The 1954–55 Ashes series between Australia and England consisted of five Test cricket matches, each of six days duration with five hours play each day and eight ball overs. It formed part of the MCC tour of Australia in 1954–55 and the English team in matches outside the Tests were styled Marylebone Cricket Club. England were captained by Len Hutton, the first professional cricketer to lead an MCC tour of Australia. The Australian team under Ian Johnson were confident of victory but, despite losing the first Test by an innings, England won the series 3–1 and retained the Ashes. England were the first touring team to win a series in Australia since 1932–33 and the last until 1970–71. They were the second of only 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 Tyson, who was at the time regarded as arguably the fastest and most frightening bowler ever seen in Australia.
First Test – Brisbane
Preliminaries
The England spinners had been out of form in the last few games, so the tour selectors 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 first being Douglas Jardine in the second Test at Melbourne in 1932–33, a match England lost by 111 runs. Wicket-keeper 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 and the out of form Edrich had to come in at number three. 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
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. 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. 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. Frank 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 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 Andrew. "Neither were we the fittest team in the world. Denis Compton broke a finger fielding on the first day and 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 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 Compton, who had broken the metacarpal bone in his hand on the boundary fence, came in at number eleven. 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, Bailey hit Ian Johnson into the stands to claim the prize. The wickets were shared among the Australian bowlers: Lindwall was the best with 3/27 and 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. Edrich made a battling 88 and put on 124 for the 3rd wicket with May, 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. The newspapers widely criticised Hutton's decision to put Australia in to bat, though they accepted he would have done better if England had held onto their chances in the field. Only once before had a team come from behind to win in Australia. That was in the 1911–12 series when Sydney Barnes rescued England after they had lost the first Test. Johnson had more than confirmed his place as Australian captain, the result being the biggest Australian victory over England since they won by an innings and 332 runs in the .
Result
Australia won by an innings and 154 runs to take a 1–0 lead in the series.
Second Test – Sydney
Preliminaries
Andrew, Simpson and Bedser were dropped from the England team. Andrew was not surprised as Evans was fit again but it annoyed Simpson and devastated Bedser, who had been the bedrock of England's bowling since the war. Bob Appleyard and Johnny Wardle were selected and Tom Graveney stood in for the injured Compton. Australia were not without their troubles as both Johnson and Keith Miller were unfit to play. Batsman Jim Burke and all-rounder Alan Davidson, both of New South Wales, were brought in as replacements. Vice-captain Morris led the team with Benaud as his vice-captain.
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. Bailey, acting as makeshift opener, was out for a duck and wickets continued to fall at regular intervals, Ron Archer and Bill Johnston took most of the wickets and Davidson dismissed Hutton. Only 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. Archer equalled his best Test score of 49 and Burke made 44. Bailey opened the bowling as well as the batting and took 4/59, but the talking point was Tyson. With his "short" run up of 18-20 yards, he took 4/45, described vividly by Margaret Hughes of The Times, who wrote: "Harvey received a beast of a ball from Tyson which spat up at him and splashed off his bat to Cowdrey". Lindwall had bowled Tyson for a duck in the England first innings and was bounced again by the England fast bowler.
England – second innings
With Australia 74 ahead on first innings, runs were imperative for England, but they fell to 55/3 before May and Cowdrey came together and made a disciplined stand of 116 for the fourth wicket. May added another 51 with Edrich before being bowled by Lindwall. Strangely, Tyson was put in to bat at number seven above Test centurion Evans. Lindwall boasted that he never bowled short at tail-enders, but someone coming to bat at number seven can be regarded as an all-rounder. Lindwall 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 Tyson had to be helped off the field and taken to hospital for x-rays. He returned to bat later and was cheered by the crowd. He made another eight 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 and Statham – 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, Lindwall and Bill Johnston sharing the wickets between them.
