The

England national cricket team The England men's 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. ...

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 ...

from November 1979 to February 1980 and played a three-match Test series against the

Australia national cricket team The Australia men's national cricket team represents Australia in international cricket. Along with England, it is the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, playing and winning the first ever Test match in 1877; the team also plays One ...

. 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 was the captain of the English squad which finished as runners-up at the 1979 Cricket World ...

; 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-eminent ...

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 not at stake. The first test was known for the

ComBat Combat (French language, French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent Conflict (process), conflict between multiple combatants with the intent to harm the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed (Hand-to-hand combat, not usin ...

incident, where Australian

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

circumvented the

Laws of cricket The ''Laws of Cricket'' is a code that specifies the rules of the game of cricket worldwide. The earliest known code was drafted in 1744. Since 1788, the code has been owned and maintained by the private Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in Lord's Cr ...

at the time by using an

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

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 established ...

and the

Australian Cricket Board Cricket Australia (CA) 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 Cricket'. It is incorporated as an Australian Public Company ...

, 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 One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four year ...

(LOI) tournament which also involved the West Indies cricket team. 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