1958–59 Ashes series
Encyclopedia
The 1958–59 Ashes series consisted of five cricket
Test matches
, each of five days with six hours play each day and eight ball overs
. It formed part of the MCC tour of Australia in 1958–59
and the matches outside the Tests were played in the name of the Marylebone Cricket Club
. Peter May
led the England team
with the formidable bowling attack of Fred Trueman
, Frank Tyson
, Brian Statham
, Peter Loader
, Jim Laker
and Tony Lock
, the all-rounder
Trevor Bailey
, the outstanding wicket-keeper
Godfrey Evans
and the batting of Colin Cowdrey
, Tom Graveney
, Raman Subba Row
and Ted Dexter
. They had won the last three Ashes series in 1953
, 1954-55 and 1956
, and were labelled the strongest team ever to leave England, but lost the series and the Ashes
to Australia 4-0. It was one of the biggest upsets in Test cricket
history and the biggest margin of defeat in an Ashes series since the 5-0 "whitewashing" inflicted by Warwick Armstrong
's Australians in 1920-21. The triumph of the Australian team was mainly due to their aggressive captain Richie Benaud
, now regarded as one of the greatest captains in Test cricket
, who took what appeared to be an average team and led them to five series victories in succession. In English eyes at least the defeat was the result of questionable umpiring and the even more questionable bowling actions of Ian Meckiff
, Keith Slater
, Jim Burke
and Gordon Rorke
and a long list of injuries with 12 of their players being unfit to play at some point on the tour. There were other factors, the Australian fielding was outstanding, turning many a half-chance into a catch. The Australian opener Colin McDonald made 519 runs (64.67), the first batsman to exceed 500 runs in an Ashes series since Len Hutton
in 1950-51
. The all-rounders Richie Benaud
and Alan Davidson
had previously underperformed against England, but now realised their full potential. Benaud took 31 wickets (18.83), the most by an Australian in an Ashes series since Monty Noble
in 1901-02
, and Davidson 24 wickets (19.00).
made only two changes to their team. Willie Watson
had only just recovered from his knee operation and was replaced as the number three batsman by the in form Tom Graveney
. Fred Trueman
was laid low by lumbago, which also affected him when he arrived in Queensland in 1962-63, and was replaced by Peter Loader
even though he had just recovered from a strained Achilles tendon
and high temperature. Loader, Laker
, Lock
and Statham
had taken plenty of wickets on tour and Graveney and captain Peter May
had made the most runs. Australia also had two changes from their last team, the Fifth Test against South Africa at Port Elizabeth in 1957-58. Captain Ian Craig
had resigned due to ill-health and was replaced by the debutant strokemaker Norm O'Neill
and Peter Burge replaced Bobby Simpson
, who was twelfth man. Australia did not recall the veteran Ray Lindwall
even though he had taken 7/73 for Queensland
against the MCC and had swung the ball prodigiously. After vice-captain Neil Harvey
captained an Australian XI to a 345 run defeat against the MCC
the selectors made the surprise choice of Richie Benaud
as Australian captain. He has just succeeded Craig as the captain of New South Wales
, but had yet to lead his state. There was a thunderstorm before the match which precluded net practise and the air was heavy, which made the loss of Trueman's swing bowling all the more meaningful.
had won the toss, put Australia in to bat and watched them made 601/8 declared. The week before Neil Harvey
had said that "the pitch at Brisbane was the best in Australia for batting", but Keith Miller
wrote "the best thing Benaud could do for Australia was lose the toss", No captain had put the opposition in to bat in an Ashes series and won since Johnny Douglas
in the Fourth Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground
in the 1911-12 Ashes series
. Bearing this in mind it was a bad toss to win and May made the difficult decision to bat on a green wicket which looked favourable to the fast bowlers in the expectation that it would flatten out in the afternoon. Arthur Milton
was surprised by a straight ball by Ian Meckiff
(3/33), who had been spraying his deliveries up to two feet on either side of the stumps. Keith Miller
called it "Meckiff was all over the place...the cynical reckoned he he fired too wide to be hit...it was, in fact, the most erratic piece of fast bowling I had ever seen in a Test match. Yet it helped to put Australia on top". Peter Richardson
depended on neat deflections for many of his runs, but had not managed to adapt to the faster Australian wickets and Benaud fed in an extra slip and another when the England
opener slipped the ball between the fielders until he was caught by Ken Mackay
off Alan Davidson
(3/36) and England
were 16/2. Tom Graveney
(19) was beaten several times by Davidson and was dropped by Norm O'Neill
, who then damaged a finger fielding and was sent to hospital for x-ray
s. He added 46 with May (28) before wicket-keeper
Wally Grout
snapped them both up and Cowdrey (13) fell a great catch by Lindsay Kline
and Godfrey Evans
to another by Peter Burge. Benaud had made his new ball bowlers stay on for over an hour in their opening spell, and called them back for more until they were exhausted. He had been bowling to give them a rest, but now started on the long England
tail. "The Boil" Trevor Bailey
(Bailey was pronounced "Boiley" by the Australians) took two hours to make 27 in his own dull way, but hit a couple of boundaries after seeing Jim Laker
do so. Davidson had to leave the field exhausted and Benaud (3/46) had Bailey stumped to end the innings for 134.
made the ball lift outside the off-stump, which might have produced a wicket given another quarter of an hour, but Colin McDonald and Jim Burke
survived the day on 8/0. The first day had produced only 142 runs and although the Saturday was bright and clear and good for batting, only 148 rusn were made as excellent England bowling attack regained the initiative and the Australian batsmen ecked out the runs. Burke edged a catch to gully
, but Trevor Bailey
was too deep to catch it and after a slow start - and much to everybody's surprise - he peeled off a couple of cover-drives off Peter Loader
. Loader was repeatedly no-balled and was replaced by Bailey and the openers took their partnership past fifty when the sightsreen was laboriously moved and Loader returned round the wicket to have Burke caught behind for 20. The teams went off for lunch at the fall of the wicket and returned on 55/1 with Neil Harvey
coming in instead of Ken Mackay
as announced by the scoreboard, indicating that Benaud wanted the runs to flow. Bailey had McDonald caught in slip for 42 in two hours and Norm O'Neill
(who had not broken his finger as first thought) came in with the hopes of Australia hanging on his shoulders. May set a defensive field to limit his runmaking, but he hit his first ball for four before the runs dried up and he was outpaced by "Slasher" Mackay. Loader (4/56 with 19 no balls) caught Harvey l.b.w.
after he had spent an hour making 14. Bailey (3/35) accounted for the out of form Peter Burge and had O'Neill was caught by a spectacular diving catch by Tom Graveney
for 34 in 151 minutes, Jim Laker
(2/15) had Mackay (16) caught behind, much to his displeasure and Australia ended the day on 156/6, 22 runs ahead. After the rest day Australiadid not long survive the fall of Benaud (16) on the Monday morning, l.b.w.
to Loader and the tail collapsed to 186 all out despite the best efforts of Alan Davidson
(25), last man out to Laker.
openers failed again. Peter Richardson
was brilliantly caught and bowled by Richie Benaud
who had relieved Alan Davidson
. Peter May
sent in Trevor Bailey
- "The Barnacle" - at number three, a very negative move given his reputation as England
should have been looking to runs. He was soon joined by Tom Graveney
when Milton was caught by Wally Grout
off Davidson at 34/2. The stylish Graveney was often criticised for getting out carelessly, but he survived two l.b.w.
appeals in an over from Benaud, who beat the bat twice more without success. They took the score to 92/2 by the end of the day, a lead of 40 runs, with only 122 runs coming in the day. On the fourth day Graveney was half way down the wicket going for an easy single when Bailey sent him back and he was run out for 36 after staying in for nearly three hours. May was soon out to Benaud (4/66), but Colin Cowdrey
(28) stuck in for over two hours before he was caught by Lindsay Kline
at grass level. Umpire McInnes was unsighted, but after a nod from Umpire Hays at square-leg umpire gave Cowdrey out, even though he was briefly called back by Harvey, who doubted that the ball had carried, he was given out. "The Boil"
remained glued to the crease as he took 357 minutes to reach the slowest 50 by an Englishman in Tests. "Trevor was apt to enjoy playing a character part. 'Barnacle Bailey' as a sobriquet had stuck all too firmly...to the infinite frustration of the crowds - which here at Brisbane
showed their feeling by simply staying away" wrote E.W. Swanton, who questioned "whether victory, if it should come, is worth the cost in terms of sterile, boring play that makes one sick at heart to watch". To be fair to Bailey he had been hailed as a saviour playing in this fashion in 1953 and 1954–55 and was unlikely to change his style at the end of his career. Benaud did not help as he set the field to cut off the stonewaller's limited repertoire of strokes, with Meckiff bowling down the leg side. One pressman roused himself to ask when Bailey had last scored a run, "Twenty minutes past two" answered the England
scorer
George Duckworth
, "Today or yesterday?" was the reply. Just before stumps Bailey suddenly rushed down the pitch to take a swipe at Mackay, missed and was bowled for 68. It was a strangely reckless end as a few more minutes would have allowed Peter May
the use of the heavy roller in the morning to break up the wicket for his bowlers. Bailey had batted for 458 minutes and scored from only 40 of the 427 balls he faced. Only 106 runs were made in a full day's play, the lowest in an Ashes Test.
. The spinners Jim Laker
and Tony Lock
were brought on early as May's only hope was that the pitch would take spin, but few balls turned and he maintained his defensive field placings. Laker had McDonald out for 15, and Lock dismissed Harvey for 23. Jim Burke
looked uncomfortable and dug himself in while O'Neill started to hit the ball and ran for singles when other batsmen in the match were content to stand still. He rattled up 71 not out in under two hours and hooked Loader for his seventh boundary for the winning runs, Burke having spent over four hours making 28 not out, even slower than Bailey.
at the Woolloongabba
. England's
scoring rate of 23 runs in every 100 balls (the equivalent of 1.38 runs per six-ball over) was one of the worst in Test cricket
, Australia made 34 runs off every 100 balls (the equivalent of 2.04 runs per six-ball over). The England
manager Freddie Brown wanted to make an official complaint about Meckiff's bowling, but captain Peter May
thought that it look like sour grapes. Instead they talked unofficially to the Australian chairman of selectors Sir Donald Bradman who retorted "And what of the action of the England
bowlers Tony Lock
and Peter Loader
?" and that they should "first of all put their own house in order". It was an inauspicious start to the brighter cricket May had promised, which was needed to revive the fortunes of Australian cricket that was being ignored by its youth. "The Future of Australian Cricket at Stake...the average young Australian is inclined spend most of his weekends under water...and caring for his lady-friend. There are many other things to do in the sunshine than play cricket".
well remembered the crushing Brisbane defeat in the First Test of 1954-55, which Len Hutton
had won 3-1. Arthur Milton
had returned to form with innings of 85 against Tasmania
, but had broken his finger in a gutsy 37 against South Australia
. With the spare opener Raman Subba Row
nursing a broken wrist Willie Watson
- who had been part of the 1950 FIFA World Cup
England squad in Brazil - was brought in, but Trevor Bailey
was promoted to the opening spot regardless of his paralysing influence at Brisbane. Fred Trueman
had recovered from his back trouble to take 5/46 and 4/33 against South Australia
and said he was fully fit, but was not chosen. Instead May preferred to keep the pace attack that had bowled so accurately in the first innings at Brisbane. The Australians dropped Peter Burge from their twelve-man squad and brought in the 22 year old "chucker"
Keith Slater
who had taken 4/33 for Western Australia
in the first match of the tour and could bowl both fast-medium and off-spin. In the end he was twelfth man instead of the talented batsman Bobby Simpson
, who made his Ashes debut.
The wicket was greener than usual for the Melbourne Cricket Ground
and the air was heavy again, the dark clouds dimming the ground, but the pitch was not expected to last and when Peter May
won the toss on his 29th birthday (New Year's Eve
) he had to bat first even though his opening batsmen were known to be brittle. They survived into the third over when "Davo" Davidson
(6/64) wrecked the innings with three wickets; Peter Richardson
caught by Wally Grout
for 3, Willie Watson
undone by a yorker
on his fourth ball and Tom Graveney
for a golden duck
by a brute of a ball that swung viciously and caught him leg before wicket
. Peter May
came in at 7/3 to survive the hat-trick and rebuild the innings, bringing up his first runs with a magnificent drive off Meckiff. Davidson bowled neatly and made the ball move, but "Meckiff used the whole bowling crease, delivering balls from near the stumps and as wide as possible to the return crease" and could find no swing. Fortunately for England
Trevor Bailey
was full of confidence and hit 6 fours in two and a half hours on his way to 48. Ken Mackay
replaced Meckiff and almost had May caught in the slips, and Richie Benaud
who replaced him missed a caught and bowled with his first delivery, but Davidson was kept on until lunch, when he was exhausted. They returned after lunch and the crowd saw the unprecedented sight of "The Boil"
hitting Benaud for successive boundaries, but he was caught by the Australian
captain off a slower ball from Meckiff, who had finally replaced Davidson and England
were 92/4. Colin Cowdrey
came in low at number 6 and stuck in for another do or die partnership with May, both playing disciplined innings with classical strokes. With Neil Harvey
and Norm O'Neill
dominating the covers runs were hard to come by and they ended the day on 173/4. Benaud delayed asking for the new ball as his fast bowlers were tired and May and Cowdrey attacked the slow bowling, particularly that of Lindsay Kline
. The captain reached his century by pulling Kline to the mid-wicket boundary and hitting the next ball with such power that Mackay, 50 yards away, did not have time to move before it flew past him for another four. It was the first Test hundred by an English captain in Australia since Archie MacLaren made 116 in the First Test at Sydney in 1901-02. The new ball was now taken with England
206/4 and Davidson and Meckiff returned to the attack, Meckiff (3/69) bowling May for 113 with an extra fast delivery that swung in and crashed into his stumps. Meckiff reckoned this to be the best ball he ever bowled "the sun was shining, and May was batting beautifully at the time. Yet he explained it later that he had completed lost the ball from the instant it left the hand". Godfrey Evans
(4) could not cope with Meckiff's pace and Cowdrey (44) was caught by Grout off Davidson and England
collapsed to 218/7. Jim Laker
(dropped off his first ball) stayed in for over an hour making 22 not out, but Davidson bowled Brian Statham
and Peter Loader
and they were all out for 259.
Despite the England
collapse the pitch was losing its moisture and looked better for runs. Colin McDonald and Neil Harvey
saw the day out with 96/1 for the loss of Jim Burke
, bowled by Statham for 3 when he left the ball alone. Lacking the pace of the Australian bowlers Statham and Loader could not make the ball lift as they had done and Trevor Bailey
and Jim Laker
suffered as Harvey struck 10 fours in his 60 not out by the end of New Year's Day
. They returned to the fray the following morning with May setting only one slip as he tried to stop the flow of runs, which saved Harvey when he edged to the vacant second slip on 67. Bailey bowled down the leg side with a leg field while Harvey watched the balls go by, but he and McDonald were able to run quickly between the wickets and keep the score ticking over, but only 39 runs were made off 18 eight-ball overs before lunch. Soon after the break Tom Graveney
took a juggled catch at first slip off Statham to dismiss McDonald for 47 after four hours. Norm O'Neill
came in to a defensive field to Tony Lock
bowling round the wicket and found it difficult to make runs, but tried one cracking drive that was stopped by the bowler and hurt his hand. Harvey tok 267 minutes to make his century, but there was a huge roar round the giant Melbourn Ground when he reached three figures. With his hundred up he attacked Laker and Lock, but with tight fields and accurate bowling he was unable to get away. The new ball was taken after tea and Statham had O'Neill (37) caught behind trying a powerful stroke off his back foot. Peter Loader
, who had been plundered for 36 runs in 8 overs bowled Harvey (167) when he missed an on-drive. Considering the quality and the accuracy of the bowling Alec Bedser
thought this was Harvey's best century and it was greatly appreciated by the 71,000 crowd. They could not have enjoyed what followed as Bobby Simpson
and Richie Benaud
went for ducks and Australia crashed from 255/2 to 262/6. Ken Mackay
(18) and Alan Davidson
(25) pulled the score to 282/6 by the end of the day, but Statham (7/57) had them out in the morning, then cleaned up tail for 308. Once again Neil Harvey
had scored over half the innings for Australia and they were only 49 runs ahead. He became only the fifth England bowler to take seven wickets in a Test innings in Australia after Tom Richardson
(8/94), George Lohmann
(8/35 and 8/58), Doug Wright
(7/105) and Frank Tyson
(7/27).
The 49 run deficient was thought to be counter-balanced by the runs England
could expect to get on a plumb wicket, but such hope were quickly dispelled. Richardson
was out yet again trying to play the ball through the slips and being caught by Neil Harvey
off Ian Meckiff
. Willie Watson
showed his lack of practice and was beaten by the pace of Alan Davidson
. The 60,000 crowd were now strongly behind the Australian team and Tom Graveney
's entry in the MCG
was compared to the arrival of a Christian being fed to the lions in the Colosseum
. He received a sharply rising ball from Ian Meckiff
which was caught at full stretch by "The Claw"
at short-fine-leg. Peter May
joined Trevor Bailey
, who was back to his usual stone-walling self and had stayed in for an almost an hour for 14 when he was finely caught by Jim Burke
, also at short-fine leg, off a brute of a ball from Meckiff that rose high and hit his glove and bat-handle. Meckiff was bowling with far more accuracy than normal, but retained his fast pace and both he and Davidson bowled left-arm over the wicket, an unusual type of delivery that unsettled the England
team. Benaud had also set a short-fine-leg with a short-leg behind him to catch the rising ball as the batsmen fended it off their body. Colin Cowdrey
stayed in for 19 minutes before he played at a ball slanting wide across him and was caught by Wally Grout
. Godfrey Evans
went for a run which wasn't there and cracked his finger as his flung himself at the crease trying to make his ground. May, who had played a typically self-denying innings of 17 in 98 minutes when he was caught by Davidson off Meckiff, again the ball was angled awkwardly across his body. Now there was only the tail to dismiss and they fell quickly; Tony Lock
caught and bowled by Davidson, Jim Laker
caught by in the slips by Harvey off Davidson and Peter Loader
bowled by Meckiff for a duck to leave England
87 all out. Ian Meckiff
(6/38) took the best Test figures of his career, backed up by superlative catching from the Australian fielders and Davidson's 3/41.
to Brian Statham
(1/11). After the rest day nightwatchman
Wally Grout
was stumped by Evans off Jim Laker
(1/7) despite the wicketkeeper's broken finger, but this was inadequate consolation for the easy Australian win as they made the 42/2 required.
had been "thrown out"
, but there was no disguising that it was a dismal batting display from England
on a good wicket. It was their worst score in Australia since Archie MacLaren's team were dismissed for 61 in 1901-02, ironically at Melbourne in the innings following the last time an England captain had made a century in Australia. Having not made an official complaint after the game against Victoria
or the First Test at Brisbane the MCC were in no position to make an official complaint now Meckiff had won a Test. No umpire in Australia, South Africa or New Zealand had called him for throwing. He had even survived complaints by New South Wales
when he was chosen for the 1957-58 tour ahead of one of their bowlers, he had been filmed and given the approval of the Australian Board of Control and had the support of his captain Richie Benaud
. With no other game coming between the two Tests the teams proceeded to Sydney for the Third Test.
obviously needed to do something to maintain their hold on The Ashes
and three changes were made to the team. The first was forced as Godfrey Evans
had broken his middle finger and the reserve wicket-keeper
Roy Swetman
made his Test debut. This was not so much of a loss as first thought, Evans had not batted well for some years and Swetman had impressed behind the stumps throughout the tour and his batting had improved beyond all hopes. Peter Richardson
had failed repeatedly as an opening batsman in the Tests and was replaced by his old opening partner Arthur Milton
, even though he had broken his finger at Christmas. Willie Watson
was dropped in favour of the newly arrived Cambridge
and Sussex
batsman Ted Dexter
, who was also a more than useful swing bowler. May also had his final trump card, the fast bowler Fred Trueman
, who had been ill at Brisbane and left out at Melbourne. He is widely considered to be England's greatest fast bowler and with good reason; he was the first man to take 300 wickets in Tests - 307 at (21.57) - had tremendous stamina and bowled with a near perfect side on action that produced late swing at high pace. He was full of confidence and believed that he could get any batsman out on any wicket. Australia made changes as well, dropping Lindsay Kline
who had taken 0/77 in two Tests and Bobby Simpson
who had made a duck but was retained as twelfth man for his fielding. Instead they brought in the dual purpose fast-medium seamer and off-spinner Keith Slater
, which gave them an extra "chucker"
along with the strike bowler Ian Meckiff
and Jim Burke
. Mel McInnes
kept his place as umpire even though Peter May
and Freddie Brown had pointedly asked if it was necessary for him to officiate in all the Tests.
won the toss for the third time in a row and again decided to bat regardless of the ill-omens as the wicket looked easy going and was expected to take spin. Stonewaller Trevor Bailey
who had been promoted in the batting order
from 6 to 3, then 2 and was now asked to go in first with Arthur Milton
. They were both out for 8 to Ian Meckiff
and Alan Davidson
and England
were 23/2. Once again the England opening partnership had failed and Bailey, a considerable stumbling block for the bowlers down the order had been sacrificed at the top of the order. Tom Graveney
(33) and Peter May
(42) restored the innings as the fast bowlers found little swing, but Benaud kept them on for over an hour and May edged a ball past Neil Harvey
at slip. With the shine taken off the new ball the pacemen were taken off and the spinners brought on, Richie Benaud
getting turn almost at once and appealed for leg before wicket
against May, but it was turned down. Keith Slater
's first Test wicket was May after had had been hit for 4 and 2 and the captain looked in fine form, Slater getting the ball to hang back and it was hit where Benaud had placed Ken Mackay
in the covers a few balls before, where he took a fine catch. Graveney edged Benaud just past Harvey which he managed to take for another stunning catch and Dexter was l.b.w.
offering no stroke to Slater (2/40) and England
were 98/5. The debutant Roy Swetman
joined Colin Cowdrey
to a great ovation from the 50,000 in the stands and survived a difficult catch to Harvey and another to Colin McDonald who had replaced "The Claw"
at leg-slip, both chances off Benaud. The young wicket-keeper
used his feet to go down the wicket, so when he padded up he could not given l.b.w.
