The

England national cricket team The England cricket team represents England and Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club (the MCC) since 1903. Engla ...

toured Australia from November 1979 to February 1980 and played a three-match Test series against the Australia national cricket team. Australia won the Test series 3–0. England were captained by

Mike Brearley John Michael Brearley (born 28 April 1942) is a retired English first-class cricketer who captained Cambridge University, Middlesex, and England. He captained the international side in 31 of his 39 Test matches, winning 18 and losing only 4 ...

; Australia by

Greg Chappell Gregory Stephen Chappell (born 7 August 1948) is a former cricketer who represented Australia at international level in both Tests and One-Day Internationals (ODI). The second of three brothers to play Test cricket, Chappell was the pre-eminen ...

The Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, '' The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first ...

were not at stake. The first test was known for the ComBat incident, where Australian

Dennis Lillee Dennis Keith Lillee, (born 18 July 1949) is Australian retired cricketer rated as the "outstanding fast bowler of his generation".

circumvented the

Laws of cricket The ''Laws of Cricket'' is a code which specifies the rules of the game of cricket worldwide. The earliest known code was drafted in 1744 and, since 1788, it has been owned and maintained by its custodian, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in Lond ...

at the time by using an

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...

bat. As part of the settlement between

World Series Cricket World Series Cricket (WSC) was a commercial professional cricket competition staged between 1977 and 1979 which was organised by Kerry Packer and his Australian television network, Nine Network. WSC ran in commercial competition to establish ...

and the

Australian Cricket Board Cricket Australia (CA), formerly known as the Australian Cricket Board (ACB), is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in Australia. It was originally formed in 1905 as the 'Australian Board of Control for International Crick ...

, this series was hastily arranged along with another involving Australia and the West Indies. The two Test series overlapped, with Australia alternating between playing the West Indies and England. This format was not repeated in subsequent years when two teams toured Australia in the same season, where one series would be completed before the next began. In addition, the teams played in a triangular Limited Overs International (LOI) tournament which also involved the

West Indies cricket team The West Indies cricket team, nicknamed the Windies, is a multi-national men's cricket team representing the mainly English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean region and administered by Cricket West Indies. The players on ...

. The West Indies won this tournament, defeating England in the final.

Test series summary

First Test

Second Test

Third Test

References

External links

1979 in Australian cricket 1979 in English cricket 1979–80 Australian cricket season 1980 in Australian cricket 1980 in English cricket 1979-80 International cricket competitions from 1975–76 to 1980 {{Australia-cricket-tour-stub