England sent a strong team to Australia in 1911 - 1912, once again Pelham Warner was captain but only because Fry had made up his mind not to go, although he kept the MCC guessing. Unfortunately Warner (or Plum as he was affectionately known) became ill before the first Test and Douglas (who had never played for England before) was named captain for all five Tests.

Douglas immediately came under fire for his decision not to open the bowling with the experienced Barnes. Trumper (seen to the left here) was in command from the time he stepped onto the field and at the end of the first day's play, Australia were 5 for 317, Trumper on 95 not out. Trumper went on to score 113 and Australia made a first innings score of 447. England fell 129 runs short after their innings, Douglas getting a duck on his first Test innings and Hearne also on debut scored the top score of 76. Australia then scored 308 in their second innings with Foster taking 5 wickets and Douglas 4. England fell short in their second innings thanks mainly to the superb bowling by Hordern of 7 - 90. Australia won the first Test by 146 runs.

England fought back at Melbourne or rather Barnes was finally given the new ball by Douglas and showed what had been missing at Sydney. He took four wickets conceding only one run after five overs, and five for six after 11! Australia fought back thanks mainly to an unbeaten 49 by the bowling hero of the first Test Hordern to 184. Hearne then scored a century and at under 21 years of age became the youngest Englishman to do so, until Compton came along) and saw England score 265. Australia played better in the second innings, and fell one run short of 300, Armstrong top scored with 90. England only needed 219 runs to win and made them easily, thanks to Hobbs making his first Test century against Australia, England winning by 8 wickets.

England's batting in the third Test at Adelaide was far too strong for the home side. In reply to Australia's 133 (Barnes and Foster bowling them out) England scored 501, Hobbs being the main contributor with back to back centuries of 187. Australia rallied in their second innings and scored 476 thanks to a knock of 98 from Clem Hill (his 5th Test score between 96 & 99), but unfortunately for them it was not enough as England won by 7 wickets.

Barnes and Foster again bowled out Australia after Douglas had put them in to bat. In reply to Australia's 191, Hobbs and Rhodes re wrote the record books as they put on 323 for the first wicket. (Still a record in Ashes cricket today). England went on to score 589 and was to prove too much of an ask for Australia as they crumbled to an innings and 225 run defeat. One point of note, Hobbs had now scored 3 centuries in 3 matches.

The 5th and final Test was played at Sydney with England again dominating the game. Australia requiring 363 runs to win in their final innings fell short by 71 runs, England therefore winning the series by 4 games to 1. Barnes's 34 wickets in the series was a record. In this final match of the series, both Hill and Trumper announced their retirements from the game, and at the time were the only batsmen to score 3,000 Test runs. Hobbs without a doubt was the best batsman on show as he finished the series on an average of 82.75 and a total of 662 runs were scored,