, and began to make some runs with Cowdrey stroking the ball through the covers. After tea the vice-captain
(34) gave Harvey another catch off Benaud, but Swetman and Tony Lock
saw England
safely to stumps with 190/6. The next day's start was delayed to past tea because of rain, made worse by the inadequate covering of the infield. When they finally resumed Benaud was spinning the ball more than ever and declined to take the new ball. Lock was out l.b.w.
to Mackay, who ended Swetman's fine innings of 41 with another great catch off Benaud. Harvey also accounted for Jim Laker
when he knocked the ball up into the air on the first attempt and ran five yards to catch it. Seeing the end was near Fred Trueman
scattered the close fielders with a few powerful strokes and heaved the ball into the stands, but he was caught by Burke off Benaud to give the Australian captain 5/83 and England
were out for 219. The first day was watched by John Mills
and Trevor Howard
, who were acting in Australia at the time. Howard compared the England collapse to the final act of the play he was in, saying "Hamlett was never like this".
dropped Colin McDonald in the first over and Fred Trueman
was not best pleased, "getting a wicket in my first over is always a great motivator, and seeing a decent chance put down annoyed me". He bowled again on the Monday morning after a long dry Sunday and Jim Burke
edged another chance off Trueman which a diving Swetman just reached, but he was unable to hold onto it. The Yorkshire fast bowler also got edges off Burke in the untenanted lep-slip area and McDonald just wide of the wicket-keeper. With the wicket made for spin and the pacemen getting nowhere May brought on Jim Laker
(5/107) and Tony Lock
(4/130). McDonald and Burke started walking down the pitch, sometimes even before Laker delivered the ball, but Burke edged a catch to Lock at short fine-leg to end their opening partnership on 26. Laker and Lock varied their bowling with flight and changes of pace and Lock moved from bowling round to over the wicket as when he saw that he could make the ball turn. Neil Harvey
was worried by Laker using the rough and was with him stranded on a front foot stroke when a ball pitched middle-and-leg took out his off stump. McDonald was still moving down the wicket when he missed only for Swetamn to fumble the stumping. Norm O'Neill
decided to drive firmly and one powerful stroke went past Tom Graveney
just 10 yards away who got hand to the ball, but failed to take a difficult catch. None of these chances were easy, but Australia had been able to make then stick in the England
innings and it would cost the tourists as O'Neill settled down to make 77. May switched the bowlers' ends using Statham, who O'Neill edged twice through vacant second slip to the boundary, but the change produced a wicket when Graveney dived forward to take McDonald off Lock. This brought the opener Les Favell
to the crease at 87/3 and after surviving several loud l.b.w.
appeals began to cut the spinners to the boundary and reached 50 before stumps in an unbeaten stand of 99. Laker's arthritic bowling finger hurt so much that he couldn't sleep, but after they brought up their century stand Australia was Lakered and Locked on the Tuesday morning, Cowdrey taking a catch off Lock for Favell and Swetman off Laker for O'Neill, Benaud was bowled by Laker trying to hit him out of the ground and they were 208/6. This brought "Slasher" Mackay
and Alan Davidson
together and England
needed their wickets quickly to even the first innings score. Davdison repeatedly edged the ball just off his stumps and was lucky to survive, but May kept the spinners working for an hour after the new ball was due, but with no wickets forthcoming Trueman and Statham came back into the attack. There was little life in the pitch, Swetman taking the ball about his knees, and no or little swing. The heat in Sydney reached 100 °F/38 °C and Fred Trueman
was sweltering in the outfield when a man on the Hill
shouted "Fred, you look in need of a beer, mate" and gave him a can of Fosters
to the delight of the crowd. When he returned after his next over he found twenty beer cans waiting in a line in front of the boundary fence. Davidson was playing a restrained innings instead of hitting the ball around the ground and Mackay foreswore his stonewalling to hit boundaries, so they ended up keeping pace with each other. May brought back his spinners and as the score passed 300/6 used Bailey for the first time, though like the others he found little swing. The seventh wicket finally came when Trueman (1/46) was back for a short spell when there were clouds about and bowled Mackay (57) with a swinging yorker on 323/7 - a stand of 115. Davidson was in trouble for ten minutes, but finally went leg before to Lock for 71. With the last recognised batsman dismissed on 353/8 the innings was wrapped up for 357, a lead of 139.
set a very aggressive field, himself just three yards from Bailey, close enough to be hit by the bat, and was asked not to move as the Meckiff came in to bowl in case he distracted the batsman. Meckiff did not bowl for long as he bruised his Achilles tendon
and retired from the field. Milton and Bailey held out for an hour and saw off the fast bowlers, before Milton edged a Benaud googly
to Davidson and Bailey, after sweeping Slater to the boundary tried to sweep Benaud and was caught by Bobby Simpson
, who had come on for Meckiff, and England
were 37/2. Graveney was playing consistently into the twenties and thirties and was out for 22 when he missed a full toss from Davidson and was l.b.w.
. May had been playing and missing several times in a row going for shots and looked vulnerable, but at 64/3 he was joined by Cowdrey for another heroic partnership. Benaud was still crowding the batsmen with close fielders and Cowdrey began to stroke powerfully to drive them away. May called for a new bat and Peter Richardson
brought out three; a barracker shouting "Peter, you haven't got one there wide enough!" The new bat appeared to solve his problems as May found his touch and they added 92 runs between lunch and tea. After tea they passed the deficit and Benaud became very defensive for the only prolonged period in the series, bowling only ten overs of negative leg theory
. Len Hutton
thought Benaud was worried about being Lakered and Locked on the sixth and final day, but Bill O'Reilly
called it "tossing in the towel" Benaud rested Davidson the next morning after he opened the bowling and gave him the new ball with Keith Slater
's fast-medium pace bowling, but it barely swung or moved off the pitch and by lunch both batsmen were on 82 and the score 231/3. Slater looked outclassed in Test cricket and after lunch he was replaced by the part-time bowling of Jim Burke
, the worst of the Australian "chuckers" and to everyone's surprise he bowled May for 92 with a faster ball after a partnership of 182. Ted Dexter
came in, but Benaud returned to a more attacking mode and had him caught behind as he tried to play his strokes. Cowdrey now played out time as the next two batsmen fell cheaply, Swetman L.b.w.
to Burke and Trueman stumped first ball off Benaud. After eighty minutes in the 90s Cowdrey reached his century, May declared on 287/7 and the game was saved.
when playing the MCC for the Australian XI, if he wanted to retire, but as he was walking off the pitch Benaud sent out a runner and inisisted that he bat, but was bowled first ball. Harvey and O'Neill batted out time and Australia finished the game on 54/2
and Australia drew the match. England
were happy that they had saved the Test, but their batting was still weak with only Graveney, May and Cowdrey capable of playing Benaud's leg-spin with any confidence. Trueman had bowled well without any luck and Laker and Lock had shown their spinning skills, but the English
fielding needed to be improved. Benaud was criticised for his defensive tactics, but said he had a job to do and 2-0 up was good for him and his team.
The Australians dropped Keith Slater
and replaced him with the veteran fast bowler Ray Lindwall
after an absence of 18 months. Although now 37 he had been training hard and had bowled well, having taken 7/73 against the MCC. With 212 Test wickets Lindwall was the second greatest Australian wicket taker after Clarrie Grimmett
(216) and he was determined to beat the record. Ian Meckiff
had bruised his Achilles tendon
at Sydney and was unfit to play, but any joy the England
camp may have felt was reduced when they debuted the 6 inch "Blonde Giant" Gordon Rorke
after he had taken 6/58 against Queensland
and 4/57 in the recent tour match. Incidentally, Rorke was the only Australian tailender as the other ten players were First Class cricket centurions. For England
; Peter Richardson
returned to open the batting with Trevor Bailey
because Arthur Milton
had re-fractured his broken finger and Raman Subba Row
still had a damaged wrist. The alternative opener was Willie Watson
- who replaced Ted Dexter
- but he had made 141 batting at number 6 against Victoria
and May wanted to keep him in the lower-middle order. Peter Loader
had a groin strain that had kept him out of the New South Wales
game, but the great shock was that the off-spinner Jim Laker
, England's
best bowler, could not play because his arthritic spinning finger was immobile. As a result Frank Tyson
was recalled after two years out of the team, having had taken 3/40 and 4/55 in the last two matches. Godfrey Evans
replaced Roy Swetman
as wicket-keeper
even though his broken middle finger had not fully mended as the young Surrey keeper had proved fallible behind the stumps. As a result May had four fast bowlers and only one spinner on a pitch that was traditionally a good batting surface with low bounce, though the South Australia
game at Christmas
had seen a green, pacey wicket. This was the only Test in which the three great England
fast bowlers of the 1950s Tyson, Trueman and Statham all played together. Mel McInnes
was umpire again, much to the annoyance of the England team as he had made mistakes in all his matches leading up to the Fourth Test. It should be noted that when the 1956 Australians asked for the great English umpire Frank Chester
when an illness made his decisions erratic.
May won the toss for the fourth time in a row and felt obliged to bowl first so that his pacemen would get the benefit of any life there was in the pitch, but the wicket was brown and dry and full of runs. It was a gamble that relied on a quick breakthrough, though May may have been nervous about the effect of Ray Lindwall
, Alan Davidson
and Gordon Rorke
on his fragile batting line up. Brian Statham
got the first ball to nip back and almost hit McDonald's stump, and another went between Jim Burke
's bat and pad only to miss off stump. Tyson bowled a good spell for no luck as did Trueman when he was brought back on and the batsmen played and missed throughout the day. Just before lunch Burke deflected a ball off his glove to first slip, where Evans dived out to catch it, but Umpire McInnes
gave Burke (then on 24) not out. Burke fell later for 66, the only Australian wicket to fall on the first day, when he mis-cut a ball from Trevor Bailey
to Colin Cowdrey
in the gully. He had batted for over four hours in an opening partnership of 171 during which he made two boundaries. Neil Harvey
came in and at the end of the day hit Tony Lock
for a long straight six towards Adelaide Cathedral
, the longest boundary in the world, and "directed our eyes to the towers and pinnacles". Harvey and McDonald saw stumps at 200/1 and carried their partnership to 268/1 when McDonald retired hurt after pulling a leg muscle. Harvey (41) was run out when he called for a second run and Brian Statham
hitting the stumps. Statham (3/83) caused a small collapse to 294/4 (effectively 294/5) as he bowled Les Favell
and had Ken Mackay
caught by wicket-keeper
Godfrey Evans
. McInnes took such a long time to give Ken Mackay
out when he snicked the ball to Evans, and in the end Mackay walked back to the pavilion, this was almost unheard of in Australia at the time and the crowd applauded his sportsmanship. Norm O'Neill
(56) was playing well and one terrific pull smacked into the boundary fence before any fielder could move and added 75 with Richie Benaud
who hit 7 fours in his 46, including a powerful hook off Trueman (4/90). The Yorkshireman never gave up and dismissed Benaud, Lindwall and Grout as the innings continued into the third day. McDonald returned at 407/7 with Burke as his runner and should have been run out when Trueman flattened the stumps when Burke ran round the back of McInnes and was out by yards. McInnes indicated that he was out then said not out as he could not see whether Burke had reached the crease in time. McDonald and Burke were walking to the pavilion when they were called back and Mcdonald was so annoyed that he told Fred to bowl straight and pulled away his bat to expose his stumps and gave the fast bowler "the easiest Test wicket I have ever taken". The Victorian
opener had batted for seven hours and seven minutes for 170, his highest Test century and the highest score of the series. Alan Davidson
hit 43 before he became the Tyson's only wicket, caught by Bailey two feet off the ground at short-leg, a poor reward for his untiring efforts with the ball and the outfield. Evans' unhealed finger broke again, but he continued to keep wicket on the second day and raised everybody's spirits with his chirpy optimism. He was replaced after the rest day by Tom Graveney
, a part-time keeper for Gloucestershire
who had played the part before at Old Trafford against South Africa in 1955. Australia's 476 was the highest innings of the series and virtually won the Ashes
by protecting their 2-0 lead.
and Ray Lindwall
with their swing. Peter Richardson
and Trevor Bailey
were soon out and at 11/2 Peter May
(37), promoted to number 3 to protect the other batsmen, and Colin Cowdrey
(84) were back at the crease. They attacked the bowling with finely tuned strokes and with Graveney (41) took England
to 170/3, May was bowled by Richie Benaud
(5/91) when he tried to hit him for six. On the fourth day England
collapsed to 188/9, Gordon Rorke
(3/23) starting the rot by bowling Cowdrey, who edged the ball onto his stumps, and having Graveney caught by Benaud despite the ball coming off the bat at high speed. Tom Graveney
recalled "I had a personal experience of Richie's
tactical genius...he held up play while he moved the short leg round a couple of yards. It interrupted my flow because I was forced to wonder why he had done it and whether I should be expecting a new direction from the bowler. This was exactly the reaction that Richie had wanted. There was no reason for the move other than to apply psychological pressure. He was a master at upsetting the concentration of batsman and reach their subconscious" Benaud then dismissed Trueman, Lock, Tyson and Evans, two caught by Wally Grout
, one by Burke and the other by the bowler himself. England
were 89 runs short of saving the follow on, but Willie Watson
and Brian Statham
stayed at the crease for 70 minutes. Statham, who batted left-handed, hit 6 fours in a new highest Test score of 36 not out. Lindwall was given the new ball, but could only shave the stumps as Statham hit out. Davidson tripped in one of Trueman's foot marks and had to retire from the field. In the end Rorke bowled Watson to end the 52 run last wicket stand 37 runs short of their target. Rorke on debut returned figures of 18.1-7-23-3, his low economy due to his large number of almost wides and high pace and in one three over spell only one ball could have been played.
to one side and reminded him that England's
only chance of retaining The Ashes
was it they were forced to follow on and made a lot of runs. Benaud agreed with him, but excused himself as he had to go and tell Peter May
that he was going to bat again. When he reached the England
dressing room he consoled May with what Sir Donald had said. This now repeated by cricket commentators when a Test side in this situation must win, notably when Allan Border
's Australians followed on at The Oval
in 1985. Watson (40) returned with Richardson (43) and together they saw off the new ball to end the day on 43/0, and produced the highest England
opening stand of the series, staying for almost three hours and adding 89. Davidson could not bowl after his injury, Rorke opened the bowling with Lindwall and Benaud had to bowl himself for a spell of four hours. The partnership ended when Watson pulled a full toss from the captain and Les Favell
ran in to take the catch on the boundary. Richardson fell to Benaud (4/84) padding up against a ball that didn't move having survived a l.b.w.
appeal the ball before. May (59) and Graveney looked set for big scores, and the England captain struck Benaud for three successive fours before he was leg before by a torpedo from Rorke (2/78). Bailey was caught by Grout off Lindwall (2/70) on the last ball of the day, though he and Graveney thought the ball had come off the top of his pad. At 198/5 England's
cause looked lost and Graveney could only look on as the lower order collapsed before him. Lock (9) stayed in for an hour as did Tyson, who made 33 in a stand of 46, but the other three tailenders only lasted 20 minutes and Graveney ended with 53 not out, having batted for over five hours. England's
total of 270 put them only 34 runs ahead.
came into open the innings and hit the winning runs on his home ground as he and Burke made the 36/0 required.
lost in 1953.
tour manager Freddie Brown arrived at Melbourne for the Fifth and final Test having lost the series 4-0, but won the match and won a great ovation from the Australian crowd who admired his fighting spirit throughout the series. He now arrived with Peter May
's team hoping to do the same and the players were keen to salvage something from the series. Arthur Milton
was sent home with his broken finger, Brian Statham
and Peter Loader
had been injured in a car accident when their tyre blew, Godfrey Evans
was still recovering from his broken finger and Willie Watson
suffered a groin
strain bowling in the nets. This reduced the touring team to 13 fit players, but Jim Laker
was ready to play and returned to the team with Ted Dexter
and Roy Swetman
. Tony Lock
's 5 wickets had cost 75.20 and was dropped in favour of debutant off-spinner John Mortimore
. This was a surprise for the Australians, but even more so to Lock, who heard the news on the radio. The home team dropped batsman Les Favell
in favour of the fast bowler Ian Meckiff
whose bruised foot had healed. Mel McInnes
was replaced as umpire by Les Townsend
in his only Test as umpire.
won the toss and took the unusual step of putting England
into bat, but he had four fast bowlers in his team and wanted to use them in the humid, swinging conditions. In the second over Ray Lindwall
's first ball swung away and Trevor Bailey
was caught first ball by Alan Davidson
in third slip to give him his 216th Test wicket and equal Clarrie Grimmett
's Australian record. Just before the Test Bailey had given a talk to the inmates of HMP Pentridge
and had been asked if he had ever been out first ball in a Test match. He said he had not, but retained his sense of humour as he ordered roast duck for dinner after his dismissal. Peter May
fell to Meckiff and England
were 13/2, but Peter Richardson
made a dogged 68 by forgoing his favourate deflections through the slips which had cost his wicket so many times. He added 48 with Colin Cowdrey
(22) and 48 again with Tom Graveney
(19), taking the score to 109/3. Tom Graveney
was dismissed by Benaud; "I remember him getting me out in the 1958-59 Melbourne Test by attacking my leg stump. He bowled me two half-volleys, the first of which I drove hard to Colin McDonald at mid-on. The second was just a fraction slower, and I was committed to the stroke before I spotted it. McDonald held the catch and the critics put it down to another casual shot from Graveney. They did not seem to notice the crafty part that Benaud had played in my dismissal". Ted Dexter
was out first ball to Meckiff (2/57), Roy Swetman
for 1 off Davidson and Richardson was caught and bowled by Benaud to leave England
128/7. Debutant John Mortimore
showed his all round skills with an unbeaten 44, adding 63 with Fred Trueman
(21) before Benaud (4/43) and Davidson (3/38) finished off the innings for 205 early on the second day.
and Frank Tyson
opened the bowling, and Trueman was able to swing the ball. When Colin McDonald was on 12 he found one of his bails had fallen off his stumps, but an appeal for hit wicket
was disallowed, though McDonald later thought that he must have hit the stumps when starting for a run. He also gave a catch to John Mortimore
at short-leg, but the fieldman slipped on the wet ground and missed it. Jim Burke
showed a marked dislike to the short-pitched bowling and both bowlers exploited this until he lobbed a catch to Trueman off a Tyson bouncer. Jim Laker
had a temperature and sore throat, but came on to bowl with Mortimore, but neither off-spinner could get the ball to turn like Benaud's wrist spin
, which usually had an advantage in Australia. McDonald was now comfortable and was using his favourite cut stroke to make runs, but Neil Harvey
was not comfortable against the faster bowling and Trueman had him caught by Roy Swetman
off a beautiful out-swinger. Norm O'Neill
came in to bat and on "a good day for batting and with an appreciative crowd in attendance I felt like a million", but was caught by Colin Cowdrey
in the gully
off Fred Trueman
for a first ball duck. Four years later in the Second Test on the same ground he was dismissed in exactly the same manner for another first ball duck. This left Australian 83/3, but McDonald (133) added 71 with Ken Mackay
(23) and 53 with Alan Davidson
(17), who was bowled for Mortimore's first Test wicket. McDonald fell to Laker (4/92) at 209/6 and England
were still in the game. "Slasher" Mackay batted for two hours to reach 22 and was given a slow hand clap by the impatient crowd of 50,000. Richie Benaud
(64) and Wally Grout
(74, his highest Test score) hastened the scoring rate, made 115 and for the only time in the series a hundred runs was made in a session as they hooked away at the bowlers feeding them short balls. Laker got them both out in the end and Trueman was given the new ball as Ray Lindwall
came to the crease. In 1953 Lindwall had hit Trueman with a wicked bouncer that "hit me so hard in the shoulder blade that I thought someone had stuck a carving knife in it". Trueman had sworn revenge, but had had to wait for five years. He got Lindwall out with a ball that ricocheted off his bat handle onto his forehead into the hands of Colin Cowdrey
at slip. The Yorkshireman caught and bowled Meckiff and Swetman caught Benaud off Laker to finish the innings on 351, 146 runs ahead.
for a duck to record his record 217th Test wicket, the same batsman who had given him his 100th Ashes Test wicket four years before. Peter May
received a torrid over, playing and missing several times in a row before he edged the ball though the slips and then to Neil Harvey
. Lindall (3/37) was given a standing ovation as he left the field on the third day with England
22/2. He chased down Trueman to complain about the bouncer who told him "I'd played bugger all in the way of cricket in that summer of '53, when I came up against you at the Oval. You bowled me a bouncer then, but I didn't squeal of moan about it". Lindwall said "Christ! You still remember that?...I made a promise to myself to buy you a beer after that Test but never got round to it. What says you keep me to that promise now?" and they went to the bar. Peter Richardson
(23) held off the bowlers for over two hours and put on 66 with Colin Cowdrey
who looked in fine form with seven boundaries in his 44. He was run out when he trotted in for an single, even though the unpire was unsighted by the wicket-keeper Wally Grout
. Cowdrey took strike again unaware of his dismissal until he was asked to depart. Richie Benaud
had strained a muscle batting and Ian Meckiff
damaged his Achilles tendon
again so the bulk of the bowling fell to Alan Davidson
(2/95). Tom Graveney
made 54 and looked as good as ever, but he only got support from Trueman who tried to hit every ball and either pulled off a perfect stroke or missed completely in an entertaining 36. The young Gordon Rorke
(3/41) took the last three wickets and England
were out for 214.
was given a barrage of short balls until his missed a shooter from Frank Tyson
(1/20) and was out l.b.w.
for 13.
in the Fourth Test on the same Melbourne Cricket Ground
in the 1911-12 Ashes series
.
