The
first Series of the new century arrived, then went,
then arrived again! The MCC agreed to make the arrangements
and send a side to Australia in 1901 - 1902, but
then pulled out due to problems in raising a representative
side. Rhodes and Hirst, the best bowlers of the
English summer were refused permission to go by
their Yorkshire Committee and in the end the MCC
had to admit defeat. MacLaren was then asked to
get a side together, and although he managed to
get some reasonable players, they were never going
to offer any great resistance to the Australians.
England
arrived in Australia and made their way to Sydney
for the first Test. It was there that they shocked
everyone in batting first and posting a score of
464, thanks to a great start by MacLaren and Hayward
of 154 for the first wicket. It was an unknown who
stole the light in Australia's first innings, Sydney
Barnes, the English bowler. He had played most of
his cricket for Rishton and Burnley in the Lancashire
league and was never expected to perform at Test
level! Barnes eventually finished the series by
taking 19 wickets and an average of only 17 runs,
the best return by any bowler in the series! Australia
were forced to follow on after only scoring 168
in the first innings, and lost the match by an innings
and 124 runs when they were dismissed for 172 in
the second.
Melbourne
hosted the 2nd match of the series and MacLaren
won the toss and put Australia in to bat on a very
sticky wicket. Barnes took Trumper's wicket with
the second ball and he and Blythe bowled Australia
out for 112. When England went in to bat, conditions
hadn't improved and they soon found themselves getting
ready to field again when Noble (7 - 17) and Trumble
bowled them out for only 61. At the end of the day
however, Australia had collapsed to 5 for 48, Barnes
taking another 4 wickets. Due to the conditions,
the Australian captain had held the better batsmen
back and on the second day they shone. Clem Hill
made 99, (he became the first to be dismissed on
this score) and Reg Duff, batting at number 10 and
on his debut, scored a century. One other interesting
fact about this innings was that it gave cricket
its first last wicket century stand of 120, between
Duff and Armstrong (also on debut). In reply to
Australia's 353, England made 175 and lost the match
by an innings and 229 runs. Trumble took a hat trick
in the second innings. Noble took 13 wickets in
the match and could have been more if it hadn't
been for Trumble cleaning up the tail!
England
made 388 in their first innings at Adelaide, Braund
getting a century. Australia were then dismissed
for 321, a lead of 67runs. Unfortunately, Barnes
had had to retire after seven overs due to a knee
injury and was unable to play in the rest of the
series. Because England were a bowler short they
struggled, even more so when Blythe injured his
finger. Australia then became the first side to
score 300 in the 4th innings to win a Test. After
his 99 in the last Test, Hill then went on to score
98 and 97 in his next two innings!
The
final two Tests held at Melbourne then Sydney were
keenly contested, but at the end of the day Australia
just had more depth in reserve and won the series
4 games to 1, the second time they had won the Ashes
by that margin, to date. Noble and Trumble took
60 wickets between them in the series and was the
first real introduction to the art of swing bowling.
Trumble
also captained his side in the last two Tests.
Clem
Hill scored a total of 521 runs in the series at
an average of 52.10
Noble
led the number of wickets taken (32) beating Trumble
by 4 |
