physiotherapist took him into the showers, sat him down on a wooden chair, fully-clothed and still wearing his boots, and turned on the cold tap. It took almost three quarters of an hour for the big Surrey bowler to come round from his heat exhaustion!
- Frank Tyson
Frank TysonFrank Holmes Tyson is an England cricketer of the 1950s who became a journalist and cricket commentator after he emigrated to Australia in 1960. Nicknamed "Typhoon Tyson" by the press he was regarded by many commentators as one of the fastest bowlers ever seen in cricket and took 76 wickets in...
After the Third Test the MCC team toured Tasmania and Clif Cary
Clif Cary
Clif Cary was an Australian cricket reporter of the 1930s and 1940s. He was the "sports editor on the commercial radio network with the largest sports audience in the Commonwealth" and in 1946 he published Test Cricket and Records, "a splendid, authentic and comprehensive history of the many great...
of the Sunday Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
wrote that "Social successes are one of the causes of their cricket failure...There are tourists who do not give the impression that cricket is their main consideration". This was thought to be aimed at Denis Compton
Denis Compton
Denis Charles Scott Compton CBE was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches, and a footballer...
and one Australian Test cricketer
Australian cricket team in Australia in 1946-47
The 1946-47 Australians defeated the touring England team 3-0 in the 1946-47 Ashes series. First class cricket had continued in Australia until January 1942 and as grade cricket had continued throughout the war there had been less of an hiatus than in England...
told Cary "It will make Compton and others will pull up their socks, and we might never get them out at Adelaide." There were also calls for Wally Hammond
Wally Hammond
Walter Reginald "Wally" Hammond was an English Test cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning his career as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed captain of England...
to resign the captaincy in favour of Norman Yardley
Norman Yardley
Norman Walter Dransfield Yardley was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, as a right-handed batsman and occasional bowler. An amateur, he captained Yorkshire from 1948 to 1955 and England on fourteen occasions between 1947 and 1950,...
, but these were silenced when he made 188 against South Australia
Southern Redbacks
The South Australia cricket team, nicknamed the Southern Redbacks and known as the West End Redbacks due to their sponsorship agreement with local brewers West End, are an Australian first class cricket team based in Adelaide, South Australia, and represent the state of South Australia...
, his 167th - and last - first class century. He became the seventh man to make 50,000 first class runs after W.G. Grace, Jack Hobbs
Jack Hobbs
Sir John Berry "Jack" Hobbs was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey from 1905 to 1934 and for England in 61 Test matches from 1908 to 1930....
, Phil Mead
Phil Mead
Charles Phillip Mead was a left-handed batsman for Hampshire and England between 1905 and 1936. He was born at 10 Ashton Buildings , second eldest of seven children...
, Frank Woolley
Frank Woolley
Frank Edward Woolley was an English cricketer, one of the finest all-rounders the game has seen. In a career lasting more than thirty years, he scored more first-class runs than anyone but Sir Jack Hobbs, and took over 2,000 wickets at an average of under 20...
, Patsy Hendren
Patsy Hendren
Elias Henry Hendren better known as Patsy Hendren was an English cricketer. Patsy was one of the most prolific English batsmen of the period between the wars, averaging 47.63 in his 51 Test matches...
and Herbert Sutcliffe
Herbert Sutcliffe
Herbert Sutcliffe was an English professional cricketer who represented Yorkshire and England as an opening batsman. Apart from one match in 1945, his first-class career spanned the period between the two World Wars...
and "for some time afterwards he was kept busy answering congratulatory letters, telegrams, and cables from admirers in all parts of the world". The Adelaide Oval
Adelaide Oval
The Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia, located in the parklands between the Central Business District and North Adelaide...
had been "Bradman's Front Lawn" since he had moved to South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
in 1935 and "if ever a Test wicket was laid down to kill it was that 22 yards long graveyard of a spin bowler's hope. It was as dead and lifeless as Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
and at the end of the sixth, and final day, was playing as truly as when the match began". Bill Voce
Bill Voce
Bill Voce was an English cricketer. He played for the Nottinghamshire and England, and was an instrumental part of England's infamous Bodyline tour of Australia in 1932–1933.-Life and career:...
was dropped in favour of the batsman Joe Hardstaff
Joe Hardstaff junior
Joseph Hardstaff junior was an English cricketer, who played in twenty three Tests for England from 1935 to 1948...
, so England went into the match with only two specialist bowlers - Alec Bedser
Alec Bedser
Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE was a professional English cricketer. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club...
and Doug Wright
Doug Wright (cricketer)
Douglas Vivian Parson Wright, better known as Doug Wright was an English cricketer. A leg-spinner for Kent and England from 1932 to 1957 he took a record seven hat-tricks in first class cricket. He played for Kent for 25 years and was their first professional captain from late 1953 to 1956...
. Sid Barnes
Sid Barnes
Sidney George Barnes was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following the Second World War...
was ill and was replaced by the Victorian
Victorian Bushrangers
The Victorian cricket team, nicknamed the Bushrangers, is an Australian cricket team based in Melbourne, that represents the state of Victoria. It is administered by Cricket Victoria and draws its players from Melbourne's Premier Cricket competition...
strokemaker Merv Harvey
Merv Harvey
Mervyn Roye Harvey was a cricketer who played in one Test match for Australia in 1947. His younger brother, Neil, was one of Australia's finest batsmen since the Second World War, and the pair played together for Victoria during the latter part of Merv’s career.Merv Harvey broke into the Victorian...
who was promoted into then opening slot. The Test was played in "stifling, almost insufferable heat" with temperatures rising up to 105°F (40.5°C) and a brief shower only served to help bind the wicket when it might have started to break. Hammond won the toss and chose to bat.
England - First Innings
...it was grand to see him in the afternoon and early evening gradually get atop of Australia's persevering and skilful attack, and finally dominate it completely with all manner of lovely strokes to the extent of a run a minute off his own bat...Compton'sDenis ComptonDenis Charles Scott Compton CBE was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches, and a footballer...
innings, judged from every angle, stands with Bradman's as Sydney as the best played in this series so far.
- E.W. Swanton
The fast bowling of Ray Lindwall
Ray Lindwall
Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
and Keith Miller
Keith Miller
Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
was seen off by England's opening partnership as Len Hutton
Len Hutton
Sir Leonard "Len" Hutton was an English Test cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England in the years around the Second World War as an opening batsman. He was described by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket...
(94) and Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook was an English cricketer, who played for Lancashire and England. He had a long career, split by World War II, and ending when he was aged 44. Washbrook, who is most famous for opening the batting for England with Len Hutton, which he did fifty one times, played a total of 592...
(65) made another century stand; 137 runs in 178 minutes. Bradman declined to take the new ball when 200 runs were made (as was the custom in those days) and was rewarded when Bruce Dooland
Bruce Dooland
Bruce Dooland was an Australian cricketer who played in 3 Tests from 1947 to 1948....
(3/133) removed Washbrook and Edrich and Colin McCool
Colin McCool
Colin Leslie McCool was an Australian cricketer who played in 14 Tests from 1946 to 1950. McCool, born in Paddington, New South Wales, was an all-rounder who bowled leg spin and googlies with a round arm action and as a lower order batsman was regarded as effective square of the wicket and against...
caught Hutton lbw. Wally Hammond
Wally Hammond
Walter Reginald "Wally" Hammond was an English Test cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning his career as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed captain of England...
was in so much pain from fibrositis that he took 12 aspirin
Aspirin
Aspirin , also known as acetylsalicylic acid , is a salicylate drug, often used as an analgesic to relieve minor aches and pains, as an antipyretic to reduce fever, and as an anti-inflammatory medication. It was discovered by Arthur Eichengrun, a chemist with the German company Bayer...
before he went out to bat and was bowled by Ernie Toshack
Ernie Toshack
Ernest Raymond Herbert Toshack was an Australian cricketer who played in 12 Tests from 1946 to 1948. A left arm medium paced bowler who was known for his accuracy and stamina in his application of leg theory, Toshack was best known for being as member of Don Bradman's Invincibles that toured...
for 18 to leave England were 202/4. Denis Compton
Denis Compton
Denis Charles Scott Compton CBE was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches, and a footballer...
(147) stroked his way to 147, adding 118 with Joe Hardstaff
Joe Hardstaff junior
Joseph Hardstaff junior was an English cricketer, who played in twenty three Tests for England from 1935 to 1948...
(67), 61 with Jack Ikin
Jack Ikin
John Thomas Ikin, known as Jack Ikin was an English cricketer, who played in eighteen Tests from 1946 to 1955...
(21) and 74 with Norman Yardley
Norman Yardley
Norman Walter Dransfield Yardley was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, as a right-handed batsman and occasional bowler. An amateur, he captained Yorkshire from 1948 to 1955 and England on fourteen occasions between 1947 and 1950,...
