1954–55 Ashes Series

The 1954–55 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 1954–55 and the matches outside the Tests were played in the name of the Marylebone Cricket Club. The England team was captained by Len Hutton, the first professional cricketer to lead an MCC tour of Australia. The Australian team under Ian Johnson was confident of victory, but despite losing the First Test by an innings England won the series 3–1 and retained the Ashes. They were the only touring team to win a series in Australia between 1932–33 and 1970–71 and only the second of three touring teams to win a series in Australia from behind (the other two being England in 1911–12 and the West Indies in 1992–93). The tour is best remembered for the bowling of Frank "Typhoon" Tyson, who was at the time regarded as the fastest, most frightening bowler ever seen in Australia. The series saw a phenomenal concentration of bowling prowess on both sides – four of the bowlers had career Test averages under 21, another five under 25 and the remaining four under 30. Unsurprisingly therefore, the ball dominated the bat for most of the series and each side only topped 300 in an innings twice. Unlike the following series in 1958–59 there were rarely any umpiring disputes and Keith Miller wrote "Mel McInnes, Colin Hoy and Ron Wright were our leading umpires in the 1954–55 M.C.C. tour of Australia, and I have no hesitation in saying that McInnes gave the finest exhibition of umpiring in a Test series that I have experienced".

First Test – Brisbane

Preliminaries

The England spinners had been out of form in the last few games, so the tour selectors ( Geoffrey Howard, Len Hutton, Peter May, Bill Edrich and Godfrey Evans) chose four pace bowlers and Hutton was committed to bowling first, though this appears to have been his intention since the start of the tour. He was only the second England captain to play a Test match without a spinner, the only other example being Douglas Jardine in the Second Test at Melbourne in 1932–33, which he lost by 111 runs. Wicket-keeper Godfrey Evans missed the Test because of heat-stroke and was replaced by debutant Keith Andrew. Colin Cowdrey, who had made 110 and 103 in the New South Wales match, and Les Favell, who had opened with 84 and 47 for South Australia against the tourists, also made their debuts. Reg Simpson opened with Hutton after his century against Queensland, but the out of form Bill Edrich had to come in at number 3. There were worries about Ray Lindwall's gastric problems, and Alec Bedser's undiagnosed rash, but in the end both were deemed fit to play. Remembering Bedser's hold over the Australian batsmen and that England still held the Ashes the Australian bookies gave the two sides even odds.

Australia – First Innings

Len Hutton had lost the toss five times in a row in 1953, but this time he won it and he became the first England captain to put Australia in to bat since 1911–12. He then watched his fielders drop 14 catches as Australia piled up 601/8 declared. Keith Andrew dropped Arthur Morris off Bedser on 0, allowing the Australian opener to make 153, adding 202 in 232 minutes for the third wicket with Neil Harvey (162). Alec Bedser had a rash all over his back, but bowled on regardless for 1/131 as another six catches were dropped off his bowling. His ungainly fielding led to him being barracked by the crowd, calling "Old Man" whenever he stopped the ball. Tyson – labouring under a 38-yard run up – went for 1/160 off 29 eight ball overs, but battered the batsmen with bouncers and bruised Morris on the arm several times. He also bowled short and fast at Ray Lindwall after the all-rounder had despatched him to the boundary on his way to 64 not out, which would have serious repercussions in the Second Test at Sydney. "We dropped a considerable number of catches," recalled wicket-keeper Keith Andrew. "Nether were we the fittest team in the world. Compton broke a finger fielding on the first day and Alec Bedser was never well, as was proved when it was discovered that he had developed shingles. One or two of us also got a touch of the sun, but there was no way of getting away from the fact that 'catches win matches'."

England – First Innings

When they finally got to bat on the third day England quickly collapsed to 25/4, but then debutant Colin Cowdrey made 40, adding 72 for the 5th wicket with Trevor Bailey who ground out 88 over 283 minutes. With the "Barnacle" immobile at one end – he took 160 minutes to reach 38 – the Australian bowlers worked their way through the tail until Denis Compton, who had broken the metacarpal bone in his hand on the boundary fence, came at number 11. Before the match a local businessman had promised £100 to the first English batsman to hit a six. Realising that the innings was soon to close, the stonewaller extraordinaire Trevor Bailey hit Ian Johnson into the stands for the prize. The wickets were shared among the Australian bowlers: Ray Lindwall was the best with 3/27 and Ian Johnson took 3/46.

England – Second Innings

Forced to follow on 411 runs behind England did better in the second innings, losing only two early wickets instead of four. Bill Edrich made a battling 88 and put on 124 for the 3rd wicket with Peter May (44), but when Bailey was out for 23 the tail collapsed from 220/5 to 257 all out despite Tyson making his highest Test score of 37 not out. The wickets were again distributed amongst the bowlers with Richie Benaud taking 3/43.