, even though they played like professionals.
was larger than the MCC touring team, which excited comment at the time. Even as late as 1932-33 the newspapers has sent two men to cover the series; a ghost-writer for Jack Hobbs
and a tennis correspondent. The 1958-59 corps formed a considerable body of cricket knowledge; L.N. Bailey, Alex Bannister, Alec Bedser
, Bill Bowes
, Charles Bray, Brian Chapman, John Clarke, Charles Fortune, Harry Gee
, John Kay
, Ian Peebles
, R.A. Roberts, Frank Rostron, Denys Rowbotham, E.W. Swanton, Johnny Wardle
(who had been selected for the tour until sacked by Yorkshire
), Crawford White
and John Woodcock
.
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 five days with six 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....
. It formed part of the MCC tour of Australia in 1958–59
MCC tour of Australia in 1958–59
The Marylebone Cricket Club tour of Australia in 1958-59 under the captaincy of Peter May was its eleventh since it took official control of overseas tours in 1907-1908. The touring team played as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against Australia, but as the MCC in all other games...
and the matches outside the Tests were played 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...
. Peter May
Peter May
-External links:* * at Cricket Archive*...
led the England team
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
with the formidable bowling attack of Fred Trueman
Fred Trueman
Frederick Sewards Trueman OBE was an English cricketer, generally acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers in history. A bowler of genuinely fast pace who was widely known as Fiery Fred, Trueman played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1949 until he retired in 1968...
, Frank Tyson
Frank Tyson
Frank 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...
, Brian Statham
Brian Statham
John Brian "George" Statham, CBE was one of the leading English fast bowlers in 20th-century English cricket. Initially a bowler of a brisk fast-medium pace, Statham was able to remodel his action to generate enough speed to become genuinely fast...
, Peter Loader
Peter Loader
Peter James Loader was an English cricketer and umpire, who played thirteen Test matches for England. He played for Surrey and Beddington Cricket Club. A whippet-thin fast bowler with a wide range of pace and a nasty bouncer, he took the first post-war Test hat-trick as part of his 6 for 36...
, Jim Laker
Jim Laker
James "Jim" Charles Laker was a cricketer who played for England in the 1950s, known for "Laker's match" in 1956 at Old Trafford, when he took nineteen wickets in England's victory against Australia...
and Tony Lock
Tony Lock
Graham Anthony Richard Lock was an English cricketer, who played primarily as a left-arm spinner. He played in forty nine Tests for England taking 174 wickets at 25.58 each.-Life and career:...
, the 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...
Trevor Bailey
Trevor Bailey
Trevor Edward Bailey CBE was an England Test cricketer, cricket writer and broadcaster.An all-rounder, Bailey was known for his skilful but unspectacular batting...
, the outstanding wicket-keeper
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...
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 the batting of Colin Cowdrey
Colin Cowdrey
Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, CBE , better known as Colin Cowdrey, was the Captain of Oxford University, Kent County Cricket Club and the England cricket team in a career that lasted from 1950 to 1976...
, Tom Graveney
Tom Graveney
Thomas 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...
, Raman Subba Row
Raman Subba Row
Raman Subba Row is an English former cricketer who played for England, Cambridge University, Surrey and Northamptonshire.-Life and career:...
and Ted Dexter
Ted Dexter
Edward Ralph Dexter CBE is a former English cricketer...
. They had won the last three Ashes series in 1953
Australian cricket team in England in 1953
The Australian cricket team toured England in the 1953 season to play a five-match Test series against England for The Ashes.England won the final Test to take the series 1-0 after the first four Tests were all drawn. England therefore recovered the Ashes for the first time since losing them in...
, 1954-55 and 1956
Australian cricket team in England in 1956
The Australian cricket team toured England in the 1956 season to play a five-match Test series against England for The Ashes.England won the series 2-1 with 2 matches drawn and therefore retained The Ashes....
, and were labelled the strongest team ever to leave England, but lost the series and 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...
to Australia 4-0. It was one of the biggest upsets in 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...
history and the biggest margin of defeat in an Ashes series since the 5-0 "whitewashing" inflicted by 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 Australians in 1920-21. The triumph of the Australian team was mainly due to their aggressive captain Richie Benaud
Richie Benaud
Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....
, now regarded as one of the greatest captains in 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...
, who took what appeared to be an average team and led them to five series victories in succession. In English eyes at least the defeat was the result of questionable umpiring and the even more questionable bowling actions of Ian Meckiff
Ian Meckiff
Ian Meckiff is a former cricketer who represented Australia in 18 Tests between 1957 and 1963...
, Keith Slater
Keith Slater
Keith Nichol Slater is a former Western Australian and Australian cricketer and WAFL player....
, Jim Burke
Jim Burke (cricketer)
James Wallace Burke was an Australian cricketer who played in 24 Tests from 1951 to 1959.- Early years :...
and Gordon Rorke
Gordon Rorke
Gordon Frederick Rorke is a former Australian cricketer who played in 4 Tests in 1959.Rorke made his Test debut in January 1959 in the Fourth Test of The Ashes series against England in Adelaide...
and a long list of injuries with 12 of their players being unfit to play at some point on the tour. There were other factors, the Australian fielding was outstanding, turning many a half-chance into a catch. The Australian opener Colin McDonald made 519 runs (64.67), the first batsman to exceed 500 runs in an Ashes series since 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...
in 1950-51
1950–51 Ashes series
The 1950–51 Ashes series consisted of five cricket Test matches, each of six days with five hours play each day and eight ball overs. It formed part of the MCC tour of Australia in 1950–51 and the matches outside the Tests were played in the name of the Marylebone Cricket Club...
. The all-rounders Richie Benaud
Richie Benaud
Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....
and Alan Davidson
Alan Davidson (cricketer)
Alan Keith Davidson, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer of the 1950s and 1960s. He was an all rounder: a hard-hitting lower-order left-handed batsman, and an outstanding left-arm fast-medium opening bowler...
had previously underperformed against England, but now realised their full potential. Benaud took 31 wickets (18.83), the most by an Australian in an Ashes series since Monty Noble
Monty Noble
Montague Alfred Noble was an Australian cricketer who played for New South Wales and Australia. A right-hand batsman, right-handed bowler who could deliver both medium pace and off-break bowling, capable fieldsman and tactically sound captain, Noble is considered as one of the great Australian...
in 1901-02
English cricket team in Australia in 1901-02
The English cricket team in Australia in 1901–02 lost the Test series to Australia, who came from one down to win 4–1 and thus retained The Ashes. The England side was a private venture of Archie MacLaren at the invitation of the Melbourne Cricket Club, after MCC had declined to send a team...
, and Davidson 24 wickets (19.00).
First Test - Brisbane
The First Test was, I honestly think, the dullest and most depressing I have ever watched...Even at this range of time one finds the gorge rising at the recollection of a piece of cricket for which there was no tactical or technical justification whatever. Did EnglandEnglish cricket team in Australia in 1958-59Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
think the pitch was going to go? Did they hope to bat out a draw? The answer is that the pitch at the end was perfect, and Australia's eight wicket win was gained with a day and a bit to spare.
- E.W. Swanton
The Preliminaries
Compared to the Fifth Test against New Zealand at the Kennington Oval in 1958 EnglandEnglish cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
made only two changes to their team. Willie Watson
Willie Watson (England cricketer)
William "Willie" Watson, was an English cricketer, who played for Yorkshire, Leicestershire and England. He was a double international, as Watson was also a footballer who played for England's national team.-Cricket career:...
had only just recovered from his knee operation and was replaced as the number three batsman by the in form Tom Graveney
Tom Graveney
Thomas 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...
. Fred Trueman
Fred Trueman
Frederick Sewards Trueman OBE was an English cricketer, generally acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers in history. A bowler of genuinely fast pace who was widely known as Fiery Fred, Trueman played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1949 until he retired in 1968...
was laid low by lumbago, which also affected him when he arrived in Queensland in 1962-63, and was replaced by Peter Loader
Peter Loader
Peter James Loader was an English cricketer and umpire, who played thirteen Test matches for England. He played for Surrey and Beddington Cricket Club. A whippet-thin fast bowler with a wide range of pace and a nasty bouncer, he took the first post-war Test hat-trick as part of his 6 for 36...
even though he had just recovered from a strained Achilles tendon
Achilles tendon
The Achilles tendon , also known as the calcaneal tendon or the tendo calcaneus, is a tendon of the posterior leg. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius and soleus muscles to the calcaneus bone.- Anatomy :The Achilles is the tendonous extension of 3 muscles in the lower leg:...
and high temperature. Loader, Laker
Jim Laker
James "Jim" Charles Laker was a cricketer who played for England in the 1950s, known for "Laker's match" in 1956 at Old Trafford, when he took nineteen wickets in England's victory against Australia...
, Lock
Tony Lock
Graham Anthony Richard Lock was an English cricketer, who played primarily as a left-arm spinner. He played in forty nine Tests for England taking 174 wickets at 25.58 each.-Life and career:...
and Statham
Brian Statham
John Brian "George" Statham, CBE was one of the leading English fast bowlers in 20th-century English cricket. Initially a bowler of a brisk fast-medium pace, Statham was able to remodel his action to generate enough speed to become genuinely fast...
had taken plenty of wickets on tour and Graveney and captain Peter May
Peter May
-External links:* * at Cricket Archive*...
had made the most runs. Australia also had two changes from their last team, the Fifth Test against South Africa at Port Elizabeth in 1957-58. Captain Ian Craig
Ian Craig
Ian David Craig is a former Australian Test cricketer who represented Australia in 11 Tests between 1953 and 1958. A slightly built right-handed batsman, Craig holds the record for being the youngest Australian to make a first-class double century, gain Test selection and captain his country...
had resigned due to ill-health and was replaced by the debutant strokemaker Norm O'Neill
Norm O'Neill
Norman Clifford O'Neill OAM was an cricketer who played for New South Wales and Australia. A right-handed batsman known for his back foot strokeplay, O'Neill made his state debut aged 18, before progressing to Test selection aged 21 in late 1958...
and Peter Burge replaced Bobby Simpson
Bob Simpson (cricketer)
Robert Baddeley Simpson AO is a former cricketer who played for New South Wales, Western Australia and Australia, captaining the national team from 1963–64 until 1967–68, and again in 1977–78. He later had a highly successful term as the coach of the Australian team...
, who was twelfth man. Australia did not recall the veteran 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...
even though he had taken 7/73 for Queensland
Queensland Bulls
The Queensland cricket team, nicknamed the Bulls, are the Brisbane-based Queensland representative cricket team in Australia's domestic cricket tournaments:*Sheffield Shield, 4-day matches with first-class status, since the 1926/27 season...
against the MCC and had swung the ball prodigiously. After vice-captain Neil Harvey
Neil Harvey
Robert Neil Harvey MBE is a former Australian cricketer who represented the Australian cricket team between 1948 and 1963, playing in 79 Test matches. He was the vice-captain of the team from 1957 until his retirement...
captained an Australian XI to a 345 run defeat against the MCC
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 selectors made the surprise choice of Richie Benaud
Richie Benaud
Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....
as Australian captain. He has just succeeded Craig as the captain of New South Wales
New South Wales Blues
The New South Wales cricket team are an Australian first class cricket team based in Sydney, New South Wales...
, but had yet to lead his state. There was a thunderstorm before the match which precluded net practise and the air was heavy, which made the loss of Trueman's swing bowling all the more meaningful.
England - First Innings
Four years before Len HuttonLen 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...
had won the toss, put Australia in to bat and watched them made 601/8 declared. The week before Neil Harvey
Neil Harvey
Robert Neil Harvey MBE is a former Australian cricketer who represented the Australian cricket team between 1948 and 1963, playing in 79 Test matches. He was the vice-captain of the team from 1957 until his retirement...
had said that "the pitch at Brisbane was the best in Australia for batting", 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...
wrote "the best thing Benaud could do for Australia was lose the toss", No captain had put the opposition in to bat in an Ashes series and won since Johnny Douglas
Johnny Douglas
John "Johnny" William Henry Tyler Douglas was a cricketer who was captain of the England team and an Olympic boxer.-Early life:...
in the Fourth Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground
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 the 1911-12 Ashes series
English cricket team in Australia in 1911-12
The English cricket team in Australia in 1911–12 was led by Plum Warner, but Johnny Douglas took over the captaincy for all five Test matches when Warner fell ill early in the tour. Despite losing the first Test at Sydney, a side which included Jack Hobbs, Frank Woolley, Sydney Barnes and Wilfred...
. Bearing this in mind it was a bad toss to win and May made the difficult decision to bat on a green wicket which looked favourable to the fast bowlers in the expectation that it would flatten out in the afternoon. Arthur Milton
Arthur Milton
Clement Arthur Milton was an English cricketer and footballer. He played County cricket for Gloucestershire from 1948 to 1974, playing six Test matches for England in 1958 and 1959. He also played domestic football for Arsenal between 1951 and 1955, and then for a brief period for Bristol City...
was surprised by a straight ball by Ian Meckiff
Ian Meckiff
Ian Meckiff is a former cricketer who represented Australia in 18 Tests between 1957 and 1963...
(3/33), who had been spraying his deliveries up to two feet on either side of the stumps. 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...
called it "Meckiff was all over the place...the cynical reckoned he he fired too wide to be hit...it was, in fact, the most erratic piece of fast bowling I had ever seen in a Test match. Yet it helped to put Australia on top". Peter Richardson
Peter Richardson (cricketer)
Peter Edward Richardson is an English former cricketer, who played for Worcestershire, Kent and, in thirty four Tests, for England....
depended on neat deflections for many of his runs, but had not managed to adapt to the faster Australian wickets and Benaud fed in an extra slip and another when the England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
opener slipped the ball between the fielders until he was caught by Ken Mackay
Ken Mackay
Kenneth Donald Mackay was an Australian cricketer who played in 37 Tests from 1956 to 1963....
off Alan Davidson
Alan Davidson (cricketer)
Alan Keith Davidson, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer of the 1950s and 1960s. He was an all rounder: a hard-hitting lower-order left-handed batsman, and an outstanding left-arm fast-medium opening bowler...
(3/36) and England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
were 16/2. Tom Graveney
Tom Graveney
Thomas 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...
(19) was beaten several times by Davidson and was dropped by Norm O'Neill
Norm O'Neill
Norman Clifford O'Neill OAM was an cricketer who played for New South Wales and Australia. A right-handed batsman known for his back foot strokeplay, O'Neill made his state debut aged 18, before progressing to Test selection aged 21 in late 1958...
, who then damaged a finger fielding and was sent to hospital for x-ray
X-ray
X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...
s. He added 46 with May (28) before wicket-keeper
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...
Wally Grout
Wally Grout
Arthur Theodore Wallace Grout was a Test cricketer who kept wicket for Australia and Queensland.Grout played in 51 Test matches between 1957 and 1966...
snapped them both up and Cowdrey (13) fell a great catch by Lindsay Kline
Lindsay Kline
Lindsay Francis Kline is former Australian and Victorian cricketer. He played in 13 Tests for Australia and 88 first-class matches between 1955/56 and 1961/1962...
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...
to another by Peter Burge. Benaud had made his new ball bowlers stay on for over an hour in their opening spell, and called them back for more until they were exhausted. He had been bowling to give them a rest, but now started on the long England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
tail. "The Boil" Trevor Bailey
Trevor Bailey
Trevor Edward Bailey CBE was an England Test cricketer, cricket writer and broadcaster.An all-rounder, Bailey was known for his skilful but unspectacular batting...
(Bailey was pronounced "Boiley" by the Australians) took two hours to make 27 in his own dull way, but hit a couple of boundaries after seeing Jim Laker
Jim Laker
James "Jim" Charles Laker was a cricketer who played for England in the 1950s, known for "Laker's match" in 1956 at Old Trafford, when he took nineteen wickets in England's victory against Australia...
do so. Davidson had to leave the field exhausted and Benaud (3/46) had Bailey stumped to end the innings for 134.
Australia - First Innings
There was only time for two overs before stumps and Brian StathamBrian Statham
John Brian "George" Statham, CBE was one of the leading English fast bowlers in 20th-century English cricket. Initially a bowler of a brisk fast-medium pace, Statham was able to remodel his action to generate enough speed to become genuinely fast...
made the ball lift outside the off-stump, which might have produced a wicket given another quarter of an hour, but Colin McDonald and Jim Burke
Jim Burke (cricketer)
James Wallace Burke was an Australian cricketer who played in 24 Tests from 1951 to 1959.- Early years :...
survived the day on 8/0. The first day had produced only 142 runs and although the Saturday was bright and clear and good for batting, only 148 rusn were made as excellent England bowling attack regained the initiative and the Australian batsmen ecked out the runs. Burke edged a catch to gully
Slip (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a slip fielder is placed behind the batsman on the off side of the field. They are placed with the aim of catching an edged ball which is beyond the wicket-keeper's reach. Many teams employ two or three slips...
, but Trevor Bailey
Trevor Bailey
Trevor Edward Bailey CBE was an England Test cricketer, cricket writer and broadcaster.An all-rounder, Bailey was known for his skilful but unspectacular batting...
was too deep to catch it and after a slow start - and much to everybody's surprise - he peeled off a couple of cover-drives off Peter Loader
Peter Loader
Peter James Loader was an English cricketer and umpire, who played thirteen Test matches for England. He played for Surrey and Beddington Cricket Club. A whippet-thin fast bowler with a wide range of pace and a nasty bouncer, he took the first post-war Test hat-trick as part of his 6 for 36...
. Loader was repeatedly no-balled and was replaced by Bailey and the openers took their partnership past fifty when the sightsreen was laboriously moved and Loader returned round the wicket to have Burke caught behind for 20. The teams went off for lunch at the fall of the wicket and returned on 55/1 with Neil Harvey
Neil Harvey
Robert Neil Harvey MBE is a former Australian cricketer who represented the Australian cricket team between 1948 and 1963, playing in 79 Test matches. He was the vice-captain of the team from 1957 until his retirement...
coming in instead of Ken Mackay
Ken Mackay
Kenneth Donald Mackay was an Australian cricketer who played in 37 Tests from 1956 to 1963....
as announced by the scoreboard, indicating that Benaud wanted the runs to flow. Bailey had McDonald caught in slip for 42 in two hours and Norm O'Neill
Norm O'Neill
Norman Clifford O'Neill OAM was an cricketer who played for New South Wales and Australia. A right-handed batsman known for his back foot strokeplay, O'Neill made his state debut aged 18, before progressing to Test selection aged 21 in late 1958...
(who had not broken his finger as first thought) came in with the hopes of Australia hanging on his shoulders. May set a defensive field to limit his runmaking, but he hit his first ball for four before the runs dried up and he was outpaced by "Slasher" Mackay. Loader (4/56 with 19 no balls) caught Harvey l.b.w.
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...
after he had spent an hour making 14. Bailey (3/35) accounted for the out of form Peter Burge and had O'Neill was caught by a spectacular diving catch by Tom Graveney
Tom Graveney
Thomas 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...
for 34 in 151 minutes, Jim Laker
Jim Laker
James "Jim" Charles Laker was a cricketer who played for England in the 1950s, known for "Laker's match" in 1956 at Old Trafford, when he took nineteen wickets in England's victory against Australia...