(18 not out). It was his third first-class century in a row and "It was amazing to see Compton occasionally run down the pitch, change his mind, and either play the ball like a baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
bunt, or scamper back to ground his bat in time to get the benefit of the doubt on a stumping appeal". Lindwall thought he should have been stumped before he reached his century, "but I could well understand the umpire's explanation...that the glare of the sun suddenly became so intense that he was unable to see clearly the white line of the popping crease". In any case Lindwall quickly ended the innings with the new ball, he caught and bowled Compton to have England 455/7. In the next over he sent Alec Bedser
Alec Bedser
Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE was a professional English cricketer. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club...
's off-stump cart-wheeling back to the wicketkeeper, then bowled Godfrey Evans
Godfrey Evans
Thomas Godfrey Evans CBE was an English cricketer who played for Kent and England.Described by Wisden as 'arguably the best wicket-keeper the game has ever seen', Evans collected 219 dismissals in 91 Test match appearances between 1946 and 1959 and a total of 1066 in all first-class matches...
first ball, shaved Doug Wright's stumps before bowling him second ball - 3 wickets in 4 balls to end the innings for 460. This was the nearest that Lindwall ever got to a hat-trick
Hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick in sport is the achievement of a positive feat three times during a game, or other achievements based on threes. The term was first used in 1858 in cricket to describe HH Stephenson's feat of taking three wickets in three balls. A collection was held for Stephenson, and he...
.
Australia - First Innings
I was dining that Saturday evening chez Bradman, and with Jessie Bradman and her son John was escaping the rush by leaving an over before the close. We were underneath the stand when there was a tremendous uproar from above. 'That'll be Dad' said John, and he was right. It was.
- E.W. Swanton
Australia had 30 minutes to bat until stumps, but Merv Harvey
Merv Harvey
Mervyn Roye Harvey was a cricketer who played in one Test match for Australia in 1947. His younger brother, Neil, was one of Australia's finest batsmen since the Second World War, and the pair played together for Victoria during the latter part of Merv’s career.Merv Harvey broke into the Victorian...
was out for 12 runs off 15 balls and Bradman came to the wicket. In the Second Test at Sydney Alec Bedser
Alec Bedser
Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE was a professional English cricketer. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club...
had caught Sid Barnes
Sid Barnes
Sidney George Barnes was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following the Second World War...
with an in-swinging leg-break and had developed this delivery, soon known as Bedser's “Special Ball” and clean-bowled Bradman for a duck. Bradman wrote "The ball with which Alec Bedser
Alec Bedser
Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE was a professional English cricketer. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club...
bowled me in the Adelaide Test Match was, I think, the finest ever to take my wicket. It must have come three-quarters of the way straight on my off-stump, then suddenly dipped in to pitch on the leg stump, only to turn off the pitch and hit the middle and off stumps". He returned to the Australian dressing room telling the waiting batsmen that it had been an unplayable ball. Keith Miller
Keith Miller
Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
thought he was making excuses for being out for a duck and that "He did no service to those who still had to face Alec", but Bradman maintained that it had been good enough to bowl him if he had been on 300. Australia began the third day on 24/2, but soon made a complete recovery from their bad start. Doug Wright
Doug Wright (cricketer)
Douglas Vivian Parson Wright, better known as Doug Wright was an English cricketer. A leg-spinner for Kent and England from 1932 to 1957 he took a record seven hat-tricks in first class cricket. He played for Kent for 25 years and was their first professional captain from late 1953 to 1956...
(3/152) had trouble with his no balls due to his odd run up "He waves his arms widely, and rocks on his legs like a small ship pitching and tossing in a fairly heavy sea. Whenever he bowls in Australia there are people who whistle and cat-call as he goes through his strange approach to the stumps." As a result Bedser (3/97) was called on to bowl virtually all day until he could barely stand from heat exhaustion. Bill Edrich
Bill Edrich
William John "Bill" Edrich DFC was a distinguished cricketer who played for Middlesex, MCC, Norfolk and England.Edrich's three brothers, Brian, Eric and Geoff, and also his cousin, John, all played first-class cricket...
(0/88) had opened the bowling, but could make no impression on the dull pitch and Norman Yardley
Norman Yardley
Norman Walter Dransfield Yardley was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, as a right-handed batsman and occasional bowler. An amateur, he captained Yorkshire from 1948 to 1955 and England on fourteen occasions between 1947 and 1950,...
(3/101) was called upon to bowl 31 overs. Morris made 122 with 12 fours and 2 sixes, adding 189 with Lindsay Hassett
Lindsay Hassett
Arthur Lindsay Hassett MBE was a cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia. The diminutive Hassett was an elegant middle-order batsman, described by Wisden as, "... a master of nearly every stroke ... his superb timing, nimble footwork and strong wrists enabled him to make batting look a...
(78). Keith Miller
Keith Miller
Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
hit his maiden Test century; 141 not out in 4½ hours with 9 fours and a six, adding 150 with Ian Johnson
Ian Johnson (cricketer)
Ian William Geddes Johnson CBE was an Australian cricketer who played 45 Test matches as a slow off-break bowler between 1946 and 1956. Johnson captured 109 Test wickets at an average of 29.19 runs per wicket and as a lower order batsman made 1,000 runs at an average of...
(52), 27 with Lindwall (20) and 63 with Dooland (29). Toshack was brilliantly run out by Edrich for a duck and Australia were out for 487, a lead of 27 on the first innings.
England - Second Innings
His unbroken partnership of 85 with ComptonDenis ComptonDenis Charles Scott Compton CBE was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches, and a footballer...
at Adelaide revealed admirable fighting qualities, and cricket intelligence. He made only five scoring shots, 2, 1, 2, 4, 1, in his stay of 133 minutes, and he was at the wickets 95 minutes before he opened his account. Mainly he was watching his partner take charge of the game, but of the 276 balls sent down during their time together EvansGodfrey EvansThomas Godfrey Evans CBE was an English cricketer who played for Kent and England.Described by Wisden as 'arguably the best wicket-keeper the game has ever seen', Evans collected 219 dismissals in 91 Test match appearances between 1946 and 1959 and a total of 1066 in all first-class matches...
took 97 of them, and not only helped to save the team from certain defeat, but also enabled Compton to join the select band who have compiled a century in each innings of a Test.
- Clif Cary
Clif CaryClif Cary was an Australian cricket reporter of the 1930s and 1940s. He was the "sports editor on the commercial radio network with the largest sports audience in the Commonwealth" and in 1946 he published Test Cricket and Records, "a splendid, authentic and comprehensive history of the many great...
Though delayed by 23 minutes by a short thunderstorm and bounced by Lindwall and Miller Len Hutton
Len Hutton
Sir Leonard "Len" Hutton was an English Test cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England in the years around the Second World War as an opening batsman. He was described by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket...
(76) and Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook was an English cricketer, who played for Lancashire and England. He had a long career, split by World War II, and ending when he was aged 44. Washbrook, who is most famous for opening the batting for England with Len Hutton, which he did fifty one times, played a total of 592...
(30) made their third century stand - exactly 100 - to match the record of Hobbs
Jack Hobbs
Sir John Berry "Jack" Hobbs was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey from 1905 to 1934 and for England in 61 Test matches from 1908 to 1930....
and Sutcliffe
Herbert Sutcliffe
Herbert Sutcliffe was an English professional cricketer who represented Yorkshire and England as an opening batsman. Apart from one match in 1945, his first-class career spanned the period between the two World Wars...
in 1924-25
English cricket team in Australia in 1924-25
Marylebone Cricket Club organised the England cricket team's tour of Australia in the 1924-25 season. Australia won the Ashes series 4-1.-Results:* 1st Test — * 2nd Test — * 3rd Test —...
. They looked set to make more, but Washbrook was given out to a ball that Don Tallon
Don Tallon
Donald "Don" Tallon was an Australian cricketer who played 21 Test matches as a wicket-keeper between 1946 and 1953...
scooped off the ground off Lindwall (2/60). Washbrook "stood there transfixed. Even some of the Australian leg-side fielders expressed amazement". Tallon was known for his impetuous appealing - "he was often roaring before he had studied facts and it was his over-eagerness that brought about the shocking decision", This caused another umpiring controversy, but Tallon maintained the appeal and Bradman backed him. The Australian reporter Ray Robinson wrote "the hesitant umpire would have been wiser to have asked his square-leg colleague whether it carried to the gloves or was gathered on the half-volley". Washbrook told Hammond that the ball had gone into the ground and the England captain tried to locate a press photograph of the ball touching the ground to show the ABC
Cricket Australia
Cricket Australia, formerly known as the Australian Cricket Board, is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in Australia. It was originally formed in 1905 as the Australian Board of Control for International Cricket...
. Bill Edrich
Bill Edrich
William John "Bill" Edrich DFC was a distinguished cricketer who played for Middlesex, MCC, Norfolk and England.Edrich's three brothers, Brian, Eric and Geoff, and also his cousin, John, all played first-class cricket...
made a solid 46, but wickets fell regularly to Ernie Toshack
Ernie Toshack
Ernest Raymond Herbert Toshack was an Australian cricketer who played in 12 Tests from 1946 to 1948. A left arm medium paced bowler who was known for his accuracy and stamina in his application of leg theory, Toshack was best known for being as member of Don Bradman's Invincibles that toured...