Australia – second innings
Australia needed 223 runs to win in over four sessions, which was seen as none too difficult, especially if Tyson was affected by his injury. Instead, Tyson 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. Statham bowled the first over from the Paddington End into a "half a gale", while Tyson tore down the slope from the Randwick End and, with the wind behind him, bowled "as fast as man has ever bowled". Statham was unlucky when Favell was dropped in the first over and Morris was beaten four times before being trapped leg before wicket in the last over before tea, when Australia were 27/1. In the first over after tea, Favell was out after a ball from Tyson ricocheted off his bat and carried 120 feet to Edrich in the slips, who caught it chest-high. Somehow, Burke and Harvey survived the session as they played and missed when Tyson made the ball rear up from a length. Burke didn't score for almost an hour, but by the end of the day they were 72/2 and Australia needed only 151 more runs for victory. Burke did not long survive the morning as Tyson moved a ball back up the hill to flatten his stumps. Graeme Hole had a high backlift and failed to get his bat down in time to trap a yorker and was clean bowled by Tyson at 77/4. Hutton now rested his fast bowlers and brought on Bailey and Appleyard to slow down the scoring and tie up the batsman. Benaud was not a patient batsman and took a swipe at Appleyard but he hit it sky high to Tyson in the deep. He only managed to snatch it inches above the grass to have Australia 102/5. Harvey was now getting into his stride and in what some observers thought was his best innings, he counter-attacked the bowling, cutting short balls and clipping anything on his pads through the leg side and once hooking Tyson over fine leg's head for four. By lunch, Harvey and Archer had taken the score to 118/5 and, for as long as Harvey was in, the Australians thought they could win. After the interval, Tyson and Statham were brought back on with immediate results as Tyson felled Archer's stumps. Davidson lasted only six balls before he was caught by Evans off Statham. Statham as usual was unerringly accurate, conceding only 45 runs off 19 eight-ball overs. Tyson, much less accurate, conceded runs at double that rate. Graveney recalled that he was fielding in the slips and having to stand 40 yards off the bat, but the ball was still going over their heads from edged shots. Lindwall came in fearing the bouncer, and it was his undoing as he turned a Tyson half-volley into a yorker by playing off the back foot and was bowled. Harvey now started to farm the bowling, trying to protect the tail-enders from Tyson and Statham, but Gil Langley was bowled by Statham for a duck to leave Australia 145/9. Last man Johnston was in and Australia still needed 78 to win but, protected by Harvey, he only had to face 16 balls in the next 40 minutes. Tyson recalled that Johnston did his bit for his team "with true Aussie grit". Finally, Tyson bowled a ball close to Johnston's body on the advice of Statham and a thin edge was enough for Evans to finish the innings and the match. Johnston was out for 11 while Harvey had made a defiant, unbeaten 92, which was exactly half the Australian total of 184. England won by 38 runs. Tyson had powered his way through the Australian batting, taking 6/85 with Statham in indefatigable support.
Result
England beat Australia by 38 runs to level the series 1–1.
Third Test – Melbourne
Preliminaries
Despite losing the Sydney Test, the Australians remained confident as Johnson and Miller returned to the team. Miller was playing against the advice of his doctor who warned him not to bowl on his injured knee. Miller himself said he didn't think his back could take the strain of bowling. Len Maddocks replaced Langley as wicket-keeper after the latter was hit in the eye by a bail in a Sheffield Shield match. England recalled Compton at the expense of Graveney, but faced a crisis on the first day of the Test when Hutton refused to leave his bed because of his fibrosis and a heavy cold. Howard and others persuaded him to play so as to not damage the morale of the team and, finally, Hutton agreed. The wicket was in worse condition than the one in Sydney. After the MCC's match against Victoria it had broken up completely and had to be repaired, but it was still covered with cracks even before the Test began.
England – first innings
The match began on New Year's Eve. Hutton won the toss and elected to bat, but soon regretted it. Regardless of his knee and bad prob;ems, Miller opened the bowling with a 90-minute spell of three for five in nine overs to send Hutton, Edrich and Compton back to the pavilion in quick time. With Lindwall dismissing May for a duck, England were 41/4 and in deep trouble, but Cowdrey made 50 out of 69 and 100 out of 158 to complete his maiden Test century, adding 74 with Bailey and 54 with Evans before falling to Johnson with a ball that deviated onto his leg stump. Bill O'Reilly said it was the best Test innings he had ever seen and, aged only 22, Cowdrey was the youngest Englishman to make an Ashes century since Jack Hearne on the same ground in 1912. Archer with 4/33 wrapped up the tail and England fell from 181/6 to 191 all out at the end of the first day.