Result

Australia won by an innings and 154 runs to take a 1–0 lead in the series. The papers unanimously criticised Hutton's decision to send Australia in to bat, though they noted he would have done better if England had held onto its chances in the field. John Arlott wrote that neither Len Hutton or Alec Bedser had produced a "larger than life" performance to rescue England. Only once before had a team come from behind to win in Australia, in 1911–12 when the great Sydney Barnes had rescued the side after his captain's mistakes in the First Test. Ian Johnson had more than confirmed his place as Australian captain, even though it was "only" the biggest Australian victory over England since they won by an innings and 332 runs in th
First Test
on the same ground in 1946–47.

Second Test – Sydney

Preliminaries

In the Second Test Keith Andrew, Reg Simpson and Alec Bedser were unceremoniously dumped from the England team, which they discovered when they saw the batting line up posted in the dressing room. Andrews was not surprised as Godfrey Evans was fit again and it annoyed Simpson, but devastated Bedser, the bedrock of England's bowling attack since the war. Instead the spinners Bob Appleyard and Johnny Wardle were brought into the bowling attack and Tom Graveney stood in for the injured Denis Compton. Australia were not without their troubles, both captain Ian Johnson and his rival Keith Miller were unfit to play so batsman Jim Burke and all-rounder Alan Davidson of New South Wales were brought in as replacements and vice-captain Arthur Morris took command, with Richie Benaud as his vice-captain despite his lack of form and seniority. One piece of good news for the England team was the arrival of Henry Sayen, a rich American industrialist and cricket fan who was seen as a lucky mascot. He gave financial bonuses to England players for outstanding play and had watched them play Australia in 1953 and the West Indies in 1953–54, when England fought their way out of almost certain defeat. Despite a recent operation and the advice of his doctors he travelled across the world to see England play and dined with the MCC team, Ian Johnson, Sir Donald Bradman and Prime Minister Robert Menzies.

England – First Innings

Morris won the toss and like Hutton at Brisbane put the opposition in, but this time on a fast, green wicket. Here the similarity ended as the Australian bowlers turned up trumps, helped by some superb fielding. Trevor Bailey, acting as makeshift opener, was out for a duck (after 37 minutes) and wickets continued to fall at regular intervals, Ron Archer (3/12) and Bill Johnston (3/56) took most of the wickets and "The Claw" accounted for Hutton's demise. Only Johnny Wardle's top scoring 35 – adding 43 for the last wicket with Brian Statham – managed to pull England up to 154.

Australia – First Innings

Australia replied with 228, the top nine batsmen getting into double figures, but no one reached 50, Ron Archer equalling his best Test score of 49 and Jim Burke making 44. Bailey opened the bowling as well as the batting and took 4/59, but the talking point was Frank Tyson. With his "short" run up of 18–20 yards Tyson took 4/45, described vividly by Margaret Hughes "Harvey received a beast of a ball from Tyson which spat up at him and splashed off his bat to Cowdrey". Ray Lindwall had bowled Tyson for a duck in the England first innings and was bounced again by the England fast bowler.

England – Second Innings

''He let me have a very fast, short-pitched delivery...Instinctively I turned a defensive back on the ball which skidded through and hit me a sickening blow on the back of my head. I sank to the ground and as I slipped in and out of consciousness, I was dimly aware of the players gathering round my prostrate body. Indistinctly I heard my fellow batsman Bill Edrich saying: 'My God, Lindy, you've killed him!'...I was very, very angry with Ray Lindwall. And the whole of the Aussie team knew it...I would return the bouncer with interest!''
Picture
: Frank Tyson

With Australia 74 runs ahead runs were imperative for England, but they fell to 55/3 before Peter May (104) and Colin Cowdrey (54) came together and made a disciplined stand of 116 "every run a precious inch of ground won back at a moment when the Ashes seemed to have receded almost out of sight...the recovery was shaped by batsmanship of a classic method executed by two young men".p. 93, Swanton, 1977 May added another 51 with Bill Edrich before being bowled by Lindwall. Strangely, Tyson had been put in to bat at number 7 above Test centurion Godfrey Evans. Lindwall boasted that he never bowled short at tailenders (which didn't bother Tyson), but someone coming to bat at number 7 can be regarded as an all-rounder and the Australian fast bowler made the greatest mistake of his career, he bounced Tyson, who caught the ball on the back of his head and collapsed at the wicket. The Australians anxiously gathered around, players did not wear protective helmets in the 1950s and he had to be helped off the field and taken to hospital for x-rays. He returned to bat sporting a bump on his head that could be seen from the stands, was cheered by the crowd, and made another 8 runs before being bowled by Lindwall. England crashed from 222/4 to 250/9 and once again it was up to the last wicket pair – this time Appleyard (19 not out) and Statham (25) – to add 46 vital runs, taking the score to 296. The strength of the Australian bowling attack prevented any one man taking the lion's share, Archer (3/53), Lindall (3/69) and Bill Johnston (3/70) sharing the wickets between them.

Australia – Second Innings

Australia needed 223 runs to win in over four sessions, which was regarded as not too difficult a task, especially if Frank Tyson was affected by his injury, but instead he was very angry and ready to exact revenge. The Australians were afraid that he would send down a barrage of fast, short-pitched bowling, but Tyson was intelligent enough to bowl full length deliveries that caught them unprepared. Brian Statham