(4/76). Hammond with his last stroke in Australia hit the ball for a certain four until it was superbly taken by Lindwall, “Every time he missed or edged the ball he was out". England were 255/8 when Godfrey Evans
Godfrey Evans
Thomas Godfrey Evans CBE was an English cricketer who played for Kent and England.Described by Wisden as 'arguably the best wicket-keeper the game has ever seen', Evans collected 219 dismissals in 91 Test match appearances between 1946 and 1959 and a total of 1066 in all first-class matches...
joined Denis Compton
Denis Compton
Denis Charles Scott Compton CBE was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches, and a footballer...
, only 228 runs ahead and it was essential that they stayed together. Evans, who usually tried to run cheeky singles off almost every ball, spent a record 95 minutes before making a run. Bradman was ready to accept a second draw to ensure that he won the series, set defensive fields and wasted time "set his side a frightful example by taking minutes almost, to walk lazily after the ball and field it". Clif Cary
Clif Cary
Clif Cary was an Australian cricket reporter of the 1930s and 1940s. He was the "sports editor on the commercial radio network with the largest sports audience in the Commonwealth" and in 1946 he published Test Cricket and Records, "a splendid, authentic and comprehensive history of the many great...
thought this was his only mistake of the series, as he could have bought the last two wickets for 40-50 runs with a day and a half to make the runs on a perfect pitch. Compton made his second century of the match at the other end and they added 85 for the ninth wicket, but Tallon missed a stumping off Evans on 282/8 and Lindwall thought Compton should have been stumped before he reached three figures. His hundred was hit off the last ball before lunch, but Hammond waited until the first ball after lunch before declaring at 340/8. This decision was much discussed and was thought to be unique, but the West Indies captain Jackie Grant
Jackie Grant
George Copeland Grant was a West Indian cricketer who captained the side through several series.Grant was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. He captained the West Indies' team in the 1930-31, 1933, 1934-35 series...
had done this against England at the Queen's Park Oval
Queen's Park Oval
Queen's Park Oval, in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, is currently the largest capacity cricket ground in the West Indies and has hosted more Test matches than any other ground in the Caribbean. It also hosted a number of matches in the 2007 Cricket World Cup. It is privately owned by the...
in Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
in 1934-35. It wasted 10 minutes as the teams changed sides.
Australia - Second Innings
Arthur MorrisArthur MorrisArthur Robert Morris MBE is a former Australian cricketer who played 46 Test matches between 1946 and 1955. An opener, Morris is regarded as one of Australia's greatest left-handed batsmen. He is best known for his key role in Don Bradman's Invincibles side, which made an undefeated tour of...
set himself up as a No. 1 for Australia for a while to come...Arthur at his best looked out of the top draw, a left-hander with all the strokes, and only one (much publicized) weakness against certain bowling and in particular against Bedser'sAlec BedserSir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE was a professional English cricketer. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club...
.... Yet his record speaks for itself, and what the figures do not say is that few more charming men have played for Australia, and I cannot name one who was more popular with his opponents.
- E.W. Swanton
Hammond had left the Australians 3¼ hours to make 314 runs to win, not impossible as they had some excellent strokemakers in their team. Merv Harvey
Merv Harvey
Mervyn Roye Harvey was a cricketer who played in one Test match for Australia in 1947. His younger brother, Neil, was one of Australia's finest batsmen since the Second World War, and the pair played together for Victoria during the latter part of Merv’s career.Merv Harvey broke into the Victorian...
made no attempt to get the runs and spent 100 minutes making 31, keeping Arthur Morris
Arthur Morris
Arthur Robert Morris MBE is a former Australian cricketer who played 46 Test matches between 1946 and 1955. An opener, Morris is regarded as one of Australia's greatest left-handed batsmen. He is best known for his key role in Don Bradman's Invincibles side, which made an undefeated tour of...
company in an opening stand of 116 until he was bowled by Yardley. Bradman could have sent Keith Miller
Keith Miller
Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
in at number 3, both to make quick runs and so that he could avoid a pair of ducks, but he came out himself. He struggled for 20 minutes against Alec Bedser
Alec Bedser
Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE was a professional English cricketer. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club...
to get off the mark when Umpire Scott called the Surrey bowler for a no ball and the Don got off the mark. Bradman made 56 not out and added 99 with Morris who completed his third successive Test century of 124 not out. Australia finished the day on 214/1 and the game was a draw.
Result
Australia drew the Fourth Test with England to win the series. Denis ComptonDenis Compton
Denis Charles Scott Compton CBE was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches, and a footballer...
(147 and 103 not out) and Arthur Morris
Arthur Morris
Arthur Robert Morris MBE is a former Australian cricketer who played 46 Test matches between 1946 and 1955. An opener, Morris is regarded as one of Australia's greatest left-handed batsmen. He is best known for his key role in Don Bradman's Invincibles side, which made an undefeated tour of...
(122 and 124 not out) became the seventh and eight batsmen to make a pair of centuries in a Test after Warren Bardsley
Warren Bardsley
Warren "Curly" Bardsley was an Australian Test cricketer. An opening batsman, Bardsley played 41 Tests between 1909 and 1926 and over 200 first-class games for New South Wales...
, Jack Russell, Herbert Sutcliffe
Herbert Sutcliffe
Herbert Sutcliffe was an English professional cricketer who represented Yorkshire and England as an opening batsman. Apart from one match in 1945, his first-class career spanned the period between the two World Wars...
(twice), Wally Hammond
Wally Hammond
Walter Reginald "Wally" Hammond was an English Test cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning his career as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed captain of England...
, George Headley
George Headley
George Alphonso Headley was a West Indian cricketer who played 22 Test matches, mostly before the Second World War. Considered one of the best batsmen to play for West Indies and one of the greatest cricketers of all time, Headley also represented Jamaica and played professional club cricket in...
(twice) and Eddie Paynter
Eddie Paynter
Edward "Eddie" Paynter was an English cricketer: an attacking batsman and excellent fielder. His Test batting average of 59.23 is the fifth highest of all time, and second only to Herbert Sutcliffe amongst Englishmen; against Australia alone Paynter averaged an extraordinary 84.42.Born in...
. It was the first time that two batsmen achieved this feat in the same Test, to be repeated by Ian
Ian Chappell
Ian Michael Chappell is a former cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. He captained Australia between 1971 and 1975 before taking a central role in the breakaway World Series Cricket organisation...
and Greg Chappell
Greg Chappell
Gregory Stephen Chappell MBE is a former cricketer who captained Australia between 1975 and 1977 and then joined the breakaway World Series Cricket organisation, before returning to the Australian captaincy in 1979, a position he held until his retirement 1983...
against New Zealand in 1973-74. In honour of the event they were presented with silver watches by the South Australian Cricket Association
South Australian Cricket Association
The South Australian Cricket Association is the peak body for the sport of cricket in South Australia. The association runs Adelaide Oval and the Southern Redbacks based in Adelaide, South Australia. SACA is the controlling body for the South Australian Grade Cricket League...
, as was Ray Lindwall
Ray Lindwall
Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
for his 3 wickets in 4 balls. 1,502 runs were scored in the Test, the eighth time 1,500 runs had been scored in an Anglo-Australian Test. The full attendance was 135,980 and receipts of £18,117
Australian pound
The pound was the currency of Australia from 1910 until 13 February 1966, when it was replaced by the Australian dollar. It was subdivided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence.- Earlier Australian currencies :...
.
Fifth Test – Sydney
Preliminaries
The general positioning of the field and the blocking of the batsmen's known strokes was admirable, and his placing was responsible for at least three of the catches made. He certainly has the knack of keeping his men equable and happy. If there were just a little more punch or bite in his make-up one could regard YardleyNorman YardleyNorman Walter Dransfield Yardley was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, as a right-handed batsman and occasional bowler. An amateur, he captained Yorkshire from 1948 to 1955 and England on fourteen occasions between 1947 and 1950,...
as a thoroughly satisfactory England captain of the near future.
- E.W. Swanton
The MCC played New South Wales immediately before the Fifth Test and it rained, as in every other match on their tour. The ground staff ran on to cover the MCC-NSW wicket and left the Test wicket under the rain. As a result it was over-watered and while not dangerous it favoured the bowlers and produced the best cricket of the series. Len Hutton
Len Hutton
Sir Leonard "Len" Hutton was an English Test cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England in the years around the Second World War as an opening batsman. He was described by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket...
was sent to hospital after being hit on the chin by a Ginty Lush bouncer in that match, but returned to make 40 and 74. Jack Fingleton
Jack Fingleton
John "Jack" Henry Webb Fingleton OBE was an Australian cricketer who was trained as a journalist and became a political and cricket commentator after the end of his playing career...
called on Lindwall and Miller to not subject him to another fast bowling barrage, which could damage his weakened left arm and end his career. Wally Hammond
Wally Hammond
Walter Reginald "Wally" Hammond was an English Test cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning his career as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed captain of England...
had a crippling attack of fibrositis the day before the Test and was unable to turn without pain and reluctantly withdrew in favour of Norman Yardley
Norman Yardley
Norman Walter Dransfield Yardley was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, as a right-handed batsman and occasional bowler. An amateur, he captained Yorkshire from 1948 to 1955 and England on fourteen occasions between 1947 and 1950,...
