England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

team toured

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 ...

between November 1920 and March 1921. The tour was organised by the

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 ...

and matches outside the Tests were played under the MCC name. The tour itinerary consisted of 13 first-class matches, including a series of 5 Test matches against

in which

The Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played biennially 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, ...

were at stake.

Tour review

The tour was the first to have Test status after the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. It followed tours by the Australian Imperial Forces cricket team which played a number of first-class matches in England, South Africa and Australia immediately after the war. The last Ashes series had been the 1912 Triangular Tournament held in England that year. Although the tourists were relatively successful in their first-class matches against the Australian state teams, losing only one, the Test series "resulted, as everyone knows, in disaster"''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'' 1922 and England became the first team ever to lose every match in a five-Test series.Burton S (2021
The 1920-21 Ashes: typhus quarantine and unseemly barracking
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 2021-03-02. Retrieved 2021-03-02. ''Wisden'' commented that the chief cause of England's failure was the bowling, because all of the bowlers used were expensive and recorded high averages. Much has been made of Australia's ability to recover from the effects of the war more quickly than England and ''Wisden'' commented that "English cricket had not had time to regain its pre-war standard".

Test series summary

First Test

Second Test

Third Test

Fourth Test

Fifth Test

Summary of other first-class matches

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

(Adelaide Oval) &mdash
MCC won by an innings and 55 runs
* Victoria (Melbourne Cricket Ground) —
MCC won by an innings and 59 runs
*

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

(Sydney Cricket Ground) —
New South Wales won by 6 wickets
*

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

( Brisbane Exhibition Ground) —
MCC won by an innings and 41 runs
* Australian XI (Brisbane Exhibition Ground) —

* Victoria (Melbourne Cricket Ground) —

* New South Wales (Sydney Cricket Ground) —

* South Australia (Adelaide Oval) —

England touring party

The England touring party consisted of 16 players led by Essex all-rounder Johnny Douglas. When the party was originally selected, Reggie Spooner was invited to be the team captain but he was obliged to stand down for domestic reasons. Vallance Jupp had been selected too but was unable to travel. Jupp's withdrawal was shortly before departure and meant that his replacement Bill Hitch had to catch a later boat than the main party. There was another withdrawal when Jack Hearne was taken ill during the Second Test and could not play again that season. There was a controversy over Rockley Wilson who sent match reports by cable to the ''Daily Express''. As a result, MCC resolved at a meeting the following May to bar players from reporting on matches in which they were involved.

All-rounders

* Johnny Douglas,

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

(

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

) * Percy Fender,

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

* J W Hearne,

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

* Wilfred Rhodes,

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

* Rockley Wilson, Yorkshire * Frank Woolley,

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

Batsmen

* Patsy Hendren, Middlesex * Jack Hobbs, Surrey * Harry Makepeace,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

* Jack Russell, Essex

Bowlers

* Bill Hitch, Surrey * Harry Howell,

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

* Cec Parkin, Lancashire * Abe Waddington, Yorkshire

Wicketkeepers

* Arthur Dolphin, Yorkshire * Bert Strudwick, Surrey

Australian players in Test series

Australia used 14 players in the Test series. Eight players took part in all five matches including the captain Warwick Armstrong.

All-rounders

* Warwick Armstrong, Victoria (

) * Charles Kelleway, New South Wales * Jack Gregory, New South Wales

Batsmen

* Warren Bardsley, New South Wales * Herbie Collins, New South Wales * Charlie Macartney, New South Wales * Roy Park, Victoria * Nip Pellew, South Australia * Jack Ryder, Victoria * Johnny Taylor, New South Wales

Bowlers

Ted McDonald Edgar Arthur "Ted" McDonald (6 January 1891 – 22 July 1937) was a cricketer who played for Tasmanian Tigers, Tasmania, Victorian Bushrangers, Victoria, Lancashire County Cricket Club, Lancashire and Australia national cricket team, Australia ...

, Victoria * Arthur Mailey, New South Wales

Wicketkeepers

Sammy Carter Hanson "Sammy" Carter (15 March 1878 – 8 June 1948) was a cricketer who played for Australia national cricket team, Australia and New South Wales cricket team, New South Wales. Career Carter attended Sydney Boys High School in 1894. A wicket ...

, New South Wales * Bert Oldfield, New South Wales

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.

References

External links

Wisden online: tour review

Tour index at Cricinfo
{{DEFAULTSORT:English cricket team in Australia in 1920-21 1920 in English cricket 1920 in Australian cricket 1920 in Ceylon 1921 in English cricket 1921 in Australian cricket 1920-21

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen in Finland, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its ow ...

Australian cricket seasons from 1918–19 to 1944–45 International cricket competitions from 1918–19 to 1945 Sri Lankan cricket seasons from 1880–81 to 1971–72 1920-21

Tour review

Test series summary

First Test

Second Test

Third Test

Fourth Test

Fifth Test

Summary of other first-class matches

England touring party

All-rounders

Batsmen

Bowlers

Wicketkeepers

Australian players in Test series

All-rounders

Batsmen

Bowlers

Wicketkeepers

Ceylon

References

Further reading

External links