An England team toured Australia between November 1920 and March 1921. The tour was organised by the Marylebone Cricket Club 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 Australia in which The Ashes were at stake.
Tour review
The tour was the first to have Test status after the First World War. 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" and England became the first team ever to lose every match in a five-Test series.
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 (Adelaide Oval) — MCC won by an innings and 55 runs
Victoria (Melbourne Cricket Ground) — MCC won by an innings and 59 runs
New South Wales (Sydney Cricket Ground) — New South Wales won by 6 wickets
Queensland (Brisbane Exhibition Ground) — MCC won by an innings and 41 runs
Australian XI (Brisbane Exhibition Ground) — match drawn
Victoria (Melbourne Cricket Ground) — MCC won by 7 wickets
New South Wales (Sydney Cricket Ground) — match drawn
South Australia (Adelaide Oval) — MCC won by an innings and 63 runs
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 (captain) Percy Fender, Surrey J W Hearne, Middlesex Wilfred Rhodes, Yorkshire Rockley Wilson, Yorkshire Frank Woolley, Kent
Batsmen
Patsy Hendren, Middlesex
Jack Hobbs, Surrey
Harry Makepeace, Lancashire
Jack Russell, Essex
Bowlers
Bill Hitch, Surrey
Harry Howell, Warwickshire
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 (captain) 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, Victoria
Arthur Mailey, New South Wales
Wicketkeepers
Sammy Carter, New South Wales
Bert Oldfield, New South Wales
Ceylon
The English team had a stopover in Colombo 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.