(2/15) had Mackay (16) caught behind, much to his displeasure and Australia ended the day on 156/6, 22 runs ahead. After the rest day Australiadid not long survive the fall of Benaud (16) on the Monday morning, l.b.w.
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 Loader and the tail collapsed to 186 all out despite the best efforts of Alan Davidson
Alan Davidson (cricketer)
Alan Keith Davidson, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer of the 1950s and 1960s. He was an all rounder: a hard-hitting lower-order left-handed batsman, and an outstanding left-arm fast-medium opening bowler...
(25), last man out to Laker.
England - Second Innings
Even Australia' collapse gave them a lead of 52 on a wicket which had dried out and looked a lot better for batting, but the EnglandEnglish cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
openers failed again. Peter Richardson
Peter Richardson (cricketer)
Peter Edward Richardson is an English former cricketer, who played for Worcestershire, Kent and, in thirty four Tests, for England....
was brilliantly caught and bowled by Richie Benaud
Richie Benaud
Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....
who had relieved Alan Davidson
Alan Davidson (cricketer)
Alan Keith Davidson, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer of the 1950s and 1960s. He was an all rounder: a hard-hitting lower-order left-handed batsman, and an outstanding left-arm fast-medium opening bowler...
. Peter May
Peter May
-External links:* * at Cricket Archive*...
sent in Trevor Bailey
Trevor Bailey
Trevor Edward Bailey CBE was an England Test cricketer, cricket writer and broadcaster.An all-rounder, Bailey was known for his skilful but unspectacular batting...
- "The Barnacle" - at number three, a very negative move given his reputation as England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
should have been looking to runs. He was soon joined by Tom Graveney
Tom Graveney
Thomas 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...
when Milton was caught by Wally Grout
Wally Grout
Arthur Theodore Wallace Grout was a Test cricketer who kept wicket for Australia and Queensland.Grout played in 51 Test matches between 1957 and 1966...
off Davidson at 34/2. The stylish Graveney was often criticised for getting out carelessly, but he survived two l.b.w.
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...
appeals in an over from Benaud, who beat the bat twice more without success. They took the score to 92/2 by the end of the day, a lead of 40 runs, with only 122 runs coming in the day. On the fourth day Graveney was half way down the wicket going for an easy single when Bailey sent him back and he was run out for 36 after staying in for nearly three hours. May was soon out to Benaud (4/66), but Colin Cowdrey
Colin Cowdrey
Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, CBE , better known as Colin Cowdrey, was the Captain of Oxford University, Kent County Cricket Club and the England cricket team in a career that lasted from 1950 to 1976...
(28) stuck in for over two hours before he was caught by Lindsay Kline
Lindsay Kline
Lindsay Francis Kline is former Australian and Victorian cricketer. He played in 13 Tests for Australia and 88 first-class matches between 1955/56 and 1961/1962...
at grass level. Umpire McInnes was unsighted, but after a nod from Umpire Hays at square-leg umpire gave Cowdrey out, even though he was briefly called back by Harvey, who doubted that the ball had carried, he was given out. "The Boil"
Trevor Bailey
Trevor Edward Bailey CBE was an England Test cricketer, cricket writer and broadcaster.An all-rounder, Bailey was known for his skilful but unspectacular batting...
remained glued to the crease as he took 357 minutes to reach the slowest 50 by an Englishman in Tests. "Trevor was apt to enjoy playing a character part. 'Barnacle Bailey' as a sobriquet had stuck all too firmly...to the infinite frustration of the crowds - which here 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...
showed their feeling by simply staying away" wrote E.W. Swanton, who questioned "whether victory, if it should come, is worth the cost in terms of sterile, boring play that makes one sick at heart to watch". To be fair to Bailey he had been hailed as a saviour playing in this fashion in 1953 and 1954–55 and was unlikely to change his style at the end of his career. Benaud did not help as he set the field to cut off the stonewaller's limited repertoire of strokes, with Meckiff bowling down the leg side. One pressman roused himself to ask when Bailey had last scored a run, "Twenty minutes past two" answered the England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
scorer
Scorer
A scorer in the sport of cricket is someone appointed to record all runs scored, all wickets taken and, where appropriate, number of overs bowled. In professional games, in compliance with the Laws of Cricket, two scorers are appointed, most often one provided by each team.The scorers have no say...
George Duckworth
George Duckworth
George Duckworth was a professional cricketer who played first-class cricket for Lancashire and England....
, "Today or yesterday?" was the reply. Just before stumps Bailey suddenly rushed down the pitch to take a swipe at Mackay, missed and was bowled for 68. It was a strangely reckless end as a few more minutes would have allowed Peter May
Peter May
-External links:* * at Cricket Archive*...
the use of the heavy roller in the morning to break up the wicket for his bowlers. Bailey had batted for 458 minutes and scored from only 40 of the 427 balls he faced. Only 106 runs were made in a full day's play, the lowest in an Ashes Test.
Australia - Second Innings
Coming back on the fifth and penultimate day Australia needed 146 runs to win and did so in style thanks to Norm O'NeillNorm O'Neill
Norman Clifford O'Neill OAM was an cricketer who played for New South Wales and Australia. A right-handed batsman known for his back foot strokeplay, O'Neill made his state debut aged 18, before progressing to Test selection aged 21 in late 1958...
. The spinners Jim Laker
Jim Laker
James "Jim" Charles Laker was a cricketer who played for England in the 1950s, known for "Laker's match" in 1956 at Old Trafford, when he took nineteen wickets in England's victory against Australia...
and Tony Lock
Tony Lock
Graham Anthony Richard Lock was an English cricketer, who played primarily as a left-arm spinner. He played in forty nine Tests for England taking 174 wickets at 25.58 each.-Life and career:...
were brought on early as May's only hope was that the pitch would take spin, but few balls turned and he maintained his defensive field placings. Laker had McDonald out for 15, and Lock dismissed Harvey for 23. Jim Burke
Jim Burke (cricketer)
James Wallace Burke was an Australian cricketer who played in 24 Tests from 1951 to 1959.- Early years :...
looked uncomfortable and dug himself in while O'Neill started to hit the ball and ran for singles when other batsmen in the match were content to stand still. He rattled up 71 not out in under two hours and hooked Loader for his seventh boundary for the winning runs, Burke having spent over four hours making 28 not out, even slower than Bailey.
Result
Australia won the First Test by 8 wickets to go 1-0 up in the series, the fourth win in four Tests for Australia against EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
at the Woolloongabba
Brisbane Cricket Ground
The Brisbane Cricket Ground, commonly known as The Gabba, is a major sports stadium in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland. It is named after the suburb of Woolloongabba, in which it is located....
. England's
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
scoring rate of 23 runs in every 100 balls (the equivalent of 1.38 runs per six-ball over) was one of the worst in 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...
, Australia made 34 runs off every 100 balls (the equivalent of 2.04 runs per six-ball over). The England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
manager Freddie Brown wanted to make an official complaint about Meckiff's bowling, but captain Peter May
Peter May
-External links:* * at Cricket Archive*...
thought that it look like sour grapes. Instead they talked unofficially to the Australian chairman of selectors Sir Donald Bradman who retorted "And what of the action of the England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
bowlers Tony Lock
Tony Lock
Graham Anthony Richard Lock was an English cricketer, who played primarily as a left-arm spinner. He played in forty nine Tests for England taking 174 wickets at 25.58 each.-Life and career:...
and Peter Loader
Peter Loader
Peter James Loader was an English cricketer and umpire, who played thirteen Test matches for England. He played for Surrey and Beddington Cricket Club. A whippet-thin fast bowler with a wide range of pace and a nasty bouncer, he took the first post-war Test hat-trick as part of his 6 for 36...
?" and that they should "first of all put their own house in order". It was an inauspicious start to the brighter cricket May had promised, which was needed to revive the fortunes of Australian cricket that was being ignored by its youth. "The Future of Australian Cricket at Stake...the average young Australian is inclined spend most of his weekends under water...and caring for his lady-friend. There are many other things to do in the sunshine than play cricket".
Second Test - Melbourne
The events of the Melbourne Test at the New Year would have tested the philosophical detachment of any cricket writer, of whatever school. I'm glad to see in my preview before the game I noted that the increase in doubtful actions had been the most remarkable aspect of Australian cricket on the tour, and I named three suspects - MeckiffIan MeckiffIan Meckiff is a former cricketer who represented Australia in 18 Tests between 1957 and 1963...
, SlaterKeith SlaterKeith Nichol Slater is a former Western Australian and Australian cricketer and WAFL player....
and BurkeJim Burke (cricketer)James Wallace Burke was an Australian cricketer who played in 24 Tests from 1951 to 1959.- Early years :...
. I said that both Slater and Burke had been no-balled, once in each case, for throwing, and that I hoped the Australian umpiresUmpiring in the 1958–59 Ashes seriesThe England team were very unhappy with the umpiring of the 1958–59 Ashes series, in particular the questionable actions of some bowlers in the Australian team. The televising of Test cricket was in its infancy and the notion of Test umpires using slow-motion replays or other modern techniques was...
would do their unpleasant duty if the 'be not entirely satisfied', as the Law ordains. Vain Hope!
- E.W. Swanton
The Preliminaries
The loss of the first Test was not the end of the series and Peter MayPeter May
-External links:* * at Cricket Archive*...
well remembered the crushing Brisbane defeat in the First Test of 1954-55, which 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...
had won 3-1. Arthur Milton
Arthur Milton
Clement Arthur Milton was an English cricketer and footballer. He played County cricket for Gloucestershire from 1948 to 1974, playing six Test matches for England in 1958 and 1959. He also played domestic football for Arsenal between 1951 and 1955, and then for a brief period for Bristol City...
had returned to form with innings of 85 against Tasmania
Tasmanian Tigers
The Tasmanian cricket team, nicknamed the Tigers, represents the Australian state of Tasmania in cricket tournaments. They compete annually in the Australian domestic senior men's cricket season, which currently consists of the first-class Sheffield Shield, the limited overs Ford Ranger Cup, and...
, but had broken his finger in a gutsy 37 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...
. With the spare opener Raman Subba Row
Raman Subba Row
Raman Subba Row is an English former cricketer who played for England, Cambridge University, Surrey and Northamptonshire.-Life and career:...
nursing a broken wrist Willie Watson
Willie Watson (England cricketer)
William "Willie" Watson, was an English cricketer, who played for Yorkshire, Leicestershire and England. He was a double international, as Watson was also a footballer who played for England's national team.-Cricket career:...
- who had been part of the 1950 FIFA World Cup
1950 FIFA World Cup
The 1950 FIFA World Cup, held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July, was the fourth FIFA World Cup. It was the first World Cup since 1938, the planned 1942 and 1946 competitions having been canceled owing to World War II...
England squad in Brazil - was brought in, but Trevor Bailey
Trevor Bailey
Trevor Edward Bailey CBE was an England Test cricketer, cricket writer and broadcaster.An all-rounder, Bailey was known for his skilful but unspectacular batting...
was promoted to the opening spot regardless of his paralysing influence at Brisbane. Fred Trueman
Fred Trueman
Frederick Sewards Trueman OBE was an English cricketer, generally acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers in history. A bowler of genuinely fast pace who was widely known as Fiery Fred, Trueman played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1949 until he retired in 1968...
had recovered from his back trouble to take 5/46 and 4/33 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...
and said he was fully fit, but was not chosen. Instead May preferred to keep the pace attack that had bowled so accurately in the first innings at Brisbane. The Australians dropped Peter Burge from their twelve-man squad and brought in the 22 year old "chucker"
Throwing (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, throwing, commonly referred to as chucking, is an illegal bowling action which occurs when a bowler straightens their arm when delivering the ball. The Laws of Cricket specify that a bowler's arm must be fully extended and rotated about the shoulder to impart velocity to...
Keith Slater
Keith Slater
Keith Nichol Slater is a former Western Australian and Australian cricketer and WAFL player....
who had taken 4/33 for Western Australia
Western Warriors
The Western Australia cricket team are an Australian first class cricket team representing the state of Western Australia...
in the first match of the tour and could bowl both fast-medium and off-spin. In the end he was twelfth man instead of the talented batsman Bobby Simpson
Bob Simpson (cricketer)
Robert Baddeley Simpson AO is a former cricketer who played for New South Wales, Western Australia and Australia, captaining the national team from 1963–64 until 1967–68, and again in 1977–78. He later had a highly successful term as the coach of the Australian team...
, who made his Ashes debut.
England - First Innings
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...
and the air was heavy again, the dark clouds dimming the ground, but the pitch was not expected to last and when Peter May
Peter May
-External links:* * at Cricket Archive*...
won the toss on his 29th birthday (New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of any given year in the Gregorian calendar. In modern societies, New Year's Eve is often celebrated at social gatherings, during which participants dance, eat, consume alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the...
) he had to bat first even though his opening batsmen were known to be brittle. They survived into the third over when "Davo" Davidson
Alan Davidson (cricketer)
Alan Keith Davidson, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer of the 1950s and 1960s. He was an all rounder: a hard-hitting lower-order left-handed batsman, and an outstanding left-arm fast-medium opening bowler...
(6/64) wrecked the innings with three wickets; Peter Richardson
Peter Richardson (cricketer)
Peter Edward Richardson is an English former cricketer, who played for Worcestershire, Kent and, in thirty four Tests, for England....
caught by Wally Grout
Wally Grout
Arthur Theodore Wallace Grout was a Test cricketer who kept wicket for Australia and Queensland.Grout played in 51 Test matches between 1957 and 1966...
for 3, Willie Watson
Willie Watson (England cricketer)
William "Willie" Watson, was an English cricketer, who played for Yorkshire, Leicestershire and England. He was a double international, as Watson was also a footballer who played for England's national team.-Cricket career:...
undone by a yorker
Yorker
Yorker is a term used in cricket that describes a ball bowled which hits the cricket pitch around the batsman's feet. When a batsman assumes a normal stance this generally means that the cricket ball bounces on the cricket pitch on or near the batsman's popping crease...
on his fourth ball and Tom Graveney
Tom Graveney
Thomas 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...
for a golden duck
Duck (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a duck refers to a batsman's dismissal for a score of zero.-Origin of the term:The term is a shortening of the term "duck's egg", the latter being used long before Test cricket began...
by a brute of a ball that swung viciously and caught him 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...
. Peter May
Peter May
-External links:* * at Cricket Archive*...
came in at 7/3 to survive the hat-trick and rebuild the innings, bringing up his first runs with a magnificent drive off Meckiff. Davidson bowled neatly and made the ball move, but "Meckiff used the whole bowling crease, delivering balls from near the stumps and as wide as possible to the return crease" and could find no swing. Fortunately for England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
Trevor Bailey
Trevor Bailey
Trevor Edward Bailey CBE was an England Test cricketer, cricket writer and broadcaster.An all-rounder, Bailey was known for his skilful but unspectacular batting...
was full of confidence and hit 6 fours in two and a half hours on his way to 48. Ken Mackay
Ken Mackay
Kenneth Donald Mackay was an Australian cricketer who played in 37 Tests from 1956 to 1963....
replaced Meckiff and almost had May caught in the slips, and Richie Benaud
Richie Benaud
Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....
who replaced him missed a caught and bowled with his first delivery, but Davidson was kept on until lunch, when he was exhausted. They returned after lunch and the crowd saw the unprecedented sight of "The Boil"
Trevor Bailey
Trevor Edward Bailey CBE was an England Test cricketer, cricket writer and broadcaster.An all-rounder, Bailey was known for his skilful but unspectacular batting...
hitting Benaud for successive boundaries, but he was caught by the Australian
captain off a slower ball from Meckiff, who had finally replaced Davidson and England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
were 92/4. Colin Cowdrey
Colin Cowdrey
Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, CBE , better known as Colin Cowdrey, was the Captain of Oxford University, Kent County Cricket Club and the England cricket team in a career that lasted from 1950 to 1976...
came in low at number 6 and stuck in for another do or die partnership with May, both playing disciplined innings with classical strokes. With Neil Harvey
Neil Harvey
Robert Neil Harvey MBE is a former Australian cricketer who represented the Australian cricket team between 1948 and 1963, playing in 79 Test matches. He was the vice-captain of the team from 1957 until his retirement...
and Norm O'Neill
Norm O'Neill
Norman Clifford O'Neill OAM was an cricketer who played for New South Wales and Australia. A right-handed batsman known for his back foot strokeplay, O'Neill made his state debut aged 18, before progressing to Test selection aged 21 in late 1958...
dominating the covers runs were hard to come by and they ended the day on 173/4. Benaud delayed asking for the new ball as his fast bowlers were tired and May and Cowdrey attacked the slow bowling, particularly that of Lindsay Kline
Lindsay Kline
Lindsay Francis Kline is former Australian and Victorian cricketer. He played in 13 Tests for Australia and 88 first-class matches between 1955/56 and 1961/1962...
. The captain reached his century by pulling Kline to the mid-wicket boundary and hitting the next ball with such power that Mackay, 50 yards away, did not have time to move before it flew past him for another four. It was the first Test hundred by an English captain in Australia since Archie MacLaren made 116 in the First Test at Sydney in 1901-02. The new ball was now taken with England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
206/4 and Davidson and Meckiff returned to the attack, Meckiff (3/69) bowling May for 113 with an extra fast delivery that swung in and crashed into his stumps. Meckiff reckoned this to be the best ball he ever bowled "the sun was shining, and May was batting beautifully at the time. Yet he explained it later that he had completed lost the ball from the instant it left the hand". 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...
(4) could not cope with Meckiff's pace and Cowdrey (44) was caught by Grout off Davidson and England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
collapsed to 218/7. Jim Laker
Jim Laker
James "Jim" Charles Laker was a cricketer who played for England in the 1950s, known for "Laker's match" in 1956 at Old Trafford, when he took nineteen wickets in England's victory against Australia...
(dropped off his first ball) stayed in for over an hour making 22 not out, but Davidson bowled Brian Statham
Brian Statham
John Brian "George" Statham, CBE was one of the leading English fast bowlers in 20th-century English cricket. Initially a bowler of a brisk fast-medium pace, Statham was able to remodel his action to generate enough speed to become genuinely fast...
and Peter Loader
Peter Loader
Peter James Loader was an English cricketer and umpire, who played thirteen Test matches for England. He played for Surrey and Beddington Cricket Club. A whippet-thin fast bowler with a wide range of pace and a nasty bouncer, he took the first post-war Test hat-trick as part of his 6 for 36...
and they were all out for 259.
Australia - First Innings
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
collapse the pitch was losing its moisture and looked better for runs. Colin McDonald and Neil Harvey
Neil Harvey
Robert Neil Harvey MBE is a former Australian cricketer who represented the Australian cricket team between 1948 and 1963, playing in 79 Test matches. He was the vice-captain of the team from 1957 until his retirement...
saw the day out with 96/1 for the loss of Jim Burke
Jim Burke (cricketer)
James Wallace Burke was an Australian cricketer who played in 24 Tests from 1951 to 1959.- Early years :...
, bowled by Statham for 3 when he left the ball alone. Lacking the pace of the Australian bowlers Statham and Loader could not make the ball lift as they had done and Trevor Bailey
Trevor Bailey
Trevor Edward Bailey CBE was an England Test cricketer, cricket writer and broadcaster.An all-rounder, Bailey was known for his skilful but unspectacular batting...
and Jim Laker
Jim Laker
James "Jim" Charles Laker was a cricketer who played for England in the 1950s, known for "Laker's match" in 1956 at Old Trafford, when he took nineteen wickets in England's victory against Australia...
suffered as Harvey struck 10 fours in his 60 not out by the end of 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...
. They returned to the fray the following morning with May setting only one slip as he tried to stop the flow of runs, which saved Harvey when he edged to the vacant second slip on 67. Bailey bowled down the leg side with a leg field while Harvey watched the balls go by, but he and McDonald were able to run quickly between the wickets and keep the score ticking over, but only 39 runs were made off 18 eight-ball overs before lunch. Soon after the break Tom Graveney
Tom Graveney
Thomas 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...
took a juggled catch at first slip off Statham to dismiss McDonald for 47 after four hours. Norm O'Neill
Norm O'Neill
Norman Clifford O'Neill OAM was an cricketer who played for New South Wales and Australia. A right-handed batsman known for his back foot strokeplay, O'Neill made his state debut aged 18, before progressing to Test selection aged 21 in late 1958...
came in to a defensive field to Tony Lock
Tony Lock
Graham Anthony Richard Lock was an English cricketer, who played primarily as a left-arm spinner. He played in forty nine Tests for England taking 174 wickets at 25.58 each.-Life and career:...
bowling round the wicket and found it difficult to make runs, but tried one cracking drive that was stopped by the bowler and hurt his hand. Harvey tok 267 minutes to make his century, but there was a huge roar round the giant Melbourn Ground when he reached three figures. With his hundred up he attacked Laker and Lock, but with tight fields and accurate bowling he was unable to get away. The new ball was taken after tea and Statham had O'Neill (37) caught behind trying a powerful stroke off his back foot. Peter Loader
Peter Loader
Peter James Loader was an English cricketer and umpire, who played thirteen Test matches for England. He played for Surrey and Beddington Cricket Club. A whippet-thin fast bowler with a wide range of pace and a nasty bouncer, he took the first post-war Test hat-trick as part of his 6 for 36...
