Mike Smith took over as captain from Ted Dexter for the England tour to Australia in 1964. Bobby Simpson, Australia's captain struggled with injury and illness, and for the first and third Test, Brian Booth stood in as home captain.

Doug Walters made his debut in Brisbane and along with Bill Lawry, marked his debut with a Test century, Lawry scoring 166 and Walters 155 and Australia scored 443 for 6 declared. England were forced to follow on after scoring only 280 in their first innings, however with 1 1.2 days lost to rain the game was drawn.

Melbourne produced the second draw of the series as both sides posted high scores, Australia scoring 358 and England taking a lead with 558. Cowper was unfortunate as he fell one short of his Test century, Edrich and Cowdrey both taking it one further to post centuries in England's big first innings. In reply Burge and Walters scored centuries to ensure the draw, 4 centuries were scored in the match.

At Sydney, Boycott and Barber were sent in and scored a 234 run partnership for the first wicket. Barber while scoring 185 became the highest scoring Englishman on the first day of a test match in Australia. Hawke was once again the pick of the bowlers (7 for 105) but thanks to Edrich's second successive century England posted 488. Brown then took 5 wickets to dismiss Australia for 221 forcing the home side to follow on. With the wicket taking spin, Australia's task was made impossible and they fell to an innings and 93 run defeat.

The roles were reversed at Adelaide as England were all out for only 241 runs, Mckenzie taking 6 wickets for 48 runs. In reply Australia scored 516. Simpson, back as captain after illness scored a double century and Lawry scoring another century put the game clearly out of reach for the tourists. Jeff Jones did the greatest amount of damage in England's second innings taking 6 for 118. England fell to an innings and 9 run defeat.

With the series all square, the Ashes were still available to both sides, Australia only needing a draw to retain the prize. Things were looking good for England after the visitors scored 485 runs in their first innings. Australia weren't to be outdone however and they posted 543 runs for 8 declared, Cowper (who had earlier in the series failed to register his century by 1 run) scoring a magnificent 307 - the only triple century scored by an Australian at home. The game ended in a draw with wally Grout ending his Test career with 187 dismissals and at the time a record for an Australian.

The series drawn, Australia had once again retained the Ashes.