Australia – first innings
The wicket gave hope to the England bowlers and wickets fell at a steady rate through the second day to leave Australia on 181/8, only Morris and Favell failing to each double figures. The next day was a Sunday and a rest day, but its events were to be of great importance. Fearing that the wicket would break up in the middle of the Test it was surreptitiously and illegally watered to bind the cracks and make it last an extra couple of days. Percy Barnes of The Age reported that he had overheard the MCG sprinklers during the night. Tyson reckoned that if Barnes had not acted there would have been hardly any wicket left on the Monday. An official enquiry by the Victorian Cricket Association and the Melbourne Cricket Club denied any watering of the playing area during the match and claimed that the wicket must have sweated under the tarpaulin despite the baking heat and dry wind. Some scientists theorised that the dry weather drew up water from underground and the wicket watered itself, but a Sydney reporter asked how the wicket had managed to roll itself out to close up all the cracks. Wisden Cricketers' Almanack said that large cracks were evident on Saturday and yet, on Monday, they had closed so that the surface temporarily behaved more kindly to batsmen. As England were due to bat, Hutton chose not to complain, but Maddocks, Johnson and Johnston added another 50 runs before Statham finished off the innings. It was the first time Statham took five wickets in a Test innings.
England – second innings
Starting 40 runs behind, Hutton and Edrich levelled the score before the first wicket fell. Hutton was so ill that he could not take off his pads for an hour after returning to the dressing room and remained slumped in a corner. May held the innings together with 91 and then Bailey with a typically defensive innings of 24 not out from 144 balls held up one end while Evans and Wardle made runs at the other. Johnston was bowling slow left arm spinners although Wardle had previously punished these when the Australians played Yorkshire in 1953. Wardle hit seven boundaries in his 38. Miller said later that he told Johnston not to bowl slow to Wardle so Johnston reverted to seam and took the last three wickets for six runs. Johnston's 5/85 was the only Australian five wicket haul in the series. England were all out for 279.
Australia – second innings
Australia were set 240 to win, but Tyson had Morris caught for 4 by Cowdrey and Favell was bowled for 30 by Appleyard. Harvey and Benaud took the score to 75/2 by stumps and over 50,000 supporters came on the fifth day, expecting to see them score the remaining 165 runs. Instead, they saw what has been called "the fastest and most frightening sustained spell of fast bowling seen in Australia". Tyson sent Australia crashing to 111 all out and England won by 128 runs. Australia added only 36 runs that morning as Tyson took 6/16 off 6.3 eight-ball overs, giving him 7/27 in the whole innings. He bowled from the Richmond End and slightly into the breeze, but at enormous pace. The match finished well before lunch and Tyson remembered that the Melbourne Cricket Club caterers were left with thousands of unsold meat pies as the crowd deserted the ground. The match cemented Tyson's "Typhoon" reputation and he became only the fifth England bowler to take seven wickets in a Test innings in Australia after Tom Richardson, George Lohmann, Wilfred Rhodes and Doug Wright.
Result
England won by 128 runs to lead the series 2–1.
Fourth Test – Adelaide
Preliminaries
Despite good form shown by Peter Loader and Bedser in recent tour matches, England kept their winning team together. Edrich continued out of position as Hutton's opening partner. The Australian selection process was more confused. Morris was originally dropped and replaced by Colin McDonald, but then Favell was dropped after his failure in the recent tour match and Morris was recalled on the morning of the match. Hole had also played poorly for South Australia against MCC so he was dropped and Burke was recalled. Worse news for Australia was that Lindwall had pulled a muscle in the Queensland v Victoria game so Davidson was brought in. Though South Australia's Langley had recovered and made a fifty against the MCC, Victoria's Maddocks kept his place as wicket-keeper because of his batting in the third Test and was booed by the local crowd.
