The Ashes was back to 3 matches again when Australia toured England in the return Series of 1896. With a close fought series in Australia behind them, the tourists brought a strong party to the English shores under the leadership of G.H.S. Trott. Three players made their debut in the first test match at Lord's, Clem Hill, Lilley and Kelly, the latter being two superb wicket-keepers.

Richardson and Lohmann, took Australia apart in their first innings for only 53 runs. This also turned out to be Lohmann's last Test. When England went in to bat, a massive crowd of 30,000 saw Grace reach a 1,000 runs in Test cricket and watched England build up a substantial lead. Even though Australia fought back with centuries from Trott and Gregory, England only required 109 runs to win. They managed this without to many scares and won the match with 6 wickets in hand.

Old Trafford staged the second match, and what an exciting match it was. Australia scored 412 in their first innings, Iredale making a century, the dismissed England for 231 runs. They enforced the follow on and Ranjitsinhji making his debut scored a brilliant 154 not out. At the end of the England innings, Australia found themselves needing 125 runs to win. Richardson did his best to spoil the inevitable (taking 13 of 17 wickets to fall) but Australia scraped home by 3 wickets. George Giffen had now established himself as the best all rounder around at the time and proved this by becoming the first player to score 1,000 runs and take 100 wickets.

Disputed fees were the main force behind Lohmann and Gunn refusing to play in the third and final Test held at the Oval. It was an untidy match with neither side able to offer much in the way of batting resistance. Most of the first day's play was washed out, and when play was possible on the second day, the spinners took the batsmen apart. England scored 145, and in reply Australia struggled to 119 from a very promising opening partnership of 75. England then fell apart for only 84 runs in their second innings but as it turned out it didn't matter. Australia in their final innings of the tour scored their lowest ever score in England to date of 44, England won the match by 66 runs and in doing, won the series 2 - 1.