Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

organised the

England cricket team The England men's cricket team represents cricket in England, England and cricket in Wales, Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Maryleb ...

's tour of Australia in the 1924–25 season.

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

won the Ashes series 4–1.

Overview

The series was the first Test series to be hosted in Australia for four years, with Australia holding the Ashes courtesy of their 3-0 victory away during the 1921 Ashes series. Herbie Collins, a compulsive gambler who had been known to run card games and spend time in

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo ( ; ; or colloquially ; , ; ) is an official administrative area of Monaco, specifically the Ward (country subdivision), ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Informally, the name also refers to ...

during the 1921 tour was Australian captain. While Arthur Gilligan, a

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

educated man from a wealthy family was the English captain. On the field, Clarrie Grimmett,

Bill Ponsford William Harold Ponsford MBE (19 October 1900 – 6 April 1991) was an Australian cricketer. Usually playing as an opening batsman, he formed a successful and long-lived partnership opening the batting for Victoria and Australia with Bil ...

and future Australian captain Vic Richardson debuted, along with five other debutants. Australia won the series 4-1 and were considered the better team overall, although were lucky to win the 3rd test, only besting England by 11 runs.

Herbert Sutcliffe Herbert Sutcliffe (24 November 1894 – 22 January 1978) was an English Professionalism#Sports, professional cricketer who represented Yorkshire County Cricket Club, Yorkshire and England national cricket team, England as an opening batsman. A ...

was considered the best batter of the series despite his teams losing effort, scoring 734 runs at an average of 81.55, including four centuries.

Test series summary

First Test

The first Test included a record 127 run tenth wicket partnership between Johnny Taylor and Arthur Mailey which stood as Australia's best for that wicket until

Phillip Hughes Phillip Joel Hughes (30 November 1988 – 27 November 2014) was an Australian Test cricket, Test and One Day International (ODI) cricketer who played domestic cricket for South Australia cricket team, South Australia and Worcestershire County C ...

and Ashton Agar set a new world record by scoring 163 for the tenth wicket against England in the First Test at Trent Bridge in July 2013.

Second Test

Third Test

Fourth Test

Fifth Test

Ceylon

The English team had a stopover in

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

''en route'' to Australia and played a one-day single-innings match there against the Ceylon national team, which at that time did not have Test status.

Controversies

Off the field, English captain Gilligan was investigated by the Commonwealth Investigative Branch due to his fascist links, as an active member of the British Fascists. Gilligan attempted to recruit for the organisation and establish branches throughout the country, although no negative outcomes occurred for Gilligan. The third test was controversial, as Australian captain Collins well known for his gambling, was reported to have been offered £100 to throw the match. Despite his denials, including vowing to "throw the man downstairs". Collin's bowling choices on the final day were questioned as Australia only won by 11 runs.