. He remained in the dressing room and gave advice, but there was an improvement in the way England played on the field. Joe Hardstaff
Joe Hardstaff junior
Joseph Hardstaff junior was an English cricketer, who played in twenty three Tests for England from 1935 to 1948...
was also unfit and they were replaced by the popular Surrey
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...
opener Laurie Fishlock
Laurie Fishlock
Laurence Barnard "Laurie" Fishlock was an English cricketer, who played in four Tests from 1936 to 1947. A specialist batsman, he achieved little in those four matches, but might have had a much more substantial Test career, had he not lost six of what should have been his best years to World War...
and the off-spinner
Finger spin
Finger spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket. It refers to the cricket technique and specific hand movements associated with imparting a particular direction of spin to the cricket ball. The other spinning technique, generally used to spin the ball in the opposite direction, is wrist spin...
Peter Smith
Peter Smith (cricketer)
Peter Smith, was an English cricketer, who played for Essex and England. Smith was one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1947. An all-rounder, Smith played for Essex from 1929 to 1951.-Life and career:...
, who had just taken a record 9/121 at the SCG
Sydney Cricket Ground
The Sydney Cricket Ground is a sports stadium in Sydney in Australia. It is used for Australian football, Test cricket, One Day International cricket, some rugby league and rugby union matches and is the home ground for the New South Wales Blues cricket team and the Sydney Swans of the Australian...
. Sid Barnes
Sid Barnes
Sidney George Barnes was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following the Second World War...
returned to the Australian team
Australian cricket team in Australia in 1946-47
The 1946-47 Australians defeated the touring England team 3-0 in the 1946-47 Ashes series. First class cricket had continued in Australia until January 1942 and as grade cricket had continued throughout the war there had been less of an hiatus than in England...
after his illness and Merv Harvey
Merv Harvey
Mervyn Roye Harvey was a cricketer who played in one Test match for Australia in 1947. His younger brother, Neil, was one of Australia's finest batsmen since the Second World War, and the pair played together for Victoria during the latter part of Merv’s career.Merv Harvey broke into the Victorian...
was dropped, the batsman Ron Hamence
Ron Hamence
Ronald Arthur Hamence was a cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. A short and compact right-handed batsman, Hamence excelled in getting forward to drive and had an array of attractive back foot strokes...
replaced the injured Ian Johnson
Ian Johnson (cricketer)
Ian William Geddes Johnson CBE was an Australian cricketer who played 45 Test matches as a slow off-break bowler between 1946 and 1956. Johnson captured 109 Test wickets at an average of 29.19 runs per wicket and as a lower order batsman made 1,000 runs at an average of...
and George Tribe
George Tribe
George Edward Tribe was an Australian cricketer who played in 3 Tests from 1946 to 1947, as well as an Australian rules footballer with the Footscray Football Club in the VFL....
was preferred to Bruce Dooland
Bruce Dooland
Bruce Dooland was an Australian cricketer who played in 3 Tests from 1947 to 1948....
. Yardley won the toss and chose to bat.
England - First Innings
I must say when I bowled at LenLen HuttonSir Leonard "Len" Hutton was an English Test cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England in the years around the Second World War as an opening batsman. He was described by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket...
I felt a sense of personal grudge I have never known against any other batsman. RayRay LindwallRaymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
did too. I suppose Len suffered a greater barrage from the two of us than any other player in the world. We both put in that little bit extra against Len, and he had to take it time after time... he had a poker face and never expressed either elation or disappointment. I tried my wickedest bumpers, hoping that I would have the satisfaction of seeing him look scared.
- Keith Miller
Keith MillerKeith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
After a good length ball from Ray Lindwall
Ray Lindwall
Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
removed Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook was an English cricketer, who played for Lancashire and England. He had a long career, split by World War II, and ending when he was aged 44. Washbrook, who is most famous for opening the batting for England with Len Hutton, which he did fifty one times, played a total of 592...
's stumps Len Hutton
Len Hutton
Sir Leonard "Len" Hutton was an English Test cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England in the years around the Second World War as an opening batsman. He was described by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket...
and Bill Edrich
Bill Edrich
William John "Bill" Edrich DFC was a distinguished cricketer who played for Middlesex, MCC, Norfolk and England.Edrich's three brothers, Brian, Eric and Geoff, and also his cousin, John, all played first-class cricket...
weathered the fat bowling and added 150 for the second wicket. Edrich was caught off Lindwall for 60, Laurie Fishlock
Laurie Fishlock
Laurence Barnard "Laurie" Fishlock was an English cricketer, who played in four Tests from 1936 to 1947. A specialist batsman, he achieved little in those four matches, but might have had a much more substantial Test career, had he not lost six of what should have been his best years to World War...
fell to Colin McCool
Colin McCool
Colin Leslie McCool was an Australian cricketer who played in 14 Tests from 1946 to 1950. McCool, born in Paddington, New South Wales, was an all-rounder who bowled leg spin and googlies with a round arm action and as a lower order batsman was regarded as effective square of the wicket and against...
, and Lindwall knocked Denis Compton
Denis Compton
Denis Charles Scott Compton CBE was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches, and a footballer...
's his bat out of his hands and on the stumps. Norman Yardley
Norman Yardley
Norman Walter Dransfield Yardley was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, as a right-handed batsman and occasional bowler. An amateur, he captained Yorkshire from 1948 to 1955 and England on fourteen occasions between 1947 and 1950,...
came in he appealed for bad light, which was turned down even though it was so dim that the Australian cameramen were unable to take clear photographs. Lindwall removed Yardley and Jack Ikin
Jack Ikin
John Thomas Ikin, known as Jack Ikin was an English cricketer, who played in eighteen Tests from 1946 to 1955...
and England ended the day on 237/6. Hutton had batted throughout the day with typical Yorkshire grit for 122 not out, but was struck down by acute tonsillitis
Tonsillitis
Tonsillitis is an inflammation of the tonsils most commonly caused by viral or bacterial infection. Symptoms of tonsillitis include sore throat and fever. While no treatment has been found to shorten the duration of viral tonsillitis, bacterial causes are treatable with antibiotics...
the following day and was taken to hospital with a temperature of 103°F (39.5°C). He was ill for the rest of the Test - a severe blow to the England team - and was flown back to England for a throat operation immediately afterwards. His latest innings gave him 888 runs (111.00) against Australia. The Saturday Hutton took ill was lost to rain, but on the Sunday the field was dried by the sun and mushrooms grew in the outfield. Lindwall bowled Godfrey Evans
Godfrey Evans
Thomas Godfrey Evans CBE was an English cricketer who played for Kent and England.Described by Wisden as 'arguably the best wicket-keeper the game has ever seen', Evans collected 219 dismissals in 91 Test match appearances between 1946 and 1959 and a total of 1066 in all first-class matches...
and Peter Smith
Peter Smith (cricketer)
Peter Smith, was an English cricketer, who played for Essex and England. Smith was one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1947. An all-rounder, Smith played for Essex from 1929 to 1951.-Life and career:...
in the morning to give him 7/63, Miller had Doug Wright
Doug Wright (cricketer)
Douglas Vivian Parson Wright, better known as Doug Wright was an English cricketer. A leg-spinner for Kent and England from 1932 to 1957 he took a record seven hat-tricks in first class cricket. He played for Kent for 25 years and was their first professional captain from late 1953 to 1956...
and England were out for 280. Lindwall thought that George Tribe
George Tribe
George Edward Tribe was an Australian cricketer who played in 3 Tests from 1946 to 1947, as well as an Australian rules footballer with the Footscray Football Club in the VFL....
had bowled just as well, but had no luck and returned 0/95.
Australia – first innings
Cutting a leg-breakWrist spinWrist spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket. It refers to the cricket technique and specific hand movements associated with imparting a particular direction of spin to the cricket ball...
is always dangerous, and cutting WrightDoug Wright (cricketer)Douglas Vivian Parson Wright, better known as Doug Wright was an English cricketer. A leg-spinner for Kent and England from 1932 to 1957 he took a record seven hat-tricks in first class cricket. He played for Kent for 25 years and was their first professional captain from late 1953 to 1956...
is a form of suicide. Why a bowler of his skill failed to get more test-match wickets always mystified me; there was of course the marked tendency to bowl no-balls, but he sent down so many good ones, and worried and beat the batsmen so often, that he should have had better results...he seemed always likely to get wickets. It is one of the toughest problems of captaincy to know when to remove a man like that from the firing -line.
