When cricket or rather the great rivalry between England and Australia resumed after the Second World War, both Bradman and Hammond had retained their respective captaincies. Bradman wasn't sure he was fit enough to play in the series and had seriously considered retiring from Test cricket.

The first match was played at Brisbane and would be remembered for one reason, an umpiring decision which went in Bradman's favour, and in so doing let the Australian public continue to watch the great man in action. As mentioned earlier, Bradman was unsure as to whether he wanted to carry on playing. Had he been given out to a catch claimed in the gully when he was on 28, he would have ended his playing association with Australia and the World at the end of the Test. As it turned out, he went on to add 276 with Hassett (128) and scored 187 himself. Australia had further pieces of luck as England were forced to follow on and both times they batted they followed thunderstorms which made the Brisbane pitch a lottery. Miller took 7 wickets in the first innings and Toshack took 7 wickets in the second as Australia recorded their biggest win over England by an innings and 302 runs.

England batted first at Sydney and with Johnson taking 6 wickets for 42 runs, soon found themselves back in the pavilion all out for 255, Edrich top scoring with 71. Once again Bradman showed his true class as both he and Barnes scored 234 runs and sharing in a partnership of 405 for the 5th wicket, a record which still stands today. In reply to Australia's 659 for 8 declared, only Edrich showed resistance by scoring 119 as England slumped to their second defeat of the series by and innings ad 33 runs.

The third test at Melbourne was to serve as a record Test match. It ended in a drawn game and because of this became the first drawn Test match in Australia for 65 years, and yes that is still a record !!

Adelaide hosted the fourth Test match and once again it was a drawn match. England batted first and Compton scored 147 out of a total of 460 all out. In reply Australia made 487 with Keith Miller and Morris both scoring centuries. Compton again scored a century in England's second innings, and they eventually declared at 340 for 6 wickets. Like Compton, Morris scored another century in Australia's 1 for 215. Both men had scored centuries in both innings of the test match and it is the only time opposition players have done this in a Test match. One interesting fact to come from the match was that Godfrey Evans batted for 97 minutes before scoring.

The series won and the Ashes retained Bradman's third successive defence, the final Test took place in Sydney. Hammond couldn't play due to fibrosis and Yardley took over the reigns as England captain. Hammond was another casualty for England as he contracted tonsillitis overnight while he was on 122 not out. Even with a lead of 27 from the first innings England failed to turn this small advantage into a victory and ended the series by loosing the final Test match.

Once again Bradman topped the batting averages by scoring 680 runs in the serie at an average of 97.14.