, who had been plundered for 36 runs in 8 overs bowled Harvey (167) when he missed an on-drive. Considering the quality and the accuracy of the bowling 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...
thought this was Harvey's best century and it was greatly appreciated by the 71,000 crowd. They could not have enjoyed what followed as Bobby Simpson
Bob Simpson (cricketer)
Robert Baddeley Simpson AO is a former cricketer who played for New South Wales, Western Australia and Australia, captaining the national team from 1963–64 until 1967–68, and again in 1977–78. He later had a highly successful term as the coach of the Australian team...
and Richie Benaud
Richie Benaud
Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....
went for ducks and Australia crashed from 255/2 to 262/6. Ken Mackay
Ken Mackay
Kenneth Donald Mackay was an Australian cricketer who played in 37 Tests from 1956 to 1963....
(18) and Alan Davidson
Alan Davidson (cricketer)
Alan Keith Davidson, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer of the 1950s and 1960s. He was an all rounder: a hard-hitting lower-order left-handed batsman, and an outstanding left-arm fast-medium opening bowler...
(25) pulled the score to 282/6 by the end of the day, but Statham (7/57) had them out in the morning, then cleaned up tail for 308. Once again Neil Harvey
Neil Harvey
Robert Neil Harvey MBE is a former Australian cricketer who represented the Australian cricket team between 1948 and 1963, playing in 79 Test matches. He was the vice-captain of the team from 1957 until his retirement...
had scored over half the innings for Australia and they were only 49 runs ahead. He became only the fifth England bowler to take seven wickets in a Test innings in Australia after Tom Richardson
Tom Richardson
Tom Richardson was an English cricketer. A fast bowler, Richardson relied to a great extent on the break-back , a relatively long run-up and high arm which allowed him to gain sharp lift on fast pitches even from the full, straight length he always bowled...
(8/94), George Lohmann
George Lohmann
George Alfred Lohmann is regarded as one of the greatest bowlers of all time...
(8/35 and 8/58), Doug Wright
Doug Wright
Doug Wright is an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2004 for his play, I Am My Own Wife.-Early years:Wright was born in Dallas, Texas...
(7/105) and Frank Tyson
Frank Tyson
Frank 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...
(7/27).
England - Second Innings
I never saw anything so blatant as Meckiff'sIan MeckiffIan Meckiff is a former cricketer who represented Australia in 18 Tests between 1957 and 1963...
action as, with the swell of the crowd in his ears, he came up that afternoon full pelt from the bottom end towards the pavillion...the English press camp were outspoken to a degree and at least one Australian, Jack FingletonJack FingletonJohn "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...
, writing in the Sunday Times, thought Meckiff should have been called... England had a grievance, without a doubt.
- E.W. Swanton
The 49 run deficient was thought to be counter-balanced by the runs England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
could expect to get on a plumb wicket, but such hope were quickly dispelled. Richardson
Peter Richardson (cricketer)
Peter Edward Richardson is an English former cricketer, who played for Worcestershire, Kent and, in thirty four Tests, for England....
was out yet again trying to play the ball through the slips and being caught by Neil Harvey
Neil Harvey
Robert Neil Harvey MBE is a former Australian cricketer who represented the Australian cricket team between 1948 and 1963, playing in 79 Test matches. He was the vice-captain of the team from 1957 until his retirement...
off Ian Meckiff
Ian Meckiff
Ian Meckiff is a former cricketer who represented Australia in 18 Tests between 1957 and 1963...
. Willie Watson
Willie Watson (England cricketer)
William "Willie" Watson, was an English cricketer, who played for Yorkshire, Leicestershire and England. He was a double international, as Watson was also a footballer who played for England's national team.-Cricket career:...
showed his lack of practice and was beaten by the pace of Alan Davidson
Alan Davidson (cricketer)
Alan Keith Davidson, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer of the 1950s and 1960s. He was an all rounder: a hard-hitting lower-order left-handed batsman, and an outstanding left-arm fast-medium opening bowler...
. The 60,000 crowd were now strongly behind the Australian team and Tom Graveney
Tom Graveney
Thomas 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...
's entry in the MCG
McG
Joseph McGinty Nichol , better known as McG, is an American director and producer of film and television, as well as a former record producer....
was compared to the arrival of a Christian being fed to the lions in the Colosseum
Colosseum
The Colosseum, or the Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre , is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire...
. He received a sharply rising ball from Ian Meckiff
Ian Meckiff
Ian Meckiff is a former cricketer who represented Australia in 18 Tests between 1957 and 1963...
which was caught at full stretch by "The Claw"
Alan Davidson (cricketer)
Alan Keith Davidson, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer of the 1950s and 1960s. He was an all rounder: a hard-hitting lower-order left-handed batsman, and an outstanding left-arm fast-medium opening bowler...
at short-fine-leg. Peter May
Peter May
-External links:* * at Cricket Archive*...
joined Trevor Bailey
Trevor Bailey
Trevor Edward Bailey CBE was an England Test cricketer, cricket writer and broadcaster.An all-rounder, Bailey was known for his skilful but unspectacular batting...
, who was back to his usual stone-walling self and had stayed in for an almost an hour for 14 when he was finely caught by Jim Burke
Jim Burke (cricketer)
James Wallace Burke was an Australian cricketer who played in 24 Tests from 1951 to 1959.- Early years :...
, also at short-fine leg, off a brute of a ball from Meckiff that rose high and hit his glove and bat-handle. Meckiff was bowling with far more accuracy than normal, but retained his fast pace and both he and Davidson bowled left-arm over the wicket, an unusual type of delivery that unsettled the England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
team. Benaud had also set a short-fine-leg with a short-leg behind him to catch the rising ball as the batsmen fended it off their body. Colin Cowdrey
Colin Cowdrey
Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, CBE , better known as Colin Cowdrey, was the Captain of Oxford University, Kent County Cricket Club and the England cricket team in a career that lasted from 1950 to 1976...
stayed in for 19 minutes before he played at a ball slanting wide across him and was caught by Wally Grout
Wally Grout
Arthur Theodore Wallace Grout was a Test cricketer who kept wicket for Australia and Queensland.Grout played in 51 Test matches between 1957 and 1966...
. 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...
went for a run which wasn't there and cracked his finger as his flung himself at the crease trying to make his ground. May, who had played a typically self-denying innings of 17 in 98 minutes when he was caught by Davidson off Meckiff, again the ball was angled awkwardly across his body. Now there was only the tail to dismiss and they fell quickly; Tony Lock
Tony Lock
Graham Anthony Richard Lock was an English cricketer, who played primarily as a left-arm spinner. He played in forty nine Tests for England taking 174 wickets at 25.58 each.-Life and career:...
caught and bowled by Davidson, Jim Laker
Jim Laker
James "Jim" Charles Laker was a cricketer who played for England in the 1950s, known for "Laker's match" in 1956 at Old Trafford, when he took nineteen wickets in England's victory against Australia...
caught by in the slips by Harvey off Davidson and Peter Loader
Peter Loader
Peter James Loader was an English cricketer and umpire, who played thirteen Test matches for England. He played for Surrey and Beddington Cricket Club. A whippet-thin fast bowler with a wide range of pace and a nasty bouncer, he took the first post-war Test hat-trick as part of his 6 for 36...
bowled by Meckiff for a duck to leave England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
87 all out. Ian Meckiff
Ian Meckiff
Ian Meckiff is a former cricketer who represented Australia in 18 Tests between 1957 and 1963...
(6/38) took the best Test figures of his career, backed up by superlative catching from the Australian fielders and Davidson's 3/41.
Australia - Second Innings
Australia needed 42 to win and were 9/1 at stumps, Colin McDonald was lbwLeg 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 Brian Statham
Brian Statham
John Brian "George" Statham, CBE was one of the leading English fast bowlers in 20th-century English cricket. Initially a bowler of a brisk fast-medium pace, Statham was able to remodel his action to generate enough speed to become genuinely fast...
(1/11). After the rest day 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...
Wally Grout
Wally Grout
Arthur Theodore Wallace Grout was a Test cricketer who kept wicket for Australia and Queensland.Grout played in 51 Test matches between 1957 and 1966...
was stumped by Evans off Jim Laker
Jim Laker
James "Jim" Charles Laker was a cricketer who played for England in the 1950s, known for "Laker's match" in 1956 at Old Trafford, when he took nineteen wickets in England's victory against Australia...
(1/7) despite the wicketkeeper's broken finger, but this was inadequate consolation for the easy Australian win as they made the 42/2 required.
Result
Australia won the Second Test by 8 wickets to take a 2-0 lead in the series. The English press thought EnglandEnglish cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
had been "thrown out"
Throwing (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, throwing, commonly referred to as chucking, is an illegal bowling action which occurs when a bowler straightens their arm when delivering the ball. The Laws of Cricket specify that a bowler's arm must be fully extended and rotated about the shoulder to impart velocity to...
, but there was no disguising that it was a dismal batting display from England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
on a good wicket. It was their worst score in Australia since Archie MacLaren's team were dismissed for 61 in 1901-02, ironically at Melbourne in the innings following the last time an England captain had made a century in Australia. Having not made an official complaint after the game against 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...
or the First Test at Brisbane the MCC were in no position to make an official complaint now Meckiff had won a Test. No umpire in Australia, South Africa or New Zealand had called him for throwing. He had even survived complaints by New South Wales
New South Wales Blues
The New South Wales cricket team are an Australian first class cricket team based in Sydney, New South Wales...
when he was chosen for the 1957-58 tour ahead of one of their bowlers, he had been filmed and given the approval of the Australian Board of Control and had the support of his captain Richie Benaud
Richie Benaud
Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....
. With no other game coming between the two Tests the teams proceeded to Sydney for the Third Test.
Third Test - Sydney
A great effort would have been needed by the EnglandEnglish cricket team in Australia in 1958-59Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
batsmen to put them in a position beyond defeat, and MiltonArthur MiltonClement Arthur Milton was an English cricketer and footballer. He played County cricket for Gloucestershire from 1948 to 1974, playing six Test matches for England in 1958 and 1959. He also played domestic football for Arsenal between 1951 and 1955, and then for a brief period for Bristol City...
and BaileyTrevor BaileyTrevor Edward Bailey CBE was an England Test cricketer, cricket writer and broadcaster.An all-rounder, Bailey was known for his skilful but unspectacular batting...
went to the wicket with a load on their shoulders. BenaudRichie BenaudRichard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....
at once set a very aggressive field, espcially to BaileyTrevor BaileyTrevor Edward Bailey CBE was an England Test cricketer, cricket writer and broadcaster.An all-rounder, Bailey was known for his skilful but unspectacular batting...
, where he fielded only three yards from the bat to Meckiff'sIan MeckiffIan Meckiff is a former cricketer who represented Australia in 18 Tests between 1957 and 1963...
bowling, a little deeper for DavidsonAlan Davidson (cricketer)Alan Keith Davidson, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer of the 1950s and 1960s. He was an all rounder: a hard-hitting lower-order left-handed batsman, and an outstanding left-arm fast-medium opening bowler...
. Bailey had a word with Benaud, no doubt asking him not to move when the bowler was running up to bowl. I thought he was so close that if Bailey had put his bat out to swing at a ball he would have hit him.
- Alec Bedser
Alec 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...
The Preliminaries
EnglandEnglish cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
obviously needed to do something to maintain their hold on 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 three changes were made to the team. The first was forced as 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...
had broken his middle finger and the reserve wicket-keeper
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...
Roy Swetman
Roy Swetman
Roy Swetman is an English former cricketer, who played in eleven Tests as a wicket-keeper from 1959 to 1960.-Life and career:...
made his Test debut. This was not so much of a loss as first thought, Evans had not batted well for some years and Swetman had impressed behind the stumps throughout the tour and his batting had improved beyond all hopes. Peter Richardson
Peter Richardson (cricketer)
Peter Edward Richardson is an English former cricketer, who played for Worcestershire, Kent and, in thirty four Tests, for England....
had failed repeatedly as an opening batsman in the Tests and was replaced by his old opening partner Arthur Milton
Arthur Milton
Clement Arthur Milton was an English cricketer and footballer. He played County cricket for Gloucestershire from 1948 to 1974, playing six Test matches for England in 1958 and 1959. He also played domestic football for Arsenal between 1951 and 1955, and then for a brief period for Bristol City...
, even though he had broken his finger at Christmas. Willie Watson
Willie Watson (England cricketer)
William "Willie" Watson, was an English cricketer, who played for Yorkshire, Leicestershire and England. He was a double international, as Watson was also a footballer who played for England's national team.-Cricket career:...
was dropped in favour of the newly arrived Cambridge
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...
and Sussex
Sussex County Cricket Club
Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Sussex. The club was founded as a successor to Brighton Cricket Club which was a representative of the county of Sussex as a...
batsman Ted Dexter
Ted Dexter
Edward Ralph Dexter CBE is a former English cricketer...
, who was also a more than useful swing bowler. May also had his final trump card, the fast bowler Fred Trueman
Fred Trueman
Frederick Sewards Trueman OBE was an English cricketer, generally acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers in history. A bowler of genuinely fast pace who was widely known as Fiery Fred, Trueman played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1949 until he retired in 1968...
, who had been ill at Brisbane and left out at Melbourne. He is widely considered to be England's greatest fast bowler and with good reason; he was the first man to take 300 wickets in Tests - 307 at (21.57) - had tremendous stamina and bowled with a near perfect side on action that produced late swing at high pace. He was full of confidence and believed that he could get any batsman out on any wicket. Australia made changes as well, dropping Lindsay Kline
Lindsay Kline
Lindsay Francis Kline is former Australian and Victorian cricketer. He played in 13 Tests for Australia and 88 first-class matches between 1955/56 and 1961/1962...
who had taken 0/77 in two Tests and Bobby Simpson
Bob Simpson (cricketer)
Robert Baddeley Simpson AO is a former cricketer who played for New South Wales, Western Australia and Australia, captaining the national team from 1963–64 until 1967–68, and again in 1977–78. He later had a highly successful term as the coach of the Australian team...
who had made a duck but was retained as twelfth man for his fielding. Instead they brought in the dual purpose fast-medium seamer and off-spinner Keith Slater
Keith Slater
Keith Nichol Slater is a former Western Australian and Australian cricketer and WAFL player....
, which gave them an extra "chucker"
Throwing (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, throwing, commonly referred to as chucking, is an illegal bowling action which occurs when a bowler straightens their arm when delivering the ball. The Laws of Cricket specify that a bowler's arm must be fully extended and rotated about the shoulder to impart velocity to...
along with the strike bowler Ian Meckiff
Ian Meckiff
Ian Meckiff is a former cricketer who represented Australia in 18 Tests between 1957 and 1963...
and Jim Burke
Jim Burke (cricketer)
James Wallace Burke was an Australian cricketer who played in 24 Tests from 1951 to 1959.- Early years :...
. Mel McInnes
Mel McInnes
Melville James "Mel" McInnes was an Australian cricket Test match umpire.He umpired 16 Test matches between 1951 and 1959...
kept his place as umpire even though Peter May
Peter May
-External links:* * at Cricket Archive*...
and Freddie Brown had pointedly asked if it was necessary for him to officiate in all the Tests.
England - First Innings
Peter MayPeter May
-External links:* * at Cricket Archive*...
won the toss for the third time in a row and again decided to bat regardless of the ill-omens as the wicket looked easy going and was expected to take spin. Stonewaller Trevor Bailey
Trevor Bailey
Trevor Edward Bailey CBE was an England Test cricketer, cricket writer and broadcaster.An all-rounder, Bailey was known for his skilful but unspectacular batting...
who had been promoted in the batting order
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...
from 6 to 3, then 2 and was now asked to go in first with Arthur Milton
Arthur Milton
Clement Arthur Milton was an English cricketer and footballer. He played County cricket for Gloucestershire from 1948 to 1974, playing six Test matches for England in 1958 and 1959. He also played domestic football for Arsenal between 1951 and 1955, and then for a brief period for Bristol City...
. They were both out for 8 to Ian Meckiff
Ian Meckiff
Ian Meckiff is a former cricketer who represented Australia in 18 Tests between 1957 and 1963...
and Alan Davidson
Alan Davidson (cricketer)
Alan Keith Davidson, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer of the 1950s and 1960s. He was an all rounder: a hard-hitting lower-order left-handed batsman, and an outstanding left-arm fast-medium opening bowler...
and England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
were 23/2. Once again the England opening partnership had failed and Bailey, a considerable stumbling block for the bowlers down the order had been sacrificed at the top of the order. Tom Graveney
Tom Graveney
Thomas 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...
(33) and Peter May
Peter May
-External links:* * at Cricket Archive*...
(42) restored the innings as the fast bowlers found little swing, but Benaud kept them on for over an hour and May edged a ball past Neil Harvey
Neil Harvey
Robert Neil Harvey MBE is a former Australian cricketer who represented the Australian cricket team between 1948 and 1963, playing in 79 Test matches. He was the vice-captain of the team from 1957 until his retirement...
at slip. With the shine taken off the new ball the pacemen were taken off and the spinners brought on, Richie Benaud
Richie Benaud
Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....
getting turn almost at once and appealed 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...
against May, but it was turned down. Keith Slater
Keith Slater
Keith Nichol Slater is a former Western Australian and Australian cricketer and WAFL player....
's first Test wicket was May after had had been hit for 4 and 2 and the captain looked in fine form, Slater getting the ball to hang back and it was hit where Benaud had placed Ken Mackay
Ken Mackay
Kenneth Donald Mackay was an Australian cricketer who played in 37 Tests from 1956 to 1963....
in the covers a few balls before, where he took a fine catch. Graveney edged Benaud just past Harvey which he managed to take for another stunning catch and Dexter was l.b.w.
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...
offering no stroke to Slater (2/40) and England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
were 98/5. The debutant Roy Swetman
Roy Swetman
Roy Swetman is an English former cricketer, who played in eleven Tests as a wicket-keeper from 1959 to 1960.-Life and career:...
joined Colin Cowdrey
Colin Cowdrey
Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, CBE , better known as Colin Cowdrey, was the Captain of Oxford University, Kent County Cricket Club and the England cricket team in a career that lasted from 1950 to 1976...
to a great ovation from the 50,000 in the stands and survived a difficult catch to Harvey and another to Colin McDonald who had replaced "The Claw"
Alan Davidson (cricketer)
Alan Keith Davidson, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer of the 1950s and 1960s. He was an all rounder: a hard-hitting lower-order left-handed batsman, and an outstanding left-arm fast-medium opening bowler...
at leg-slip, both chances off Benaud. The young wicket-keeper
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...
used his feet to go down the wicket, so when he padded up he could not given l.b.w.
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...
, and began to make some runs with Cowdrey stroking the ball through the covers. After tea the vice-captain
Colin Cowdrey
Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, CBE , better known as Colin Cowdrey, was the Captain of Oxford University, Kent County Cricket Club and the England cricket team in a career that lasted from 1950 to 1976...
(34) gave Harvey another catch off Benaud, but Swetman and Tony Lock
Tony Lock
Graham Anthony Richard Lock was an English cricketer, who played primarily as a left-arm spinner. He played in forty nine Tests for England taking 174 wickets at 25.58 each.-Life and career:...
saw England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
safely to stumps with 190/6. The next day's start was delayed to past tea because of rain, made worse by the inadequate covering of the infield. When they finally resumed Benaud was spinning the ball more than ever and declined to take the new ball. Lock was out l.b.w.
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 Mackay, who ended Swetman's fine innings of 41 with another great catch off Benaud. Harvey also accounted for Jim Laker
Jim Laker
James "Jim" Charles Laker was a cricketer who played for England in the 1950s, known for "Laker's match" in 1956 at Old Trafford, when he took nineteen wickets in England's victory against Australia...
when he knocked the ball up into the air on the first attempt and ran five yards to catch it. Seeing the end was near Fred Trueman
Fred Trueman
Frederick Sewards Trueman OBE was an English cricketer, generally acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers in history. A bowler of genuinely fast pace who was widely known as Fiery Fred, Trueman played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1949 until he retired in 1968...
scattered the close fielders with a few powerful strokes and heaved the ball into the stands, but he was caught by Burke off Benaud to give the Australian captain 5/83 and England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
were out for 219. The first day was watched by John Mills
John Mills
Sir John Mills CBE , born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills, was an English actor who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades.-Life and career:...
and Trevor Howard
Trevor Howard
Trevor Howard , born Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith, was an English film, stage and television actor.-Early life:...
, who were acting in Australia at the time. Howard compared the England collapse to the final act of the play he was in, saying "Hamlett was never like this".