- Johnnie Moyes
Johnnie MoyesAlban George "Johnny" Moyes MBE MC was a cricketer who played for South Australia and Victoria. Following his brief playing career, Moyes, a professional journalist, he later gained greater fame as a writer and commentator on the game.As a right-hand batsman Moyes scored 883 runs at an average of...
Sid Barnes
Sid Barnes
Sidney George Barnes was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following the Second World War...
(71) and Arthur Morris
Arthur Morris
Arthur Robert Morris MBE is a former Australian cricketer who played 46 Test matches between 1946 and 1955. An opener, Morris is regarded as one of Australia's greatest left-handed batsmen. He is best known for his key role in Don Bradman's Invincibles side, which made an undefeated tour of...
(57) added 126 for Australia's first wicket until both were removed by Alec Bedser
Alec Bedser
Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE was a professional English cricketer. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club...
(2/49) soon after tea. Despite the 102°F (39°C) heat, the English fielding improved on the previous Tests, with Godfrey Evans
Godfrey Evans
Thomas Godfrey Evans CBE was an English cricketer who played for Kent and England.Described by Wisden as 'arguably the best wicket-keeper the game has ever seen', Evans collected 219 dismissals in 91 Test match appearances between 1946 and 1959 and a total of 1066 in all first-class matches...
, Denis Compton
Denis Compton
Denis Charles Scott Compton CBE was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches, and a footballer...
and Laurie Fishlock
Laurie Fishlock
Laurence Barnard "Laurie" Fishlock was an English cricketer, who played in four Tests from 1936 to 1947. A specialist batsman, he achieved little in those four matches, but might have had a much more substantial Test career, had he not lost six of what should have been his best years to World War...
to the fore. Compton amused the crowd by chasing a piece of paper across the ground and grabbing it with a rugby tackle
Tackle (football move)
Most forms of football have a move known as a tackle. The primary purposes of tackling is to disposses an opponent of the ball, to stop the player from gaining ground towards goal or to stop them from carrying out what they intend....
to the laughter of the 40,000 crowd. McCool and Tribe had managed to turn the ball on the first day and at last Doug Wright
Doug Wright (cricketer)
Douglas Vivian Parson Wright, better known as Doug Wright was an English cricketer. A leg-spinner for Kent and England from 1932 to 1957 he took a record seven hat-tricks in first class cricket. He played for Kent for 25 years and was their first professional captain from late 1953 to 1956...
found things turning his way. Hammond had set stereotyped fields in the first four Tests and was loath to change them, but the new captain Norman Yardley
Norman Yardley
Norman Walter Dransfield Yardley was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, as a right-handed batsman and occasional bowler. An amateur, he captained Yorkshire from 1948 to 1955 and England on fourteen occasions between 1947 and 1950,...
was keen to take advice from his professionals. He changed the field as each batsmen came in and gave Wright a field of close catchers instead of trying to save runs. At the start of each Test Wright would receive telegrams and letters from well-wishers who had lamented his bad luck "Never a match went by in which he did not hopelessly defeat the defences of the leading run-getters. Times out of number he had Barnes, Bradman, Hassett and their like groping forward hypnotised by the magic of his spinning witchcraft". Wright bowled unchanged for nearly two hours and took the wickets of Don Bradman, who came down the wicket, misjudged the spin and bowled for 12, and Keith Miller
Keith Miller
Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
taken by Jack Ikin
Jack Ikin
John Thomas Ikin, known as Jack Ikin was an English cricketer, who played in eighteen Tests from 1946 to 1955...
at slip. Australia started the fourth day on 189/4 and Bedser and Wright bowled unchanged for 11 overs each. Bedser shut up his end and conceded only 15 runs while Wright span his way through the Australian batting with a spell of 5/42 with Hassett, McCool, Tallon, Lindwall and Tribe all falling to catches close to the wicket. Only Ron Hamence
Ron Hamence
Ronald Arthur Hamence was a cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. A short and compact right-handed batsman, Hamence excelled in getting forward to drive and had an array of attractive back foot strokes...
stood up and made 31 not out in 1¾ hours and when Ernie Toshack
Ernie Toshack
Ernest Raymond Herbert Toshack was an Australian cricketer who played in 12 Tests from 1946 to 1948. A left arm medium paced bowler who was known for his accuracy and stamina in his application of leg theory, Toshack was best known for being as member of Don Bradman's Invincibles that toured...
was run out against Australia were dismissed for 253, a deficit of 17 runs.
England - Second Innings
In return England failed to recover from Ray LindwallRay Lindwall
Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St...
(2/46) catching Laurie Fishlock
Laurie Fishlock
Laurence Barnard "Laurie" Fishlock was an English cricketer, who played in four Tests from 1936 to 1947. A specialist batsman, he achieved little in those four matches, but might have had a much more substantial Test career, had he not lost six of what should have been his best years to World War...
lbw through sheer pace with the first ball of the innings. Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook
Cyril Washbrook was an English cricketer, who played for Lancashire and England. He had a long career, split by World War II, and ending when he was aged 44. Washbrook, who is most famous for opening the batting for England with Len Hutton, which he did fifty one times, played a total of 592...
, Bill Edrich
Bill Edrich
William John "Bill" Edrich DFC was a distinguished cricketer who played for Middlesex, MCC, Norfolk and England.Edrich's three brothers, Brian, Eric and Geoff, and also his cousin, John, all played first-class cricket...
and Peter Smith
Peter Smith (cricketer)
Peter Smith, was an English cricketer, who played for Essex and England. Smith was one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1947. An all-rounder, Smith played for Essex from 1929 to 1951.-Life and career:...
all made 24 and only Denis Compton
Denis Compton
Denis Charles Scott Compton CBE was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches, and a footballer...
made more with 76 before he was caught in Toshack's leg-trap. Colin McCool
Colin McCool
Colin Leslie McCool was an Australian cricketer who played in 14 Tests from 1946 to 1950. McCool, born in Paddington, New South Wales, was an all-rounder who bowled leg spin and googlies with a round arm action and as a lower order batsman was regarded as effective square of the wicket and against...
took 5/44 with "the English batsmen seemed like rabbits fascinated in the presence of a snake". As Hutton was unable to bat England were out for 186 on the last day, leaving Australia 214 to win.
Australia - Second Innings
Sid Barnes
Sidney George Barnes was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following the Second World War...
and Arthur Morris
Arthur Morris
Arthur Robert Morris MBE is a former Australian cricketer who played 46 Test matches between 1946 and 1955. An opener, Morris is regarded as one of Australia's greatest left-handed batsmen. He is best known for his key role in Don Bradman's Invincibles side, which made an undefeated tour of...
decided to make runs while its effects lasted. They made 45 for the first wicket when Morris gambled on a third run when Compton misfielded and was run out. Bradman edged a ball from Wright to Edrich at slip, who dropped it, but Barnes was taken by Evans off Bedser. In the end it was Edrich's dropped catch that decided the day as Bradman and Hassett dropped anchor and took and hour to make 13 runs, tiring out the bowlers as they did so. When Bedser and Wright were rested they attacked their replacements Edrich and Smith, who were replaced by Yardley and Wright after two overs. Australia reached tea with 110/2 and in the last session they chased the runs. Bradman was out to Bedser (2/76) for 63 and Hassett to Wright (2/93) for 47, but Keith Miller
Keith Miller
Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
was told to get runs quickly before time ran out. "No message ever had a readier recipient" and he struck 6 fours in his unbeaten 34 off 44 balls. a grateful Bradman spoke of "the sheer artistry, the classical style and power of an innings by Miller" when interviewed just after the Test Hamance was out for 1, but5 Australia reached 214/5 and won by 5 wickets.
Result
Australia won the Fifth Test by 5 wickets to win the series 3-0 and retain the AshesThe Ashes
The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is one of the most celebrated rivalries in international cricket and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues...
. It was the first time that they had played an Ashes series without a Test defeat since Warwick Armstrong
Warwick Armstrong
Warwick Windridge Armstrong was an Australian cricketer who played 50 Test matches between 1902 and 1921. An all-rounder, he captained Australia in ten Test matches between 1920 and 1921 and was undefeated, winning eight Tests and drawing two...
's 5-0 win in Australia in 1920-21
English cricket team in Australia in 1920-21
An England team toured Australia between November 1920 and March 1921. The tour was organised by the Marylebone Cricket Club and matches outside the Tests were played under the MCC name...
and 3-0 win in England in 1921
Australian cricket team in England in 1921
Australia won the 1921 Ashes series held in England. They won the first three matches against England, which meant that they had won eight in succession, an unequalled sequence in Ashes Tests, following the 5-0 drubbing they had administered to England in the 1920-21 season in Australia...