Australia – first innings
Johnson won the toss in the sweltering 100 °F/38 °C heat and chose to bat on the best surface seen since Brisbane. Hutton made himself unpopular with his deliberately slow over rates so that he could rest his exhausted fast bowlers. Statham ripped the nail off his right big toe and had to hack a hole in his boot so he could continue to bowl. It was Appleyard who made the breakthrough by dismissing MacDonald, Miller and Benaud. Tyson and Bailey provided support as Australia fell to 229/8. Maddocks justified his selection and was the only man to pass fifty, adding 92 for the ninth wicket with Johnson until Bailey removed Johnson. Maddocks was run out two runs later and Australia were dismissed for 323 on the afternoon of the second day.
England – first innings
Hutton and Edrich saw England through to stumps and took the score to 60 the next morning before the first wicket fell. Cowdrey added 99 with Hutton looking certain for a century before he smashed the ball into Davidson's back, where it lobbed up for an easy, if painful, catch. Cowdrey and Compton took the score to 230/3 by the end of the day and England were confident of a first innings lead, but they both fell early next morning. There was then a collapse and the last seven wickets fell for 111. Even so, the total of 341 was England's highest in the series and gave them a slim 18-run lead. Leg-spinner Benaud was the best Australian bowler.
Australia – second innings
Hutton made his bowling changes with great cunning, removing Tyson and Statham after a few overs and bringing on Appleyard whose 3/12 accounted for Morris, Burke and Harvey before the day was out, leaving the home side on 69/3. Expecting more spin the next day, Australia were confronted by Tyson and Statham. Statham bowled MacDonald before a run was added to the overnight score. He then bowled Miller and dismissed Maddocks lbw. Tyson dismissed Benaud and Archer to reduce Australia to 83/8. Davidson added some respectability to the lower order but Australia were out for 111.
England second innings
England needed only 94 runs to win the Test, win the series and retain the Ashes, but Miller had other ideas, sending Hutton, Edrich and Cowdrey back to the pavilion for 18 and catching May off Johnston. Compton saw England through and Evans came in at the fall of the 5th wicket to hit the winning runs with a boundary.
Result
England beat Australia by 5 wickets to take a winning 3–1 lead in the series and retain the Ashes.
Fifth Test – Sydney
Preliminaries
The only change in the England team was that Edrich was dropped for poor form and replaced by Graveney, who became Hutton's fourth opening partner of the series. Cowdrey had a broken nose and Bailey had broken a finger playing against Victoria, but both still played in the final Test, though Bailey did not bowl. With an eye to their imminent tour of the West Indies, the Australian selectors picked debutants Peter Burge and Bill Watson for experience. Favell and Lindwall returned to the side. Morris, Johnston, Archer and Burke were left out.
England – first innings
The first three days were lost to heavy rain and only 13 hours play were available when the toss was finally held on the fourth afternoon, Johnson winning and putting England in to bat. Hutton was out quickly, but Graveney effortlessly stroked his way to 111 out of 182 in two and a half hours, adding 176 with May. Cowdrey was out first ball but Compton and Bailey added 134. Hutton declared on 371/7, easily England's best score of the series. Lindwall took three for 77, including his 100th in Tests against England, and Johnson three for 68.
Australia – first innings
McDonald responded with 72, adding 53 for the first wicket with Watson, but Maddocks was the only other batsman to make more than 20 as the England spinner Wardle worked his way through their batting with a mixture of orthodox slow left arm spin mixed with chinamans and reverse googlies. Johnson was run out when the last wicket fell for 221. Some people believed that the follow on had been avoided but, due to the three days lost, Hutton could enforce a follow on despite being only 150 runs ahead. He promptly did so. It was the first time Australia had followed on since the Oval Test in 1938 when Hutton had made his world record 364.
Australia – second innings
Macdonald watched the wickets fall about him again and at 29/3 Australia were in danger of an innings defeat as Wardle struck again. Miller, Burge and Benaud stopped the rot, but Hutton did not concede the draw until he brought himself on in the final over, bowling Benaud with the last ball of the series. Australia ended on 118/6, still 32 runs short of making England bat again.
