The English cricket team in Australia in 1901–02 lost the Test

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...

 series to Australia, who came from one down to win 4–1 and thus retained 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...

. The England side was a private venture of Archie MacLaren at the invitation of the Melbourne Cricket Club

Melbourne Cricket Club

The Melbourne Cricket Club is a sporting club based in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1838 and is regarded as the oldest sporting club in Australia....

, after 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...

 had declined to send a team. Prior to this, all Test tours of Australia had been privately organised, but MCC took over the responsibility with the following tour in 1903–4

English cricket team in Australia in 1903–04

The English cricket team's tour to Australia in 1903–04 was the first time the Marylebone Cricket Club took over responsibility for sponsoring and arranging an overseas tour representing England. England had not won the Ashes since the 1896 series in England...

. George Hirst, Wilfred Rhodes

Wilfred Rhodes

Wilfred Rhodes was an English professional cricketer who played 58 Test matches for England between 1899 and 1930. In Tests, Rhodes took 127 wickets in and scored 2,325 runs, becoming the first Englishman to complete the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in Test matches...

, KS Ranjitsinjhi, Stanley Jackson

Stanley Jackson

Sir Francis Stanley Jackson, GCSI, GCIE, PC, KStJ , known as the Honourable Stanley Jackson during his playing career, was an English cricketer, soldier and Conservative Party politician.-Early life:...

 and CB Fry were all unavailable.

Only three centuries were scored in the series and only one team innings exceeded 400 (the first innings of England in the first Test). Clem Hill

Clem Hill

Clement "Clem" Hill was an Australian cricketer who played 49 Test matches as a specialist batsman between 1896 and 1912. He captained the Australian team in ten Tests, winning five and losing five...

 managed 521 runs at an average of 52.10, making successive scores of 99, 98 and 97, without scoring a century. England's most successful batsman was MacLaren, with 412 runs at 45.77.

Sydney Barnes

Sydney Barnes

Sydney Francis Barnes was an English professional cricketer who is generally regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in the sport's history...

 made his debut for England and took 19 wickets in the first two Tests before being injured in the third and taking no further part in the series. His selection for the tour was something of a coup for MacLaren, as Barnes had very little first-class

First-class cricket

First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

 experience behind him: a total of seven games. He had been playing in the Lancashire League during the 1901 English season, but appeared in one game for Lancashire

Lancashire County Cricket Club

Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then...

 near the end of the season, taking 6/70 and 0/29. As a result of this performance MacLaren, who was the Lancashire captain, selected him for the touring party.

For Australia, 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...

 and Hugh Trumble

Hugh Trumble

Hugh Trumble was an Australian cricketer who played 32 Test matches as a bowling all-rounder between 1890 and 1904. He captained the Australian team in two Tests, winning both. Trumble took 141 wickets in Test cricket—a world record at the time of his retirement—at an average of...

 took 60 wickets between them.

Test Matches

Match length: Timeless. Balls per over: 6. Series result: Australia won 4–1.

No.	Date	Home captain	Away captain	Venue	Result
65	13,14,16 Dec 1901	Joe Darling Joe Darling Joseph "Joe" Darling CBE was an Australian cricketer who played 34 Test matches as a specialist batsman between 1894 and 1905. As captain, he led Australia in a total of 21 Tests, winning seven and losing four. In Test cricket, he scored 1657 runs at an average of 28.56 per innings, including...	Archie MacLaren	Sydney Cricket Ground 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...	ENG by Inns&124 runs
66	1,2,3,4 Jan 1902	Joe Darling Joe Darling Joseph "Joe" Darling CBE was an Australian cricketer who played 34 Test matches as a specialist batsman between 1894 and 1905. As captain, he led Australia in a total of 21 Tests, winning seven and losing four. In Test cricket, he scored 1657 runs at an average of 28.56 per innings, including...	Archie MacLaren	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...	AUS by 229 runs
67	17,18,20,21,22,23 Jan 1902	Joe Darling Joe Darling Joseph "Joe" Darling CBE was an Australian cricketer who played 34 Test matches as a specialist batsman between 1894 and 1905. As captain, he led Australia in a total of 21 Tests, winning seven and losing four. In Test cricket, he scored 1657 runs at an average of 28.56 per innings, including...	Archie MacLaren	Adelaide Oval Adelaide Oval The Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia, located in the parklands between the Central Business District and North Adelaide...	AUS by 4 wkts
68	14,15,17,18 Feb 1902	Hugh Trumble Hugh Trumble Hugh Trumble was an Australian cricketer who played 32 Test matches as a bowling all-rounder between 1890 and 1904. He captained the Australian team in two Tests, winning both. Trumble took 141 wickets in Test cricket—a world record at the time of his retirement—at an average of...	Archie MacLaren	Sydney Cricket Ground 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...	AUS by 7 wkts
69	28 Feb, 1,3,4 Mar 1902	Hugh Trumble Hugh Trumble Hugh Trumble was an Australian cricketer who played 32 Test matches as a bowling all-rounder between 1890 and 1904. He captained the Australian team in two Tests, winning both. Trumble took 141 wickets in Test cricket—a world record at the time of his retirement—at an average of...	Archie MacLaren	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...	AUS by 32 runs