, just after the last war. The full attendance was 93,011 and receipts of £12,619
Australian pound
The pound was the currency of Australia from 1910 until 13 February 1966, when it was replaced by the Australian dollar. It was subdivided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence.- Earlier Australian currencies :...
. The total attendance for the Test series was 853,122 with receipts of £115,858
Australian pound
The pound was the currency of Australia from 1910 until 13 February 1966, when it was replaced by the Australian dollar. It was subdivided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence.- Earlier Australian currencies :...
. Bradman said that "The quick resumption of Anglo-Australian Tests had justified itself in every way, psychologically, technically, financially". Len Hutton
Len Hutton
Sir Leonard "Len" Hutton was an English Test cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England in the years around the Second World War as an opening batsman. He was described by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket...
was flown home for a throat operation, the injured Paul Gibb
Paul Gibb
Paul Gibb was an English cricketer, who played in eight Tests for England from 1938 to 1946. He also played first-class cricket for Cambridge University and Yorkshire, mostly as a batsman but occasionally also keeping wicket.Gibb was educated at St Edward's School, Oxford, and played first-class...
, James Langridge, Joe Hardstaff
Joe Hardstaff junior
Joseph Hardstaff junior was an English cricketer, who played in twenty three Tests for England from 1935 to 1948...
went home by sea with Bill Ferguson
Bill Ferguson
William Henry Ferguson BEM is one of the best known cricket scorers. For 52 years from 1905 until his death, Ferguson acted as the scorer and baggageman for Australia, England, West Indies, South Africa and New Zealand in 43 tours and 208 Test matches.He is often credited with two of the most...
and the heavy baggage while the rest of the England team sailed east to play in New Zealand.
The Press Corps
The series was covered on radio by Arthur GilliganArthur Gilligan
Arthur Edward Robert Gilligan was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Sussex, Surrey and England....
, Vic Richardson
Vic Richardson
Victor York Richardson OBE was a leading Australian sportsman of the 1920s and 1930s, captaining the Australian cricket team and the South Australian Australian rules football team, representing Australia in baseball and South Australia in golf, winning the South Australian state tennis title and...
, Alan McGilvray
Alan McGilvray
Alan David McGilvray AM MBE was an Australian cricketer who played several first-class seasons for New South Wales in the mid-1930s before becoming the doyen of Australian cricket commentators...
, Alan Kippax
Alan Kippax
Alan Falconer Kippax was a cricketer for New South Wales and Australia. Regarded as one of the great stylists of Australian cricket during the era between the two World Wars, Kippax overcame a late start to Test cricket to become a regular in the Australian team between the 1928–29 and...
, Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly (cricketer)
William Joseph "Bill" O'Reilly , often known as Tiger O'Reilly, was an Australian cricketer, rated as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. Following his retirement from playing, he became a well-respected cricket writer and broadcaster.O'Reilly was one of the best spin bowlers to...
, Clif Cary
Clif Cary
Clif Cary was an Australian cricket reporter of the 1930s and 1940s. He was the "sports editor on the commercial radio network with the largest sports audience in the Commonwealth" and in 1946 he published Test Cricket and Records, "a splendid, authentic and comprehensive history of the many great...
and E.W. Swanton. The English press corps formed the Empire Cricket-Writers Club XI, which played cricket with some famous old names; Arthur Mailey
Arthur Mailey
Arthur Alfred Mailey was an Australian cricketer who played in 21 Test matches between 1920 and 1926....
, George Duckworth
George Duckworth
George Duckworth was a professional cricketer who played first-class cricket for Lancashire and England....
, Richard Whitington
Richard Whitington
Richard Smallpeice Whitington was an Australian first-class cricketer who played for South Australia and after serving in World War II, represented the Australian Services cricket team, which played in the Victory Tests....
, Bill Bowes
Bill Bowes
Bill Bowes was one of the best bowlers of the interwar period and, for a time, the most important force behind Yorkshire's dominance of the County Championship...
, Jack Fingleton
Jack Fingleton
John "Jack" Henry Webb Fingleton OBE was an Australian cricketer who was trained as a journalist and became a political and cricket commentator after the end of his playing career...
, Vivian Jenkins
Vivian Jenkins
Vivian Gordon James Jenkins was a Welsh rugby union player who, having taught Classics and Games at Dover College, went on to have a successful career as a sports journalist. He won 14 caps for Wales and 1 cap for the British and Irish Lions. He also played first-class cricket with...
, E.W. Swanton, E.M. Wellings and J.M. Kilburn.
1946–47 Test Series Averages
Source] As was the convention of the time gentleman amateurs have their initials in front of their surname and professional players have their initials after their name, if used at all. Wally HammondWally Hammond
Walter Reginald "Wally" Hammond was an English Test cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning his career as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed captain of England...
had been a professional until 1938 when his business interests allowed him to turn amateur
Amateur status in first-class cricket
Amateur status in first-class cricket had a special meaning, especially in England, in that the amateur in this context was not merely someone who played cricket in his spare time but a particular type of first-class cricketer who existed officially until 1962, when the distinction between amateurs...
, allowing him to captain England. Bill Edrich
Bill Edrich
William John "Bill" Edrich DFC was a distinguished cricketer who played for Middlesex, MCC, Norfolk and England.Edrich's three brothers, Brian, Eric and Geoff, and also his cousin, John, all played first-class cricket...
was a professional who became an amateur in 1947 and captain of Middlesex
Middlesex County Cricket Club
Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the...
in 1950. The Australians were all amateurs until the Packer Revolution
Kerry Packer
Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer, AC was an Australian media tycoon. The son of Sir Frank Packer and Gretel Bullmore, the Packer family company owned controlling interest in both the Nine television network and leading Australian publishing company Australian Consolidated Press, which were later...
, even though they played like professionals. Of particular note is that Doug Wright
Doug Wright (cricketer)
Douglas Vivian Parson Wright, better known as Doug Wright was an English cricketer. A leg-spinner for Kent and England from 1932 to 1957 he took a record seven hat-tricks in first class cricket. He played for Kent for 25 years and was their first professional captain from late 1953 to 1956...
was the biggest wicket-taker on either side with 23 wickets (43.04), but with a higher average than anyone else who has held this position. He was also the chief first–class wicket-taker of the 1946-47 season – 51 wickets (33.31) and bowled just over a third of England’s overs; 246.3 compared to 240.2 by Alec Bedser
Alec Bedser
Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE was a professional English cricketer. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club...
and 246.5 by the rest. Norman Yardley
Norman Yardley
Norman Walter Dransfield Yardley was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, as a right-handed batsman and occasional bowler. An amateur, he captained Yorkshire from 1948 to 1955 and England on fourteen occasions between 1947 and 1950,...
topped England’s bowling averages with 10 wickets (37.20) even though he had not bowled for Yorkshire
Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....
in 1946, though he had taken 6/29 for the MCC against Cambridge University
Cambridge University Cricket Club
Cambridge University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team. It now plays all but one of its first-class cricket matches as part of the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence , which includes Anglia Ruskin University...
, coming on as the seventh bowler.