Australia - First Innings
There was time for three overs before the end of the day, but Roy SwetmanRoy Swetman
Roy Swetman is an English former cricketer, who played in eleven Tests as a wicket-keeper from 1959 to 1960.-Life and career:...
dropped Colin McDonald in the first over and Fred Trueman
Fred Trueman
Frederick Sewards Trueman OBE was an English cricketer, generally acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers in history. A bowler of genuinely fast pace who was widely known as Fiery Fred, Trueman played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1949 until he retired in 1968...
was not best pleased, "getting a wicket in my first over is always a great motivator, and seeing a decent chance put down annoyed me". He bowled again on the Monday morning after a long dry Sunday and Jim Burke
Jim Burke (cricketer)
James Wallace Burke was an Australian cricketer who played in 24 Tests from 1951 to 1959.- Early years :...
edged another chance off Trueman which a diving Swetman just reached, but he was unable to hold onto it. The Yorkshire fast bowler also got edges off Burke in the untenanted lep-slip area and McDonald just wide of the wicket-keeper. With the wicket made for spin and the pacemen getting nowhere May brought on Jim Laker
Jim Laker
James "Jim" Charles Laker was a cricketer who played for England in the 1950s, known for "Laker's match" in 1956 at Old Trafford, when he took nineteen wickets in England's victory against Australia...
(5/107) and Tony Lock
Tony Lock
Graham Anthony Richard Lock was an English cricketer, who played primarily as a left-arm spinner. He played in forty nine Tests for England taking 174 wickets at 25.58 each.-Life and career:...
(4/130). McDonald and Burke started walking down the pitch, sometimes even before Laker delivered the ball, but Burke edged a catch to Lock at short fine-leg to end their opening partnership on 26. Laker and Lock varied their bowling with flight and changes of pace and Lock moved from bowling round to over the wicket as when he saw that he could make the ball turn. Neil Harvey
Neil Harvey
Robert Neil Harvey MBE is a former Australian cricketer who represented the Australian cricket team between 1948 and 1963, playing in 79 Test matches. He was the vice-captain of the team from 1957 until his retirement...
was worried by Laker using the rough and was with him stranded on a front foot stroke when a ball pitched middle-and-leg took out his off stump. McDonald was still moving down the wicket when he missed only for Swetamn to fumble the stumping. Norm O'Neill
Norm O'Neill
Norman Clifford O'Neill OAM was an cricketer who played for New South Wales and Australia. A right-handed batsman known for his back foot strokeplay, O'Neill made his state debut aged 18, before progressing to Test selection aged 21 in late 1958...
decided to drive firmly and one powerful stroke went past Tom Graveney
Tom Graveney
Thomas 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...
just 10 yards away who got hand to the ball, but failed to take a difficult catch. None of these chances were easy, but Australia had been able to make then stick in the England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
innings and it would cost the tourists as O'Neill settled down to make 77. May switched the bowlers' ends using Statham, who O'Neill edged twice through vacant second slip to the boundary, but the change produced a wicket when Graveney dived forward to take McDonald off Lock. This brought the opener Les Favell
Les Favell
Leslie Ernest Favell was an Australian cricketer who played in 19 Tests from 1954 to 1961. He was a strong batsman who liked to hit the ball around the ground and was a much loved character...
to the crease at 87/3 and after surviving several loud l.b.w.
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...
appeals began to cut the spinners to the boundary and reached 50 before stumps in an unbeaten stand of 99. Laker's arthritic bowling finger hurt so much that he couldn't sleep, but after they brought up their century stand Australia was Lakered and Locked on the Tuesday morning, Cowdrey taking a catch off Lock for Favell and Swetman off Laker for O'Neill, Benaud was bowled by Laker trying to hit him out of the ground and they were 208/6. This brought "Slasher" Mackay
Ken Mackay
Kenneth Donald Mackay was an Australian cricketer who played in 37 Tests from 1956 to 1963....
and Alan Davidson
Alan Davidson (cricketer)
Alan Keith Davidson, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer of the 1950s and 1960s. He was an all rounder: a hard-hitting lower-order left-handed batsman, and an outstanding left-arm fast-medium opening bowler...
together and England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
needed their wickets quickly to even the first innings score. Davdison repeatedly edged the ball just off his stumps and was lucky to survive, but May kept the spinners working for an hour after the new ball was due, but with no wickets forthcoming Trueman and Statham came back into the attack. There was little life in the pitch, Swetman taking the ball about his knees, and no or little swing. The heat in Sydney reached 100 °F/38 °C and Fred Trueman
Fred Trueman
Frederick Sewards Trueman OBE was an English cricketer, generally acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers in history. A bowler of genuinely fast pace who was widely known as Fiery Fred, Trueman played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1949 until he retired in 1968...
was sweltering in the outfield when a man on 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...
shouted "Fred, you look in need of a beer, mate" and gave him a can of Fosters
Foster's Lager
Foster's Lager is an internationally distributed Australian brand of 5.0% abv pale lager, It is a product of Foster's Group brewed under licence in several countries, including the U.S. and Russia...
to the delight of the crowd. When he returned after his next over he found twenty beer cans waiting in a line in front of the boundary fence. Davidson was playing a restrained innings instead of hitting the ball around the ground and Mackay foreswore his stonewalling to hit boundaries, so they ended up keeping pace with each other. May brought back his spinners and as the score passed 300/6 used Bailey for the first time, though like the others he found little swing. The seventh wicket finally came when Trueman (1/46) was back for a short spell when there were clouds about and bowled Mackay (57) with a swinging yorker on 323/7 - a stand of 115. Davidson was in trouble for ten minutes, but finally went leg before to Lock for 71. With the last recognised batsman dismissed on 353/8 the innings was wrapped up for 357, a lead of 139.
England - Second Innings
There was time for one over before the end of play and Bailey and Milton survived on 1/0. Richie BenaudRichie Benaud
Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....
set a very aggressive field, himself just three yards from Bailey, close enough to be hit by the bat, and was asked not to move as the Meckiff came in to bowl in case he distracted the batsman. Meckiff did not bowl for long as he bruised his Achilles tendon
Achilles tendon
The Achilles tendon , also known as the calcaneal tendon or the tendo calcaneus, is a tendon of the posterior leg. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius and soleus muscles to the calcaneus bone.- Anatomy :The Achilles is the tendonous extension of 3 muscles in the lower leg:...
and retired from the field. Milton and Bailey held out for an hour and saw off the fast bowlers, before Milton edged a Benaud googly
Googly
In cricket, a googly is a type of delivery bowled by a right-arm leg spin bowler. It is occasionally referred to as a Bosie , an eponym in honour of its inventor Bernard Bosanquet.- Explanation :...
to Davidson and Bailey, after sweeping Slater to the boundary tried to sweep Benaud and was caught by Bobby Simpson
Bob Simpson (cricketer)
Robert Baddeley Simpson AO is a former cricketer who played for New South Wales, Western Australia and Australia, captaining the national team from 1963–64 until 1967–68, and again in 1977–78. He later had a highly successful term as the coach of the Australian team...
, who had come on for Meckiff, and England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
were 37/2. Graveney was playing consistently into the twenties and thirties and was out for 22 when he missed a full toss from Davidson and was l.b.w.
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...
. May had been playing and missing several times in a row going for shots and looked vulnerable, but at 64/3 he was joined by Cowdrey for another heroic partnership. Benaud was still crowding the batsmen with close fielders and Cowdrey began to stroke powerfully to drive them away. May called for a new bat and Peter Richardson
Peter Richardson (cricketer)
Peter Edward Richardson is an English former cricketer, who played for Worcestershire, Kent and, in thirty four Tests, for England....
brought out three; a barracker shouting "Peter, you haven't got one there wide enough!" The new bat appeared to solve his problems as May found his touch and they added 92 runs between lunch and tea. After tea they passed the deficit and Benaud became very defensive for the only prolonged period in the series, bowling only ten overs of negative leg theory
Leg theory
Leg theory is a bowling tactic in the sport of cricket. The term leg theory is somewhat archaic and seldom used any more, but the basic tactic still plays a part in modern cricket....
. 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...
thought Benaud was worried about being Lakered and Locked on the sixth and final day, but 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...
called it "tossing in the towel" Benaud rested Davidson the next morning after he opened the bowling and gave him the new ball with Keith Slater
Keith Slater
Keith Nichol Slater is a former Western Australian and Australian cricketer and WAFL player....
's fast-medium pace bowling, but it barely swung or moved off the pitch and by lunch both batsmen were on 82 and the score 231/3. Slater looked outclassed in Test cricket and after lunch he was replaced by the part-time bowling of Jim Burke
Jim Burke (cricketer)
James Wallace Burke was an Australian cricketer who played in 24 Tests from 1951 to 1959.- Early years :...
, the worst of the Australian "chuckers" and to everyone's surprise he bowled May for 92 with a faster ball after a partnership of 182. Ted Dexter
Ted Dexter
Edward Ralph Dexter CBE is a former English cricketer...
came in, but Benaud returned to a more attacking mode and had him caught behind as he tried to play his strokes. Cowdrey now played out time as the next two batsmen fell cheaply, Swetman L.b.w.
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 Burke and Trueman stumped first ball off Benaud. After eighty minutes in the 90s Cowdrey reached his century, May declared on 287/7 and the game was saved.
Australia - Second Innings
Australia needed 151 runs in 100 minutes, but Benaud did not attempt it. Laker (2/10) was soon brought on and yorked Burke. May asked McDonald, who had pulled a hamstringHamstring
In human anatomy, the hamstring refers to any one of the three posterior thigh muscles, or to the tendons that make up the borders of the space behind the knee. In modern anatomical contexts, however, they usually refer to the posterior thigh muscles, or the tendons of the semitendinosus, the...
when playing the MCC for the Australian XI, if he wanted to retire, but as he was walking off the pitch Benaud sent out a runner and inisisted that he bat, but was bowled first ball. Harvey and O'Neill batted out time and Australia finished the game on 54/2
Result
EnglandEnglish cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
and Australia drew the match. England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
were happy that they had saved the Test, but their batting was still weak with only Graveney, May and Cowdrey capable of playing Benaud's leg-spin with any confidence. Trueman had bowled well without any luck and Laker and Lock had shown their spinning skills, but the English
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
fielding needed to be improved. Benaud was criticised for his defensive tactics, but said he had a job to do and 2-0 up was good for him and his team.
Fourth Test - Adelaide
RorkeGordon RorkeGordon Frederick Rorke is a former Australian cricketer who played in 4 Tests in 1959.Rorke made his Test debut in January 1959 in the Fourth Test of The Ashes series against England in Adelaide...
, who is six feet four inches, has a very short run which produces tremendous pace, and is another bowler whose action is subject to criticism. His delivery, to say the most, was unusual, and it was amazing to me that a bowler could generate so much pace from such a short run...he lands some four feet beyond the batting crease at the moment of delivery, with a tremendous drag, and it means he delivers the ball from some nineteen yards.
- Alec Bedser
Alec 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...
The Preliminaries
Keith Slater
Keith Nichol Slater is a former Western Australian and Australian cricketer and WAFL player....
and replaced him with the veteran fast bowler 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...
after an absence of 18 months. Although now 37 he had been training hard and had bowled well, having taken 7/73 against the MCC. With 212 Test wickets Lindwall was the second greatest Australian wicket taker after 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,...
(216) and he was determined to beat the record. Ian Meckiff
Ian Meckiff
Ian Meckiff is a former cricketer who represented Australia in 18 Tests between 1957 and 1963...
had bruised his Achilles tendon
Achilles tendon
The Achilles tendon , also known as the calcaneal tendon or the tendo calcaneus, is a tendon of the posterior leg. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius and soleus muscles to the calcaneus bone.- Anatomy :The Achilles is the tendonous extension of 3 muscles in the lower leg:...
at Sydney and was unfit to play, but any joy the England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
camp may have felt was reduced when they debuted the 6 inch "Blonde Giant" Gordon Rorke
Gordon Rorke
Gordon Frederick Rorke is a former Australian cricketer who played in 4 Tests in 1959.Rorke made his Test debut in January 1959 in the Fourth Test of The Ashes series against England in Adelaide...
after he had taken 6/58 against Queensland
Queensland Bulls
The Queensland cricket team, nicknamed the Bulls, are the Brisbane-based Queensland representative cricket team in Australia's domestic cricket tournaments:*Sheffield Shield, 4-day matches with first-class status, since the 1926/27 season...
and 4/57 in the recent tour match. Incidentally, Rorke was the only Australian tailender as the other ten players were First Class cricket centurions. For England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
; Peter Richardson
Peter Richardson (cricketer)
Peter Edward Richardson is an English former cricketer, who played for Worcestershire, Kent and, in thirty four Tests, for England....
returned to open the batting with Trevor Bailey
Trevor Bailey
Trevor Edward Bailey CBE was an England Test cricketer, cricket writer and broadcaster.An all-rounder, Bailey was known for his skilful but unspectacular batting...
because Arthur Milton
Arthur Milton
Clement Arthur Milton was an English cricketer and footballer. He played County cricket for Gloucestershire from 1948 to 1974, playing six Test matches for England in 1958 and 1959. He also played domestic football for Arsenal between 1951 and 1955, and then for a brief period for Bristol City...
had re-fractured his broken finger and Raman Subba Row
Raman Subba Row
Raman Subba Row is an English former cricketer who played for England, Cambridge University, Surrey and Northamptonshire.-Life and career:...
still had a damaged wrist. The alternative opener was Willie Watson
Willie Watson (England cricketer)
William "Willie" Watson, was an English cricketer, who played for Yorkshire, Leicestershire and England. He was a double international, as Watson was also a footballer who played for England's national team.-Cricket career:...
- who replaced Ted Dexter
Ted Dexter
Edward Ralph Dexter CBE is a former English cricketer...
- but he had made 141 batting at number 6 against 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...
and May wanted to keep him in the lower-middle order. Peter Loader
Peter Loader
Peter James Loader was an English cricketer and umpire, who played thirteen Test matches for England. He played for Surrey and Beddington Cricket Club. A whippet-thin fast bowler with a wide range of pace and a nasty bouncer, he took the first post-war Test hat-trick as part of his 6 for 36...
had a groin strain that had kept him out of the New South Wales
New South Wales Blues
The New South Wales cricket team are an Australian first class cricket team based in Sydney, New South Wales...
game, but the great shock was that the off-spinner Jim Laker
Jim Laker
James "Jim" Charles Laker was a cricketer who played for England in the 1950s, known for "Laker's match" in 1956 at Old Trafford, when he took nineteen wickets in England's victory against Australia...
, England's
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
best bowler, could not play because his arthritic spinning finger was immobile. As a result Frank Tyson
Frank Tyson
Frank 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...
was recalled after two years out of the team, having had taken 3/40 and 4/55 in the last two matches. 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...
replaced Roy Swetman
Roy Swetman
Roy Swetman is an English former cricketer, who played in eleven Tests as a wicket-keeper from 1959 to 1960.-Life and career:...
as wicket-keeper
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...
even though his broken middle finger had not fully mended as the young Surrey keeper had proved fallible behind the stumps. As a result May had four fast bowlers and only one spinner on a pitch that was traditionally a good batting surface with low bounce, though the 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...
game at Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
had seen a green, pacey wicket. This was the only Test in which the three great England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
fast bowlers of the 1950s Tyson, Trueman and Statham all played together. Mel McInnes
Mel McInnes
Melville James "Mel" McInnes was an Australian cricket Test match umpire.He umpired 16 Test matches between 1951 and 1959...
was umpire again, much to the annoyance of the England team as he had made mistakes in all his matches leading up to the Fourth Test. It should be noted that when the 1956 Australians asked for the great English umpire Frank Chester
Frank Chester
Frank Leslie Chester was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as a Liberal-Progressive from 1949 to 1953....
when an illness made his decisions erratic.
Australia - First Innings
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...
, Alan Davidson
Alan Davidson (cricketer)
Alan Keith Davidson, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer of the 1950s and 1960s. He was an all rounder: a hard-hitting lower-order left-handed batsman, and an outstanding left-arm fast-medium opening bowler...
and Gordon Rorke
Gordon Rorke
Gordon Frederick Rorke is a former Australian cricketer who played in 4 Tests in 1959.Rorke made his Test debut in January 1959 in the Fourth Test of The Ashes series against England in Adelaide...
on his fragile batting line up. Brian Statham
Brian Statham
John Brian "George" Statham, CBE was one of the leading English fast bowlers in 20th-century English cricket. Initially a bowler of a brisk fast-medium pace, Statham was able to remodel his action to generate enough speed to become genuinely fast...
got the first ball to nip back and almost hit McDonald's stump, and another went between Jim Burke
Jim Burke (cricketer)
James Wallace Burke was an Australian cricketer who played in 24 Tests from 1951 to 1959.- Early years :...
's bat and pad only to miss off stump. Tyson bowled a good spell for no luck as did Trueman when he was brought back on and the batsmen played and missed throughout the day. Just before lunch Burke deflected a ball off his glove to first slip, where Evans dived out to catch it, but Umpire McInnes
Mel McInnes
Melville James "Mel" McInnes was an Australian cricket Test match umpire.He umpired 16 Test matches between 1951 and 1959...
gave Burke (then on 24) not out. Burke fell later for 66, the only Australian wicket to fall on the first day, when he mis-cut a ball from Trevor Bailey
Trevor Bailey
Trevor Edward Bailey CBE was an England Test cricketer, cricket writer and broadcaster.An all-rounder, Bailey was known for his skilful but unspectacular batting...
to Colin Cowdrey
Colin Cowdrey
Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, CBE , better known as Colin Cowdrey, was the Captain of Oxford University, Kent County Cricket Club and the England cricket team in a career that lasted from 1950 to 1976...
in the gully. He had batted for over four hours in an opening partnership of 171 during which he made two boundaries. Neil Harvey
Neil Harvey
Robert Neil Harvey MBE is a former Australian cricketer who represented the Australian cricket team between 1948 and 1963, playing in 79 Test matches. He was the vice-captain of the team from 1957 until his retirement...
came in and at the end of the day hit Tony Lock
Tony Lock
Graham Anthony Richard Lock was an English cricketer, who played primarily as a left-arm spinner. He played in forty nine Tests for England taking 174 wickets at 25.58 each.-Life and career:...
for a long straight six towards Adelaide Cathedral
St Peter's Cathedral, Adelaide
St Peter's Cathedral is an Anglican Cathedral in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. It is the seat of the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Adelaide...
, the longest boundary in the world, and "directed our eyes to the towers and pinnacles". Harvey and McDonald saw stumps at 200/1 and carried their partnership to 268/1 when McDonald retired hurt after pulling a leg muscle. Harvey (41) was run out when he called for a second run and Brian Statham
Brian Statham
John Brian "George" Statham, CBE was one of the leading English fast bowlers in 20th-century English cricket. Initially a bowler of a brisk fast-medium pace, Statham was able to remodel his action to generate enough speed to become genuinely fast...
hitting the stumps. Statham (3/83) caused a small collapse to 294/4 (effectively 294/5) as he bowled Les Favell
Les Favell
Leslie Ernest Favell was an Australian cricketer who played in 19 Tests from 1954 to 1961. He was a strong batsman who liked to hit the ball around the ground and was a much loved character...
and had Ken Mackay
Ken Mackay
Kenneth Donald Mackay was an Australian cricketer who played in 37 Tests from 1956 to 1963....
caught by wicket-keeper
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...
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...
. McInnes took such a long time to give Ken Mackay
Ken Mackay
Kenneth Donald Mackay was an Australian cricketer who played in 37 Tests from 1956 to 1963....
out when he snicked the ball to Evans, and in the end Mackay walked back to the pavilion, this was almost unheard of in Australia at the time and the crowd applauded his sportsmanship. Norm O'Neill
Norm O'Neill
Norman Clifford O'Neill OAM was an cricketer who played for New South Wales and Australia. A right-handed batsman known for his back foot strokeplay, O'Neill made his state debut aged 18, before progressing to Test selection aged 21 in late 1958...
(56) was playing well and one terrific pull smacked into the boundary fence before any fielder could move and added 75 with Richie Benaud
Richie Benaud
Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....
who hit 7 fours in his 46, including a powerful hook off Trueman (4/90). The Yorkshireman never gave up and dismissed Benaud, Lindwall and Grout as the innings continued into the third day. McDonald returned at 407/7 with Burke as his runner and should have been run out when Trueman flattened the stumps when Burke ran round the back of McInnes and was out by yards. McInnes indicated that he was out then said not out as he could not see whether Burke had reached the crease in time. McDonald and Burke were walking to the pavilion when they were called back and Mcdonald was so annoyed that he told Fred to bowl straight and pulled away his bat to expose his stumps and gave the fast bowler "the easiest Test wicket I have ever taken". 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...
opener had batted for seven hours and seven minutes for 170, his highest Test century and the highest score of the series. Alan Davidson
Alan Davidson (cricketer)
Alan Keith Davidson, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer of the 1950s and 1960s. He was an all rounder: a hard-hitting lower-order left-handed batsman, and an outstanding left-arm fast-medium opening bowler...
hit 43 before he became the Tyson's only wicket, caught by Bailey two feet off the ground at short-leg, a poor reward for his untiring efforts with the ball and the outfield. Evans' unhealed finger broke again, but he continued to keep wicket on the second day and raised everybody's spirits with his chirpy optimism. He was replaced after the rest day by Tom Graveney
Tom Graveney
Thomas 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...
