Many considered the 1948 Australian touring party as the finest ever assembled at anytime and anyplace in the world. It was also to be the swansong for Donald Bradman. Bradman once again captained the side and amongst his army of men were Lindwall, Johnston and Miller, a fast ball trio of great repute. They were also helped by the experimental rule of a new ball being made available every 55 overs.

Trent Bridge were again the hosts for the first Test match and England were soon bowled out for 165 runs, Laker top scoring with 63. Johnston took 5 wickets in the innings costing only 36 runs. Thanks mainly to Bradman (138) and Hassett (137) Australia in reply managed 509 runs and put the pressure very much on the home side. Compton scored a magnificent century (184) and Hutton scored a defiant 74 to take the home total to a much more respectful 441 all out. Australia were required to bat again and with the loss of two wickets, scored the 98 runs required to win, Barnes scoring 64 of the runs.

Lord's beckoned for the second match in the series and Australia batted first and made 350 runs, Arthur Morris scoring 105. In reply England only managed 215, thanks mainly to Lindwall's effort with the ball, taking 5 wickets for 70 runs. With a lead of 135, Barnes (141) and Bradman (89) took the game out of England's hands and declared at 7 for 460. England were therefore set 596 runs to win and fell short by 410 runs. Toshack took 5 for 40 and the home side found themselves 2 - 0 down in the series after only two matches.

The third Test at Old Trafford was a bit of an anticlimax after the first two Tests. England batted first and Compton who had earlier injured himself after hooking a bouncer into his forehead continued to score a brave 145 not out. They reached 363 all out. Australia in reply struggled for the first time in the series and managed to score 221 runs, Morris the only man to reach 50. A day was lost due to the rain and the match was destined to end in a draw. One piece of news from the match was Barnes's injury. After receiving a blow to his stomach from a Pollard shot, he tried to continue but then spent 10 days in hospital.

At Headingley, Australia were once again dominant. However, after posting 496 in their first innings England could have been excused in thinking they had the game safe, especially after they had passed 400 with the loss of only two wickets! In reply the visitors scored 458 with a solid performance throughout, only Harvey scored a century and that was on his first match against England. England went out and declared on the final morning leaving Australia to score 404 in just under 6 hours. Arthur Morris and Bradman combined well, and scored 301 runs in 217 minutes for the second wicket and only lost another in their magnificent run chase.

The Oval saw Australia's biggest win of the series as the visitors ran out winners by an innings and 149 runs. Lindwall took 6 wickets at a cost of only 20 runs in England's first innings and they crumbled to 52 all out. Australia then piled on the pressure by scoring 389 runs, thanks mainly to a superb 196 by Arthur Morris, who was on the best form of his life. The knock took his series tally to 696 runs at an average of 87. Bradman had a poor series by his standard and only scored 508 runs at an average of 72.57.

Bradman only required 4 runs in his final Test innings to achieve a test average of 100 runs. The huge crowd as well as receiving three cheers by the English team cheered him all the way to the crease. Unfortunately as history tells us, he was bowled second ball by Hollies for a duck and failed to get the 4 runs needed.