| Test Series Batting Averages | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Team | Batting Position | Matches | Innings | Not Out | Runs | Highest Score | Average | 100s | 50s | Ct Caught Caught is a method of dismissing a batsman in the sport of cricket. Being caught out is the most common method of dismissal at higher levels of competition... | St |
| D.G. Bradman (c) Captain (cricket) The captain of a cricket team often referred to as the skipper is the appointed leader, having several additional roles and responsibilities over and above those of a regular player... |
Right-Hand Top Order Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
5 | 8 | 1 | 680 | 234 | 97.14 | 2 | 3 | 3 | ||
| K.R. Miller Keith Miller Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite... |
Right-Hand Middle Order Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
5 | 7 | 2 | 384 | 141* Not out In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress... |
76.80 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||
| S.G. Barnes Sid Barnes Sidney George Barnes was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following the Second World War... |
Right-Hand Opening Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
4 | 6 | 443 | 234 | 73.83 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||
| A.R. Morris Arthur Morris Arthur Robert Morris MBE is a former Australian cricketer who played 46 Test matches between 1946 and 1955. An opener, Morris is regarded as one of Australia's greatest left-handed batsmen. He is best known for his key role in Don Bradman's Invincibles side, which made an undefeated tour of... |
Left-Hand Opening Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
5 | 8 | 1 | 503 | 155 | 71.85 | 3 | 1 | |||
| C.L. McCool Colin McCool Colin Leslie McCool was an Australian cricketer who played in 14 Tests from 1946 to 1950. McCool, born in Paddington, New South Wales, was an all-rounder who bowled leg spin and googlies with a round arm action and as a lower order batsman was regarded as effective square of the wicket and against... |
Right-Hand Middle Order Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
5 | 7 | 2 | 272 | 104* Not out In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress... |
54.40 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||
| Hutton, L. Len Hutton Sir Leonard "Len" Hutton was an English Test cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England in the years around the Second World War as an opening batsman. He was described by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket... |
Right-Hand Opening Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
5 | 9 | 1 | 417 | 122* Not out In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress... |
52.12 | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||
| Compton, D.C.S. Denis Compton Denis Charles Scott Compton CBE was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches, and a footballer... |
Right-Hand Top Order Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
5 | 10 | 1 | 459 | 147 | 51.00 | 2 | 2 | 4 | ||
| A.L. Hassett Lindsay Hassett Arthur Lindsay Hassett MBE was a cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia. The diminutive Hassett was an elegant middle-order batsman, described by Wisden as, "... a master of nearly every stroke ... his superb timing, nimble footwork and strong wrists enabled him to make batting look a... (vc) Captain (cricket) The captain of a cricket team often referred to as the skipper is the appointed leader, having several additional roles and responsibilities over and above those of a regular player... |
Right-Hand Top Order Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
5 | 7 | 332 | 128 | 47.42 | 1 | 1 | 5 | |||
| Edrich, W.J. Bill Edrich William John "Bill" Edrich DFC was a distinguished cricketer who played for Middlesex, MCC, Norfolk and England.Edrich's three brothers, Brian, Eric and Geoff, and also his cousin, John, all played first-class cricket... |
Right-Hand Top Order Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
5 | 10 | 462 | 119 | 46.20 | 1 | 3 | 1 | |||
| Hardstaff, J. Joe Hardstaff junior Joseph Hardstaff junior was an English cricketer, who played in twenty three Tests for England from 1935 to 1948... |
Right-Hand Top Order Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
1 | 2 | 76 | 67 | 38.00 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| Washbrook, C. Cyril Washbrook Cyril Washbrook was an English cricketer, who played for Lancashire and England. He had a long career, split by World War II, and ending when he was aged 44. Washbrook, who is most famous for opening the batting for England with Len Hutton, which he did fifty one times, played a total of 592... |
Right-Hand Opening Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
5 | 10 | 363 | 112 | 36.30 | 1 | 2 | 2 | |||
| R.R. Lindwall Ray Lindwall Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St... |
Right-Hand Middle Order Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
4 | 5 | 160 | 100 | 32.00 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| N.W.D. Yardley Norman Yardley Norman Walter Dransfield Yardley was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, as a right-handed batsman and occasional bowler. An amateur, he captained Yorkshire from 1948 to 1955 and England on fourteen occasions between 1947 and 1950,... (vc) Captain (cricket) The captain of a cricket team often referred to as the skipper is the appointed leader, having several additional roles and responsibilities over and above those of a regular player... |
Right-Hand Middle Order Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
5 | 10 | 2 | 252 | 61 | 31.50 | 2 | 3 | |||
| R.A. Hamence Ron Hamence Ronald Arthur Hamence was a cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. A short and compact right-handed batsman, Hamence excelled in getting forward to drive and had an array of attractive back foot strokes... |
Right-Hand Top Order Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
1 | 2 | 1 | 31 | 31* Not out In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress... |
31.00 | |||||
| D. Tallon Don Tallon Donald "Don" Tallon was an Australian cricketer who played 21 Test matches as a wicket-keeper between 1946 and 1953... (wk) Wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being guarded by the batsman currently on strike... |
Right-Hand Lower Order Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
5 | 6 | 174 | 92 | 29.00 | 1 | 16 | 4 | |||
| M.R. Harvey Merv Harvey Mervyn Roye Harvey was a cricketer who played in one Test match for Australia in 1947. His younger brother, Neil, was one of Australia's finest batsmen since the Second World War, and the pair played together for Victoria during the latter part of Merv’s career.Merv Harvey broke into the Victorian... |
Right-Hand Top Order Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
1 | 2 | 43 | 31 | 21.50 | ||||||
| I.W.G. Johnson Ian Johnson (cricketer) Ian William Geddes Johnson CBE was an Australian cricketer who played 45 Test matches as a slow off-break bowler between 1946 and 1956. Johnson captured 109 Test wickets at an average of 29.19 runs per wicket and as a lower order batsman made 1,000 runs at an average of... |
Right-Hand Lower Order Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
4 | 5 | 106 | 52 | 21.20 | 1 | |||||
| W.R. Hammond Wally Hammond Walter Reginald "Wally" Hammond was an English Test cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning his career as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed captain of England... (c) Captain (cricket) The captain of a cricket team often referred to as the skipper is the appointed leader, having several additional roles and responsibilities over and above those of a regular player... |
Right-Hand Top Order Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
4 | 8 | 168 | 37 | 21.00 | 6 | |||||
| Bedser, A.V. Alec Bedser Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE was a professional English cricketer. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club... |
Right-Hand Lower Order Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
5 | 10 | 3 | 106 | 27* Not out In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress... |
19.00 | 3 | ||||
| Ikin, J.T. Jack Ikin John Thomas Ikin, known as Jack Ikin was an English cricketer, who played in eighteen Tests from 1946 to 1955... |
Right-Hand Top Order Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
5 | 10 | 184 | 60 | 18.40 | 1 | 4 | ||||
| G.E. Tribe George Tribe George Edward Tribe was an Australian cricketer who played in 3 Tests from 1946 to 1947, as well as an Australian rules footballer with the Footscray Football Club in the VFL.... |
Right-Hand Lower Order Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
3 | 3 | 1 | 35 | 25* Not out In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress... |
17.50 | |||||
| B. Dooland Bruce Dooland Bruce Dooland was an Australian cricketer who played in 3 Tests from 1947 to 1948.... |
Right-Hand Lower Order Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
2 | 3 | 49 | 29 | 16.33 | 2 | |||||
| Evans, T.G. Godfrey Evans Thomas Godfrey Evans CBE was an English cricketer who played for Kent and England.Described by Wisden as 'arguably the best wicket-keeper the game has ever seen', Evans collected 219 dismissals in 91 Test match appearances between 1946 and 1959 and a total of 1066 in all first-class matches... (wk) Wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being guarded by the batsman currently on strike... |
Right-Hand Middle Order Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
4 | 8 | 2 | 90 | 29 | 15.00 | 9 | ||||
| P.A. Gibb Paul Gibb Paul Gibb was an English cricketer, who played in eight Tests for England from 1938 to 1946. He also played first-class cricket for Cambridge University and Yorkshire, mostly as a batsman but occasionally also keeping wicket.Gibb was educated at St Edward's School, Oxford, and played first-class... (wk) Wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being guarded by the batsman currently on strike... |
Right-Hand Middle Order Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
1 | 2 | 24 | 13 | 12.00 | 1 | |||||
| Voce, W. Bill Voce Bill Voce was an English cricketer. He played for the Nottinghamshire and England, and was an instrumental part of England's infamous Bodyline tour of Australia in 1932–1933.-Life and career:... |
Right-Hand Lower Order Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
2 | 3 | 1 | 19 | 18 | 9.50 | 1 | ||||
| Wright, D.V.A. Doug Wright (cricketer) Douglas Vivian Parson Wright, better known as Doug Wright was an English cricketer. A leg-spinner for Kent and England from 1932 to 1957 he took a record seven hat-tricks in first class cricket. He played for Kent for 25 years and was their first professional captain from late 1953 to 1956... |
Right-Hand Lower Order Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
5 | 8 | 3 | 47 | 15* Not out In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress... |
9.40 | 2 | ||||
| Smith, T.P.B. Peter Smith (cricketer) Peter Smith, was an English cricketer, who played for Essex and England. Smith was one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1947. An all-rounder, Smith played for Essex from 1929 to 1951.-Life and career:... |
Right-Hand Lower Order Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
2 | 4 | 32 | 24 | 8.00 | 1 | |||||