, a part-time keeper for Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Gloucestershire. Its limited overs team is called the Gloucestershire Gladiators....
who had played the part before at Old Trafford against South Africa in 1955. Australia's 476 was the highest innings of the series and virtually won 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...
by protecting their 2-0 lead.
England - First Innings
At the end of the Australian innings the temperature dropped and a breeze came up which helped the Australian bowlers Alan DavidsonAlan Davidson (cricketer)
Alan Keith Davidson, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer of the 1950s and 1960s. He was an all rounder: a hard-hitting lower-order left-handed batsman, and an outstanding left-arm fast-medium opening bowler...
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...
with their swing. Peter Richardson
Peter Richardson (cricketer)
Peter Edward Richardson is an English former cricketer, who played for Worcestershire, Kent and, in thirty four Tests, for England....
and Trevor Bailey
Trevor Bailey
Trevor Edward Bailey CBE was an England Test cricketer, cricket writer and broadcaster.An all-rounder, Bailey was known for his skilful but unspectacular batting...
were soon out and at 11/2 Peter May
Peter May
-External links:* * at Cricket Archive*...
(37), promoted to number 3 to protect the other batsmen, and Colin Cowdrey
Colin Cowdrey
Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, CBE , better known as Colin Cowdrey, was the Captain of Oxford University, Kent County Cricket Club and the England cricket team in a career that lasted from 1950 to 1976...
(84) were back at the crease. They attacked the bowling with finely tuned strokes and with Graveney (41) took England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
to 170/3, May was bowled by Richie Benaud
Richie Benaud
Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....
(5/91) when he tried to hit him for six. On the fourth day England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
collapsed to 188/9, Gordon Rorke
Gordon Rorke
Gordon Frederick Rorke is a former Australian cricketer who played in 4 Tests in 1959.Rorke made his Test debut in January 1959 in the Fourth Test of The Ashes series against England in Adelaide...
(3/23) starting the rot by bowling Cowdrey, who edged the ball onto his stumps, and having Graveney caught by Benaud despite the ball coming off the bat at high speed. Tom Graveney
Tom Graveney
Thomas 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...
recalled "I had a personal experience of Richie's
Richie Benaud
Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....
tactical genius...he held up play while he moved the short leg round a couple of yards. It interrupted my flow because I was forced to wonder why he had done it and whether I should be expecting a new direction from the bowler. This was exactly the reaction that Richie had wanted. There was no reason for the move other than to apply psychological pressure. He was a master at upsetting the concentration of batsman and reach their subconscious" Benaud then dismissed Trueman, Lock, Tyson and Evans, two caught by Wally Grout
Wally Grout
Arthur Theodore Wallace Grout was a Test cricketer who kept wicket for Australia and Queensland.Grout played in 51 Test matches between 1957 and 1966...
, one by Burke and the other by the bowler himself. England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
were 89 runs short of saving the follow on, but Willie Watson
Willie Watson (England cricketer)
William "Willie" Watson, was an English cricketer, who played for Yorkshire, Leicestershire and England. He was a double international, as Watson was also a footballer who played for England's national team.-Cricket career:...
and Brian Statham
Brian Statham
John Brian "George" Statham, CBE was one of the leading English fast bowlers in 20th-century English cricket. Initially a bowler of a brisk fast-medium pace, Statham was able to remodel his action to generate enough speed to become genuinely fast...
stayed at the crease for 70 minutes. Statham, who batted left-handed, hit 6 fours in a new highest Test score of 36 not out. Lindwall was given the new ball, but could only shave the stumps as Statham hit out. Davidson tripped in one of Trueman's foot marks and had to retire from the field. In the end Rorke bowled Watson to end the 52 run last wicket stand 37 runs short of their target. Rorke on debut returned figures of 18.1-7-23-3, his low economy due to his large number of almost wides and high pace and in one three over spell only one ball could have been played.
England - Second Innings
As the teams returned up the pavilion steps Sir Donald Bradman called Richie BenaudRichie Benaud
Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....
to one side and reminded him that England's
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
only chance of retaining 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...
was it they were forced to follow on and made a lot of runs. Benaud agreed with him, but excused himself as he had to go and tell Peter May
Peter May
-External links:* * at Cricket Archive*...
that he was going to bat again. When he reached the England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
dressing room he consoled May with what Sir Donald had said. This now repeated by cricket commentators when a Test side in this situation must win, notably when Allan Border
Allan Border
Allan Robert Border AO is a former Australian cricketer. A batsman, Border was for many years the captain of the Australian team. His playing nickname was "A.B.". He played 156 Test matches in his career, a record until it was passed by fellow Australian Steve Waugh...
's Australians followed on 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 1985. Watson (40) returned with Richardson (43) and together they saw off the new ball to end the day on 43/0, and produced the highest England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
opening stand of the series, staying for almost three hours and adding 89. Davidson could not bowl after his injury, Rorke opened the bowling with Lindwall and Benaud had to bowl himself for a spell of four hours. The partnership ended when Watson pulled a full toss from the captain and Les Favell
Les Favell
Leslie Ernest Favell was an Australian cricketer who played in 19 Tests from 1954 to 1961. He was a strong batsman who liked to hit the ball around the ground and was a much loved character...
ran in to take the catch on the boundary. Richardson fell to Benaud (4/84) padding up against a ball that didn't move having survived a l.b.w.
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...
appeal the ball before. May (59) and Graveney looked set for big scores, and the England captain struck Benaud for three successive fours before he was leg before by a torpedo from Rorke (2/78). Bailey was caught by Grout off Lindwall (2/70) on the last ball of the day, though he and Graveney thought the ball had come off the top of his pad. At 198/5 England's
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
cause looked lost and Graveney could only look on as the lower order collapsed before him. Lock (9) stayed in for an hour as did Tyson, who made 33 in a stand of 46, but the other three tailenders only lasted 20 minutes and Graveney ended with 53 not out, having batted for over five hours. England's
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
total of 270 put them only 34 runs ahead.
Australia - Second Innings
Les FavellLes Favell
Leslie Ernest Favell was an Australian cricketer who played in 19 Tests from 1954 to 1961. He was a strong batsman who liked to hit the ball around the ground and was a much loved character...
came into open the innings and hit the winning runs on his home ground as he and Burke made the 36/0 required.
Result
Australia won the Test by 10 wickets, the series 3-0 and regained 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...
lost in 1953.
Congratulations to Australia, they were the better team...I felt that with LakerJim LakerJames "Jim" Charles Laker was a cricketer who played for England in the 1950s, known for "Laker's match" in 1956 at Old Trafford, when he took nineteen wickets in England's victory against Australia...
not fit we had to gamble on the first morning. I thought this was the best way to win the match, but it did not come off. Richie BenaudRichie BenaudRichard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....
has a fine team; he inspired them in the field and the team brought off some wonderful catches, and generally I thought Australia's out-cricket was some of the best I have seen. We never got the starts we would have liked and injuries on the tour generally affected the batting, but I have no excuses to offer.
- Peter May
Peter May-External links:* * at Cricket Archive*...
Fifth Test - Melbourne
And so Australia won the match by a very convincing margin of none wickets and put the finishing touches to the biggest defeat Englad had suffered in a Test series for some time. It was the first time in forty-seven years that the captain on winning the tos had sent in the opposition and won a Test match in the England-Australia seriesThe AshesThe 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...
. Australian had EnglandEnglish cricket team in Australia in 1958-59Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
on the run from the moment BenaudRichie BenaudRichard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....
maintained an aggressive approach to the game, as well he might, being so much on top during the series.
- Alec Bedser
Alec 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...
The Preliminaries
In the 1950-51 Ashes series the MCCMarylebone 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...
tour manager Freddie Brown arrived at Melbourne for the Fifth and final Test having lost the series 4-0, but won the match and won a great ovation from the Australian crowd who admired his fighting spirit throughout the series. He now arrived with Peter May
Peter May
-External links:* * at Cricket Archive*...
's team hoping to do the same and the players were keen to salvage something from the series. Arthur Milton
Arthur Milton
Clement Arthur Milton was an English cricketer and footballer. He played County cricket for Gloucestershire from 1948 to 1974, playing six Test matches for England in 1958 and 1959. He also played domestic football for Arsenal between 1951 and 1955, and then for a brief period for Bristol City...
was sent home with his broken finger, Brian Statham
Brian Statham
John Brian "George" Statham, CBE was one of the leading English fast bowlers in 20th-century English cricket. Initially a bowler of a brisk fast-medium pace, Statham was able to remodel his action to generate enough speed to become genuinely fast...
and Peter Loader
Peter Loader
Peter James Loader was an English cricketer and umpire, who played thirteen Test matches for England. He played for Surrey and Beddington Cricket Club. A whippet-thin fast bowler with a wide range of pace and a nasty bouncer, he took the first post-war Test hat-trick as part of his 6 for 36...
had been injured in a car accident when their tyre blew, 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...
was still recovering from his broken finger and Willie Watson
Willie Watson (England cricketer)
William "Willie" Watson, was an English cricketer, who played for Yorkshire, Leicestershire and England. He was a double international, as Watson was also a footballer who played for England's national team.-Cricket career:...
suffered a groin
Adductor muscles of the hip
In human anatomy, the adductor muscles of the hip is a group of muscles of the thigh.-Muscles:The adductor group is made up of:*Adductor brevis*Adductor longus*Adductor magnus*Adductor minimus This is often considered to be a part of adductor magnus....
strain bowling in the nets. This reduced the touring team to 13 fit players, but Jim Laker
Jim Laker
James "Jim" Charles Laker was a cricketer who played for England in the 1950s, known for "Laker's match" in 1956 at Old Trafford, when he took nineteen wickets in England's victory against Australia...
was ready to play and returned to the team with Ted Dexter
Ted Dexter
Edward Ralph Dexter CBE is a former English cricketer...
and Roy Swetman
Roy Swetman
Roy Swetman is an English former cricketer, who played in eleven Tests as a wicket-keeper from 1959 to 1960.-Life and career:...
. Tony Lock
Tony Lock
Graham Anthony Richard Lock was an English cricketer, who played primarily as a left-arm spinner. He played in forty nine Tests for England taking 174 wickets at 25.58 each.-Life and career:...
's 5 wickets had cost 75.20 and was dropped in favour of debutant off-spinner John Mortimore
John Mortimore (cricketer)
John Brian Mortimore is a former English cricketer, who played in nine Tests for England from 1959 to 1964, and captained Gloucestershire between 1965 and 1967....
. This was a surprise for the Australians, but even more so to Lock, who heard the news on the radio. The home team dropped batsman Les Favell
Les Favell
Leslie Ernest Favell was an Australian cricketer who played in 19 Tests from 1954 to 1961. He was a strong batsman who liked to hit the ball around the ground and was a much loved character...
in favour of the fast bowler Ian Meckiff
Ian Meckiff
Ian Meckiff is a former cricketer who represented Australia in 18 Tests between 1957 and 1963...
whose bruised foot had healed. Mel McInnes
Mel McInnes
Melville James "Mel" McInnes was an Australian cricket Test match umpire.He umpired 16 Test matches between 1951 and 1959...
was replaced as umpire by Les Townsend
Les Townsend
Leslie Hyde Townsend was an Australian cricket Test match umpire....
in his only Test as umpire.
England - First Innings
For the first time in the series Richie BenaudRichie Benaud
Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....
won the toss and took the unusual step of putting England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
into bat, but he had four fast bowlers in his team and wanted to use them in the humid, swinging conditions. In the second over 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...
's first ball swung away and Trevor Bailey
Trevor Bailey
Trevor Edward Bailey CBE was an England Test cricketer, cricket writer and broadcaster.An all-rounder, Bailey was known for his skilful but unspectacular batting...
was caught first ball by Alan Davidson
Alan Davidson (cricketer)
Alan Keith Davidson, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer of the 1950s and 1960s. He was an all rounder: a hard-hitting lower-order left-handed batsman, and an outstanding left-arm fast-medium opening bowler...
in third slip to give him his 216th Test wicket and equal 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,...
's Australian record. Just before the Test Bailey had given a talk to the inmates of HMP Pentridge
HM Prison Pentridge
HM Prison Pentridge was an Australian prison built in 1850 in Coburg, Victoria. The first prisoners arrived in 1851. The prison officially closed on 1 May 1997....
and had been asked if he had ever been out first ball in a Test match. He said he had not, but retained his sense of humour as he ordered roast duck for dinner after his dismissal. Peter May
Peter May
-External links:* * at Cricket Archive*...
fell to Meckiff and England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
were 13/2, but Peter Richardson
Peter Richardson (cricketer)
Peter Edward Richardson is an English former cricketer, who played for Worcestershire, Kent and, in thirty four Tests, for England....
made a dogged 68 by forgoing his favourate deflections through the slips which had cost his wicket so many times. He added 48 with Colin Cowdrey
Colin Cowdrey
Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, CBE , better known as Colin Cowdrey, was the Captain of Oxford University, Kent County Cricket Club and the England cricket team in a career that lasted from 1950 to 1976...
(22) and 48 again with Tom Graveney
Tom Graveney
Thomas 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...
(19), taking the score to 109/3. Tom Graveney
Tom Graveney
Thomas 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...
was dismissed by Benaud; "I remember him getting me out in the 1958-59 Melbourne Test by attacking my leg stump. He bowled me two half-volleys, the first of which I drove hard to Colin McDonald at mid-on. The second was just a fraction slower, and I was committed to the stroke before I spotted it. McDonald held the catch and the critics put it down to another casual shot from Graveney. They did not seem to notice the crafty part that Benaud had played in my dismissal". Ted Dexter
Ted Dexter
Edward Ralph Dexter CBE is a former English cricketer...
was out first ball to Meckiff (2/57), Roy Swetman
Roy Swetman
Roy Swetman is an English former cricketer, who played in eleven Tests as a wicket-keeper from 1959 to 1960.-Life and career:...
for 1 off Davidson and Richardson was caught and bowled by Benaud to leave England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
128/7. Debutant John Mortimore
John Mortimore (cricketer)
John Brian Mortimore is a former English cricketer, who played in nine Tests for England from 1959 to 1964, and captained Gloucestershire between 1965 and 1967....
showed his all round skills with an unbeaten 44, adding 63 with Fred Trueman
Fred Trueman
Frederick Sewards Trueman OBE was an English cricketer, generally acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers in history. A bowler of genuinely fast pace who was widely known as Fiery Fred, Trueman played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1949 until he retired in 1968...
(21) before Benaud (4/43) and Davidson (3/38) finished off the innings for 205 early on the second day.
Australia - First Innings
The pitch still had some life when Fred TruemanFred Trueman
Frederick Sewards Trueman OBE was an English cricketer, generally acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers in history. A bowler of genuinely fast pace who was widely known as Fiery Fred, Trueman played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1949 until he retired in 1968...
and Frank Tyson
Frank Tyson
Frank 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...
opened the bowling, and Trueman was able to swing the ball. When Colin McDonald was on 12 he found one of his bails had fallen off his stumps, but an appeal for hit wicket
Hit wicket
Hit wicket is a method of dismissal in the sport of cricket. This method of dismissal is governed by Law 35 of the laws of cricket. The striker is out "hit wicket" if, after the bowler has entered his delivery stride and while the ball is in play, his wicket is put down by his bat or his person...
was disallowed, though McDonald later thought that he must have hit the stumps when starting for a run. He also gave a catch to John Mortimore
John Mortimore (cricketer)
John Brian Mortimore is a former English cricketer, who played in nine Tests for England from 1959 to 1964, and captained Gloucestershire between 1965 and 1967....
at short-leg, but the fieldman slipped on the wet ground and missed it. Jim Burke
Jim Burke (cricketer)
James Wallace Burke was an Australian cricketer who played in 24 Tests from 1951 to 1959.- Early years :...
showed a marked dislike to the short-pitched bowling and both bowlers exploited this until he lobbed a catch to Trueman off a Tyson bouncer. Jim Laker
Jim Laker
James "Jim" Charles Laker was a cricketer who played for England in the 1950s, known for "Laker's match" in 1956 at Old Trafford, when he took nineteen wickets in England's victory against Australia...
had a temperature and sore throat, but came on to bowl with Mortimore, but neither off-spinner could get the ball to turn like Benaud's wrist spin
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...
, which usually had an advantage in Australia. McDonald was now comfortable and was using his favourite cut stroke to make runs, but Neil Harvey
Neil Harvey
Robert Neil Harvey MBE is a former Australian cricketer who represented the Australian cricket team between 1948 and 1963, playing in 79 Test matches. He was the vice-captain of the team from 1957 until his retirement...
was not comfortable against the faster bowling and Trueman had him caught by Roy Swetman
Roy Swetman
Roy Swetman is an English former cricketer, who played in eleven Tests as a wicket-keeper from 1959 to 1960.-Life and career:...
off a beautiful out-swinger. Norm O'Neill
Norm O'Neill
Norman Clifford O'Neill OAM was an cricketer who played for New South Wales and Australia. A right-handed batsman known for his back foot strokeplay, O'Neill made his state debut aged 18, before progressing to Test selection aged 21 in late 1958...
came in to bat and on "a good day for batting and with an appreciative crowd in attendance I felt like a million", but was caught by Colin Cowdrey
Colin Cowdrey
Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, CBE , better known as Colin Cowdrey, was the Captain of Oxford University, Kent County Cricket Club and the England cricket team in a career that lasted from 1950 to 1976...
in the gully
Slip (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a slip fielder is placed behind the batsman on the off side of the field. They are placed with the aim of catching an edged ball which is beyond the wicket-keeper's reach. Many teams employ two or three slips...
off Fred Trueman
Fred Trueman
Frederick Sewards Trueman OBE was an English cricketer, generally acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers in history. A bowler of genuinely fast pace who was widely known as Fiery Fred, Trueman played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1949 until he retired in 1968...
for a first ball duck. Four years later in the Second Test on the same ground he was dismissed in exactly the same manner for another first ball duck. This left Australian 83/3, but McDonald (133) added 71 with Ken Mackay
Ken Mackay
Kenneth Donald Mackay was an Australian cricketer who played in 37 Tests from 1956 to 1963....
(23) and 53 with Alan Davidson
Alan Davidson (cricketer)
Alan Keith Davidson, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer of the 1950s and 1960s. He was an all rounder: a hard-hitting lower-order left-handed batsman, and an outstanding left-arm fast-medium opening bowler...
(17), who was bowled for Mortimore's first Test wicket. McDonald fell to Laker (4/92) at 209/6 and England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
were still in the game. "Slasher" Mackay batted for two hours to reach 22 and was given a slow hand clap by the impatient crowd of 50,000. Richie Benaud
Richie Benaud
Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....
(64) and Wally Grout
Wally Grout
Arthur Theodore Wallace Grout was a Test cricketer who kept wicket for Australia and Queensland.Grout played in 51 Test matches between 1957 and 1966...
(74, his highest Test score) hastened the scoring rate, made 115 and for the only time in the series a hundred runs was made in a session as they hooked away at the bowlers feeding them short balls. Laker got them both out in the end and Trueman was given the new ball as 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...
came to the crease. In 1953 Lindwall had hit Trueman with a wicked bouncer that "hit me so hard in the shoulder blade that I thought someone had stuck a carving knife in it". Trueman had sworn revenge, but had had to wait for five years. He got Lindwall out with a ball that ricocheted off his bat handle onto his forehead into the hands of Colin Cowdrey
Colin Cowdrey
Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, CBE , better known as Colin Cowdrey, was the Captain of Oxford University, Kent County Cricket Club and the England cricket team in a career that lasted from 1950 to 1976...
at slip. The Yorkshireman caught and bowled Meckiff and Swetman caught Benaud off Laker to finish the innings on 351, 146 runs ahead.
England - Second Innings
Benaud gave a suitably motivated Lindwall the new ball and he bowled as well as he ever had, making the ball swing more than the Englishmen and bowling Trevor BaileyTrevor Bailey
Trevor Edward Bailey CBE was an England Test cricketer, cricket writer and broadcaster.An all-rounder, Bailey was known for his skilful but unspectacular batting...
for a duck to record his record 217th Test wicket, the same batsman who had given him his 100th Ashes Test wicket four years before. Peter May
Peter May
-External links:* * at Cricket Archive*...
received a torrid over, playing and missing several times in a row before he edged the ball though the slips and then to Neil Harvey
Neil Harvey
Robert Neil Harvey MBE is a former Australian cricketer who represented the Australian cricket team between 1948 and 1963, playing in 79 Test matches. He was the vice-captain of the team from 1957 until his retirement...
. Lindall (3/37) was given a standing ovation as he left the field on the third day with England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
22/2. He chased down Trueman to complain about the bouncer who told him "I'd played bugger all in the way of cricket in that summer of '53, when I came up against you at the Oval. You bowled me a bouncer then, but I didn't squeal of moan about it". Lindwall said "Christ! You still remember that?...I made a promise to myself to buy you a beer after that Test but never got round to it. What says you keep me to that promise now?" and they went to the bar. Peter Richardson
Peter Richardson (cricketer)
Peter Edward Richardson is an English former cricketer, who played for Worcestershire, Kent and, in thirty four Tests, for England....
(23) held off the bowlers for over two hours and put on 66 with Colin Cowdrey
Colin Cowdrey
Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, CBE , better known as Colin Cowdrey, was the Captain of Oxford University, Kent County Cricket Club and the England cricket team in a career that lasted from 1950 to 1976...
who looked in fine form with seven boundaries in his 44. He was run out when he trotted in for an single, even though the unpire was unsighted by the wicket-keeper Wally Grout
Wally Grout
Arthur Theodore Wallace Grout was a Test cricketer who kept wicket for Australia and Queensland.Grout played in 51 Test matches between 1957 and 1966...
. Cowdrey took strike again unaware of his dismissal until he was asked to depart. Richie Benaud
Richie Benaud
Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....
had strained a muscle batting and Ian Meckiff
Ian Meckiff
Ian Meckiff is a former cricketer who represented Australia in 18 Tests between 1957 and 1963...
damaged his Achilles tendon
Achilles tendon
The Achilles tendon , also known as the calcaneal tendon or the tendo calcaneus, is a tendon of the posterior leg. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius and soleus muscles to the calcaneus bone.- Anatomy :The Achilles is the tendonous extension of 3 muscles in the lower leg:...
again so the bulk of the bowling fell to Alan Davidson
Alan Davidson (cricketer)
Alan Keith Davidson, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer of the 1950s and 1960s. He was an all rounder: a hard-hitting lower-order left-handed batsman, and an outstanding left-arm fast-medium opening bowler...
(2/95). Tom Graveney
Tom Graveney
Thomas 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...
made 54 and looked as good as ever, but he only got support from Trueman who tried to hit every ball and either pulled off a perfect stroke or missed completely in an entertaining 36. The young Gordon Rorke
Gordon Rorke
Gordon Frederick Rorke is a former Australian cricketer who played in 4 Tests in 1959.Rorke made his Test debut in January 1959 in the Fourth Test of The Ashes series against England in Adelaide...
(3/41) took the last three wickets and England
English cricket team in Australia in 1958-59
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958-59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great...
were out for 214.
Australian - Second Innings
Colin McDonald made most of the opportunity to make more runs with an unbeaten 51 out of 69/1, but Jim BurkeJim Burke (cricketer)
James Wallace Burke was an Australian cricketer who played in 24 Tests from 1951 to 1959.- Early years :...
was given a barrage of short balls until his missed a shooter from Frank Tyson
Frank Tyson
Frank 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...
(1/20) and was out l.b.w.
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...
for 13.
Result
Australian won by 9 wickets to complete their series win 4-0. It was the first time that a captain had put the opposition in to bat and won in an Ashes Test since Johnny DouglasJohnny Douglas
John "Johnny" William Henry Tyler Douglas was a cricketer who was captain of the England team and an Olympic boxer.-Early life:...
in the Fourth Test on the same Melbourne Cricket Ground
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 the 1911-12 Ashes series
English cricket team in Australia in 1911-12
The English cricket team in Australia in 1911–12 was led by Plum Warner, but Johnny Douglas took over the captaincy for all five Test matches when Warner fell ill early in the tour. Despite losing the first Test at Sydney, a side which included Jack Hobbs, Frank Woolley, Sydney Barnes and Wilfred...
.
1958-59 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. The Australians were all amateurs until the Packer RevolutionKerry 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.
| 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 |
| C.C. McDonald | Right-Handed 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 | 519 | 170 | 64.87 | 2 | 1 | 2 | ||
| N.C.L. O'Neill Norm O'Neill Norman Clifford O'Neill OAM was an cricketer who played for New South Wales and Australia. A right-handed batsman known for his back foot strokeplay, O'Neill made his state debut aged 18, before progressing to Test selection aged 21 in late 1958... |
Right-Handed 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 | 2 | 282 | 77 | 56.40 | 3 | 1 | |||
| Mortimore, J.B. John Mortimore (cricketer) John Brian Mortimore is a former English cricketer, who played in nine Tests for England from 1959 to 1964, and captained Gloucestershire between 1965 and 1967.... |
Right-Handed 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 | 1 | 55 | 44* 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... |
55.00 | |||||
| R.N. Harvey Neil Harvey Robert Neil Harvey MBE is a former Australian cricketer who represented the Australian cricket team between 1948 and 1963, playing in 79 Test matches. He was the vice-captain of the team from 1957 until his retirement... (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... |
Left-Handed 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 | 9 | 3 | 291 | 167 | 48.50 | 1 | 8 | |||
| M.C. Cowdrey Colin Cowdrey Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, CBE , better known as Colin Cowdrey, was the Captain of Oxford University, Kent County Cricket Club and the England cricket team in a career that lasted from 1950 to 1976... (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-Handed 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 | 391 | 100* 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... |
43.44 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| P.B.H. May Peter May -External links:* * at Cricket Archive*... (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-Handed 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 | 405 | 113 | 40.50 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||
| L.E. Favell Les Favell Leslie Ernest Favell was an Australian cricketer who played in 19 Tests from 1954 to 1961. He was a strong batsman who liked to hit the ball around the ground and was a much loved character... |
Right-Handed 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... |
2 | 3 | 1 | 73 | 54 | 36.50 | 1 | 1 | |||
| A.K. Davidson Alan Davidson (cricketer) Alan Keith Davidson, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer of the 1950s and 1960s. He was an all rounder: a hard-hitting lower-order left-handed batsman, and an outstanding left-arm fast-medium opening bowler... |
Left-Handed 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 | 5 | 180 | 71 | 36.00 | 1 | 7 | ||||
| Graveney, T.W. Tom Graveney Thomas 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... |
Right-Handed 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 | 280 | 54 | 31.11 | 2 | 5 | |||
| J.M. Burke Jim Burke (cricketer) James Wallace Burke was an Australian cricketer who played in 24 Tests from 1951 to 1959.- Early years :... |
Right-Handed 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 | 3 | 199 | 66 | 28.42 | 1 | 4 | |||
| R. Benaud Richie Benaud Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game.... (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-Handed 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 | 5 | 132 | 64 | 26.40 | 1 | 8 | ||||
| K.D. MacKay Ken Mackay Kenneth Donald Mackay was an Australian cricketer who played in 37 Tests from 1956 to 1963.... |
Left-Handed 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 | 5 | 118 | 57 | 23.60 | 1 | 3 | ||||
| P.E. Richardson Peter Richardson (cricketer) Peter Edward Richardson is an English former cricketer, who played for Worcestershire, Kent and, in thirty four Tests, for England.... |
Left-Handed 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 | 8 | 162 | 68 | 20.25 | 1 | |||||
| T.E. Bailey Trevor Bailey Trevor Edward Bailey CBE was an England Test cricketer, cricket writer and broadcaster.An all-rounder, Bailey was known for his skilful but unspectacular batting... |
Right-Handed 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 | 200 | 68 | 20.00 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| A.T.W. Grout Wally Grout Arthur Theodore Wallace Grout was a Test cricketer who kept wicket for Australia and Queensland.Grout played in 51 Test matches between 1957 and 1966... (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-Handed 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 | 6 | 119 | 74 | 19.83 | 1 | 17 | 3 | |||
| Watson, W. Willie Watson (England cricketer) William "Willie" Watson, was an English cricketer, who played for Yorkshire, Leicestershire and England. He was a double international, as Watson was also a footballer who played for England's national team.-Cricket career:... |
Left-Handed 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... |
2 | 4 | 72 | 40 | 18.00 | ||||||
| Statham, J.B. Brian Statham John Brian "George" Statham, CBE was one of the leading English fast bowlers in 20th-century English cricket. Initially a bowler of a brisk fast-medium pace, Statham was able to remodel his action to generate enough speed to become genuinely fast... |
Left-Handed 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 | 7 | 3 | 64 | 36* 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... |
16.00 | 2 | ||||
| Swetman, R. Roy Swetman Roy Swetman is an English former cricketer, who played in eleven Tests as a wicket-keeper from 1959 to 1960.-Life and career:... (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-Handed 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... |
2 | 4 | 56 | 41 | 14.00 | 3 | |||||
| Trueman, F.S. Fred Trueman Frederick Sewards Trueman OBE was an English cricketer, generally acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers in history. A bowler of genuinely fast pace who was widely known as Fiery Fred, Trueman played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1949 until he retired in 1968... |
Right-Handed 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 | 6 | 75 | 36 | 12.50 | 3 | |||||
| Laker, J.C. Jim Laker James "Jim" Charles Laker was a cricketer who played for England in the 1950s, known for "Laker's match" in 1956 at Old Trafford, when he took nineteen wickets in England's victory against Australia... |
Right-Handed 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 | 7 | 2 | 62 | 22* 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... |
12.40 | |||||
| Tyson, F.H. Frank Tyson Frank 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... |
Right-Handed 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 | 48 | 33 | 12.00 | ||||||
| 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-Handed 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... |
2 | 2 | 19 | 19 | 9.50 | 2 | |||||
| Milton, C.A. Arthur Milton Clement Arthur Milton was an English cricketer and footballer. He played County cricket for Gloucestershire from 1948 to 1974, playing six Test matches for England in 1958 and 1959. He also played domestic football for Arsenal between 1951 and 1955, and then for a brief period for Bristol City... |
Right-Handed 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... |
2 | 4 | 48 | 17 | 9.50 | 1 | |||||
| Lock, G.A.R. Tony Lock Graham Anthony Richard Lock was an English cricketer, who played primarily as a left-arm spinner. He played in forty nine Tests for England taking 174 wickets at 25.58 each.-Life and career:... |
Right-Handed 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 | 8 | 1 | 60 | 21 | 8.57 | 1 | ||||
| E.R. Dexter Ted Dexter Edward Ralph Dexter CBE is a former English cricketer... |
Right-Handed 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... |
2 | 4 | 18 | 11 | 4.50 | ||||||
| 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-Handed 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... |
3 | 6 | 27 | 11 | 4.50 | 5 | 1 | ||||
| Loader, P.J. Peter Loader Peter James Loader was an English cricketer and umpire, who played thirteen Test matches for England. He played for Surrey and Beddington Cricket Club. A whippet-thin fast bowler with a wide range of pace and a nasty bouncer, he took the first post-war Test hat-trick as part of his 6 for 36... |
Right-Handed 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 | 2 | 7 | 6* 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... |
3.50 | |||||
| I. Meckiff Ian Meckiff Ian Meckiff is a former cricketer who represented Australia in 18 Tests between 1957 and 1963... |
Right-Handed 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 | 4 | 9 | 5 | 2.50 | 1 | |||||
| P.J.P. Burge | Right-Handed 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 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2.00 | 1 | |||||
| R.B. Simpson Bob Simpson (cricketer) Robert Baddeley Simpson AO is a former cricketer who played for New South Wales, Western Australia and Australia, captaining the national team from 1963–64 until 1967–68, and again in 1977–78. He later had a highly successful term as the coach of the Australian team... |
Right-Handed 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 | 1 | 0.00 | ||||||||
| L.F. Kline Lindsay Kline Lindsay Francis Kline is former Australian and Victorian cricketer. He played in 13 Tests for Australia and 88 first-class matches between 1955/56 and 1961/1962... |
Left-Handed 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 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 4* 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... |
2 | |||||
| G.F. Rorke Gordon Rorke Gordon Frederick Rorke is a former Australian cricketer who played in 4 Tests in 1959.Rorke made his Test debut in January 1959 in the Fourth Test of The Ashes series against England in Adelaide... |
Left-Handed 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 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2* 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... |
||||||
| K.N. Slater Keith Slater Keith Nichol Slater is a former Western Australian and Australian cricketer and WAFL player.... |
Right-Handed 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... |
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1* 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 |
| I. Meckiff Ian Meckiff Ian Meckiff is a former cricketer who represented Australia in 18 Tests between 1957 and 1963... |
Left-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... |
111.2 | 24 | 292 | 17 | 6/38 | 17.17 | 1 | ||
| R. Benaud Richie Benaud Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game.... (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... |
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... |
233.2 | 65 | 584 | 31 | 5/83 | 18.83 | 2 | ||
| A.K. Davidson Alan Davidson (cricketer) Alan Keith Davidson, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer of the 1950s and 1960s. He was an all rounder: a hard-hitting lower-order left-handed batsman, and an outstanding left-arm fast-medium opening bowler... |
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... |
183.5 | 45 | 456 | 24 | 6/64 | 19.00 | 1 | ||
| G.F. Rorke Gordon Rorke Gordon Frederick Rorke is a former Australian cricketer who played in 4 Tests in 1959.Rorke made his Test debut in January 1959 in the Fourth Test of The Ashes series against England in Adelaide... |
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... |
70.5 | 17 | 165 | 8 | 3/23 | 20.62 | |||
| Laker, J.C. Jim Laker James "Jim" Charles Laker was a cricketer who played for England in the 1950s, known for "Laker's match" in 1956 at Old Trafford, when he took nineteen wickets in England's victory against Australia... |
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... |
127.6 | 24 | 318 | 15 | 5/107 | 21.20 | 1 | ||
| Statham, J.B. Brian Statham John Brian "George" Statham, CBE was one of the leading English fast bowlers in 20th-century English cricket. Initially a bowler of a brisk fast-medium pace, Statham was able to remodel his action to generate enough speed to become genuinely fast... |
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... |
104 | 12 | 286 | 12 | 7-57 | 23.83 | 1 | ||
| J.M. Burke Jim Burke (cricketer) James Wallace Burke was an Australian cricketer who played in 24 Tests from 1951 to 1959.- Early years :... |
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... |
25 | 10 | 49 | 2 | 2/26 | 24.50 | |||
| K.D. Mackay Ken Mackay Kenneth Donald Mackay was an Australian cricketer who played in 37 Tests from 1956 to 1963.... |
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... |
45 | 14 | 79 | 3 | 1/7 | 26.33 | |||
| Loader, P.J. Peter Loader Peter James Loader was an English cricketer and umpire, who played thirteen Test matches for England. He played for Surrey and Beddington Cricket Club. A whippet-thin fast bowler with a wide range of pace and a nasty bouncer, he took the first post-war Test hat-trick as part of his 6 for 36... |
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... |
60.2 | 10 | 193 | 7 | 4/56 | 27.57 | |||
| 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... |
66 | 10 | 209 | 7 | 3/37 | 29.85 | |||
| Trueman, F.S. Fred Trueman Frederick Sewards Trueman OBE was an English cricketer, generally acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers in history. A bowler of genuinely fast pace who was widely known as Fiery Fred, Trueman played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1949 until he retired in 1968... |
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... |
87 | 11 | 276 | 9 | 4/90 | 30.66 | |||
| Mortimore, J.B. John Mortimore (cricketer) John Brian Mortimore is a former English cricketer, who played in nine Tests for England from 1959 to 1964, and captained Gloucestershire between 1965 and 1967.... |
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... |
11 | 1 | 41 | 1 | 1/41 | 41.00 | |||
| K.N. Slater Keith Slater Keith Nichol Slater is a former Western Australian and Australian cricketer and WAFL player.... |
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... 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... |
32 | 9 | 101 | 2 | 2/40 | 50.50 | |||
| Tyson, F.H. Frank Tyson Frank 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... |
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... |
54 | 2 | 193 | 3 | 1/20 | 64.33 | |||
| T.E. Bailey Trevor Bailey Trevor Edward Bailey CBE was an England Test cricketer, cricket writer and broadcaster.An all-rounder, Bailey was known for his skilful but unspectacular batting... |
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... |
75 | 7 | 259 | 4 | 3/35 | 64.75 | |||
| Lock, G.A.R. Tony Lock Graham Anthony Richard Lock was an English cricketer, who played primarily as a left-arm spinner. He played in forty nine Tests for England taking 174 wickets at 25.58 each.-Life and career:... |
Slow Left Arm Bowler Left-arm orthodox spin Left-arm orthodox spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket.Left-arm orthodox spin is bowled by a left arm bowler using the fingers to spin the ball from right to left of the cricket pitch... |
126.2 | 25 | 375 | 5 | 4/130 | 75.20 | |||
| M.C. Cowdrey Colin Cowdrey Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, CBE , better known as Colin Cowdrey, was the Captain of Oxford University, Kent County Cricket Club and the England cricket team in a career that lasted from 1950 to 1976... (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... |
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... |
1.3 | 9 | 0/9 | ||||||
| L.F. Kline Lindsay Kline Lindsay Francis Kline is former Australian and Victorian cricketer. He played in 13 Tests for Australia and 88 first-class matches between 1955/56 and 1961/1962... |
Chinaman Bowler Left-arm unorthodox spin Left-arm unorthodox spin, or chinaman, is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket using the hand wrist. Left-arm unorthodox spin bowlers use a wrist hand action to spin the ball which turns from off to leg side of the cricket pitch... |
25 | 6 | 77 | 0/34 | |||||
| N.C.L. O'Neill Norm O'Neill Norman Clifford O'Neill OAM was an cricketer who played for New South Wales and Australia. A right-handed batsman known for his back foot strokeplay, O'Neill made his state debut aged 18, before progressing to Test selection aged 21 in late 1958... |
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... 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... |
2 | 1 | 8 | 0/8 |
The Press Corps
The English press corps sent to cover 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...
was larger than the MCC touring team, which excited comment at the time. Even as late as 1932-33 the newspapers has sent two men to cover the series; a ghost-writer for 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....
and a tennis correspondent. The 1958-59 corps formed a considerable body of cricket knowledge; L.N. Bailey, Alex Bannister, 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...
, 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...
, Charles Bray, Brian Chapman, John Clarke, Charles Fortune, Harry Gee
Harry Gee
Harold "Harry" Gee was an English professional association footballer who played as a wing half.-References:...
, John Kay
John Kay (cricket journalist)
John Kay was a British cricket correspondent for the Manchester Evening News from the end of the Second World War to 1975 and for the Brighton Argus...
, Ian Peebles
Ian Peebles
Ian Alexander Ross Peebles was a cricketer who played for Oxford University, Middlesex, Scotland and England. After retiring from cricket he became a cricket writer, working as a journalist on The Sunday Times and as the author of many books on cricket.Peebles had one of the strangest...
, R.A. Roberts, Frank Rostron, Denys Rowbotham, E.W. Swanton, Johnny Wardle
Johnny Wardle
Johnny Wardle was an English spin bowler of post-war cricket. His Test bowling average of 20.39, is the lowest in Test cricket by any recognised spin bowler, since World War I....
(who had been selected for the tour until sacked by 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....
), Crawford White
The Cricket Annual
The Cricket Annual was a compact cricket annual published in 1961 and 1962 and edited by Roy Webber. In 1962 the Playfair titles including Playfair Cricket Annual were acquired by Dickens Press which had just published The Cricket Annual...
and John Woodcock
John Woodcock (cricket writer)
John Charles Woodcock OBE is an English cricket writer and journalist.He was born at Longparish, Hampshire, where he still lives, and was dubbed "the Sage of Longparish" by Alan Gibson. He is a co-author of the Longparish Village Handbook. Woodcock attended Trinity College, Oxford, and won hockey...
.
Further reading
- Richie BenaudRichie BenaudRichard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....
, A tale of two Tests: With some thoughts on captaincy, Hodder & Stoughton, 1962 - Mark Browning, Richie BenaudRichie BenaudRichard "Richie" Benaud OBE is a former Australian cricketer who, since his retirement from international cricket in 1964, has become a highly regarded commentator on the game....
: Cricketer, Captain, Guru, Kangaroo Press, 1996 - Robert Coleman, Seasons In the Sun: the Story Of the Victorian Cricket Association, Hargreen Publishing, 1993.
- 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 - David Frith, Pageant of Cricket, The MacMillian Company of Australia, 1987
- David Frith, England Versus Australia: An Illustrated History of Every Test Match Since 1877, Viking, 2007
- Chris Harte, A History of Australian Cricket, André Deutsch, 1993
- Ken Kelly and David Lemmon, Cricket Reflections : Five Decades of Cricket Photographs, Heinemann, 1985
- Alban George Moyes, Benaud & Co: The story of the Tests, 1958-1959, Angus & Robertson, 1959
- Ray Robinson, On Top Down Under, Cassell, 1975
- E.W. Swanton (ed), The Barclays World of Cricket, Collins, 1986
- Bernard Whimpress, Chuckers: A history of throwing in Australian cricket, Elvis Press, 2004.
- Bob WillisBob WillisRobert George Dylan Willis MBE , known as Bob Willis, is a former English cricketer who played for Surrey, Warwickshire, Northern Transvaal and England...
and Patrick Murphy, Starting with Grace, Stanley Paul, 1986