| Fishlock, L.B. Laurie Fishlock Laurence Barnard "Laurie" Fishlock was an English cricketer, who played in four Tests from 1936 to 1947. A specialist batsman, he achieved little in those four matches, but might have had a much more substantial Test career, had he not lost six of what should have been his best years to World War... |
Left-Hand Opening Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
1 | 2 | 14 | 14 | 7.00 | 1 | |||||
| E.R.H. Toshack Ernie Toshack Ernest Raymond Herbert Toshack was an Australian cricketer who played in 12 Tests from 1946 to 1948. A left arm medium paced bowler who was known for his accuracy and stamina in his application of leg theory, Toshack was best known for being as member of Don Bradman's Invincibles that toured... |
Right-Hand Lower Order Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
5 | 5 | 2 | 14 | 6 | 4.66 | 3 | ||||
| F.A.W. Freer Fred Freer Frederick Alfred William Freer was an Australian cricketer who played in one Test in 1946. He was a fast-medium bowler more accuarte than Keith Miller. He was called into the team for the Second Test in Sydney after Ray Lindwall was struck down by chickenpox... |
Right-Hand Middle Order Batsman Batting order (cricket) In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time... |
1 | 1 | 1 | 28 | 28* Not out In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress... |
||||||
| Test Series Bowling Averages | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Team | Bowling Type | 8 Ball Overs | 8 Ball Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Best Bowling | Average | 5 Wt Wicket In the sport of cricket the word wicket has several distinct meanings:-Definitions of wicket:Most of the time, the wicket is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch... | 10 Wt |
| R.R. Lindwall Ray Lindwall Raymond Russell Lindwall MBE was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league football with St... |
Right-Arm Fast Bowler Fast bowling Fast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling... |
122.1 | 20 | 367 | 18 | 7/63 | 20.38 | 1 | ||
| K.R. Miller Keith Miller Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite... |
Right-Arm Fast Bowler Fast bowling Fast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling... Leg-Spin Bowler Wrist spin Wrist spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket. It refers to the cricket technique and specific hand movements associated with imparting a particular direction of spin to the cricket ball... Off-Spin Bowler Finger spin Finger spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket. It refers to the cricket technique and specific hand movements associated with imparting a particular direction of spin to the cricket ball. The other spinning technique, generally used to spin the ball in the opposite direction, is wrist spin... |
121.3 | 15 | 334 | 16 | 7/60 | 20.87 | 1 | ||
| F.A.W. Freer Fred Freer Frederick Alfred William Freer was an Australian cricketer who played in one Test in 1946. He was a fast-medium bowler more accuarte than Keith Miller. He was called into the team for the Second Test in Sydney after Ray Lindwall was struck down by chickenpox... |
Right-Arm Fast-Medium Bowler Fast bowling Fast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling... |
20 | 3 | 74 | 3 | 2/49 | 24.66 | |||
| E.R.H. Toshack Ernie Toshack Ernest Raymond Herbert Toshack was an Australian cricketer who played in 12 Tests from 1946 to 1948. A left arm medium paced bowler who was known for his accuracy and stamina in his application of leg theory, Toshack was best known for being as member of Don Bradman's Invincibles that toured... |
Left-Arm Medium Bowler Fast bowling Fast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling... |
178.4 | 50 | 437 | 17 | 6/82 | 25.70 | 1 | ||
| C.L. McCool Colin McCool Colin Leslie McCool was an Australian cricketer who played in 14 Tests from 1946 to 1950. McCool, born in Paddington, New South Wales, was an all-rounder who bowled leg spin and googlies with a round arm action and as a lower order batsman was regarded as effective square of the wicket and against... |
Leg-Spin Bowler Wrist spin Wrist spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket. It refers to the cricket technique and specific hand movements associated with imparting a particular direction of spin to the cricket ball... |
182 | 27 | 491 | 18 | 5/44 | 27.27 | 2 | ||
| I.W.G. Johnson Ian Johnson (cricketer) Ian William Geddes Johnson CBE was an Australian cricketer who played 45 Test matches as a slow off-break bowler between 1946 and 1956. Johnson captured 109 Test wickets at an average of 29.19 runs per wicket and as a lower order batsman made 1,000 runs at an average of... |
Off-Spin Bowler Finger spin Finger spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket. It refers to the cricket technique and specific hand movements associated with imparting a particular direction of spin to the cricket ball. The other spinning technique, generally used to spin the ball in the opposite direction, is wrist spin... |
124.6 | 35 | 306 | 10 | 6/42 | 30.60 | 1 | ||
| N.W.D. Yardley Norman Yardley Norman Walter Dransfield Yardley was an English cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England, as a right-handed batsman and occasional bowler. An amateur, he captained Yorkshire from 1948 to 1955 and England on fourteen occasions between 1947 and 1950,... (vc) Captain (cricket) The captain of a cricket team often referred to as the skipper is the appointed leader, having several additional roles and responsibilities over and above those of a regular player... |
Right-Arm Medium Bowler Fast bowling Fast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling... |
114 | 15 | 372 | 10 | 3/67 | 37.20 | |||
| Wright, D.V.P. Doug Wright (cricketer) Douglas Vivian Parson Wright, better known as Doug Wright was an English cricketer. A leg-spinner for Kent and England from 1932 to 1957 he took a record seven hat-tricks in first class cricket. He played for Kent for 25 years and was their first professional captain from late 1953 to 1956... |
Leg-Spin Bowler Wrist spin Wrist spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket. It refers to the cricket technique and specific hand movements associated with imparting a particular direction of spin to the cricket ball... |
240.2 | 23 | 990 | 23 | 7/105 | 43.04 | 2 | ||
| B. Dooland Bruce Dooland Bruce Dooland was an Australian cricketer who played in 3 Tests from 1947 to 1948.... |
Leg-Spin Bowler Wrist spin Wrist spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket. It refers to the cricket technique and specific hand movements associated with imparting a particular direction of spin to the cricket ball... |
98 | 9 | 351 | 8 | 4/69 | 43.87 | |||
| Edrich, W.J. Bill Edrich William John "Bill" Edrich DFC was a distinguished cricketer who played for Middlesex, MCC, Norfolk and England.Edrich's three brothers, Brian, Eric and Geoff, and also his cousin, John, all played first-class cricket... |
Right-Arm Fast-Medium Bowler Fast bowling Fast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling... |
115.3 | 13 | 483 | 9 | 3/50 | 53.66 | |||
| Bedser, A.V. Alec Bedser Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE was a professional English cricketer. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club... |
Right-Arm Medium-Fast Bowler Fast bowling Fast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling... |
246.3 | 38 | 876 | 16 | 3/97 | 54.75 | |||
| Smith, T.P.B. Peter Smith - Arts and entertainment :*Peter Smith *Peter Smith , contemporary British painter*Peter C. Smith , author of aeronautical, naval and military history books*Peter James Smith , American actor... |
Leg-Spin Bowler Wrist spin Wrist spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket. It refers to the cricket technique and specific hand movements associated with imparting a particular direction of spin to the cricket ball... |
47 | 1 | 218 | 2 | 2/172 | 109.00 | |||
| G.E. Tribe George Tribe George Edward Tribe was an Australian cricketer who played in 3 Tests from 1946 to 1947, as well as an Australian rules footballer with the Footscray Football Club in the VFL.... |
Chinaman Bowler | 95 | 9 | 330 | 2 | 2/48 | 165.00 | |||
| S.G. Barnes Sid Barnes Sidney George Barnes was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following the Second World War... |
Leg-Spin Bowler Wrist spin Wrist spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket. It refers to the cricket technique and specific hand movements associated with imparting a particular direction of spin to the cricket ball... |
7 | 23 | 0/1 | ||||||
| Compton, D.C.S. Denis Compton Denis Charles Scott Compton CBE was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches, and a footballer... |
Slow Left Arm Bowler Chinaman Bowler |
16.2 | 78 | 0/8 | ||||||
| Hutton, L. Len Hutton Sir Leonard "Len" Hutton was an English Test cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England in the years around the Second World War as an opening batsman. He was described by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket... |
Leg-Spin Bowler Wrist spin Wrist spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket. It refers to the cricket technique and specific hand movements associated with imparting a particular direction of spin to the cricket ball... |
3 | 28 | 0/28 | ||||||
| Ikin, J.T. Jack Ikin John Thomas Ikin, known as Jack Ikin was an English cricketer, who played in eighteen Tests from 1946 to 1955... |
Leg-Spin Bowler Wrist spin Wrist spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket. It refers to the cricket technique and specific hand movements associated with imparting a particular direction of spin to the cricket ball... |
7 | 48 | 0/9 | ||||||
| Voce, W. Bill Voce Bill Voce was an English cricketer. He played for the Nottinghamshire and England, and was an instrumental part of England's infamous Bodyline tour of Australia in 1932–1933.-Life and career:... |
Left-Arm Fast-Medium Bowler Fast bowling Fast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling... |
44 | 12 | 161 | 0/29 | |||||
Further reading
- John ArlottJohn ArlottLeslie Thomas John Arlott OBE was an English journalist, author and cricket commentator for the BBC's Test Match Special. He was also a poet, wine connoisseur and former police officer in Hampshire...
, John Arlott's 100 Greatest Batsmen, MacDonald Queen Anne Press, 1986 - Peter Arnold, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Cricket, W. H. Smith, 1985
- Ashley Brown, The Pictorial History of Cricket, Bison, 1988
- Bill FrindallBill FrindallWilliam Howard Frindall, MBE was an English cricket scorer and statistician. He was familiar to cricket followers from his appearances on the BBC Radio 4 programme Test Match Special, nicknamed the Bearded Wonder by Brian Johnston for his ability to research the most obscure cricketing facts in...
, The Wisden Book of Test Cricket 1877–1978, Wisden, 1979 - Tom GraveneyTom GraveneyThomas William Graveney in Riding Mill, Northumberland, is a former English cricketer and was the President of the Marylebone Cricket Club for 2004/5. He went to Bristol Grammar School...
and Norman Miller, The Ten Greatest Test Teams Sidgewick and Jackson, 1988 - Chris Harte, A History of Australian Cricket, Andre Deutsch, 1993
- Ray Robinson, On Top Down Under, Cassell, 1975
- E.W. Swanton (ed), Barclay's World of Cricket, Willow, 1986