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English cricket team in Australia in 1950–51

Freddie Brown captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1950–51, playing as England in the 1950-51 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. They were regarded as a weak team - some critics wanted to cancel the tour - and failed to regain the Ashes. However, these facts do not tell the whole story as the inspirational Brown exposed flaws in the powerful Australian team. By winning the Fifth and final Test he ended Australia's record of 26 Tests without defeat and paved the way for England's victories in 1953, 1954-55 and 1956.

The England touring team in Australian in 1950-51 (from left to right): rear row: Bill Ferguson (scorer), Bob Berry, Arthur McIntyre (wk), Trevor Bailey, Gilbert Parkhouse and Eric Hollies; middle row: John Dewes, David Sheppard, John Warr, Alec Bedser, Brian Close, Reg Simpson and Doug Wright; and front row: Brigadier Michael Green (manager), Cyril Washbrook, Denis Compton (vc), Freddie Brown (c), Len Hutton, Godfrey Evans (wk) and John Nash (assistant-manager).

Selection

The 1950-51 side under Freddie Brown...was full of inexperienced players and we paid the penalty. I'm sure if we had selected one or two solid players such as Jack Robertson, Dennis Brookes, Jack Ikin and Bill Edrich we would have won the Ashes - in spite of once again being caught on a glue-pot at Brisbane. Two Tests were lost by a very small margin and we won the last. In addition Denis Compton was a complete failure in the Tests, scoring only 53 runs in four matches. In spite of the critics the bowling proved adequate and Freddie Brown did a grand job in view of the shortcomings of the side. To me the annoying part was that we had players in England who could have won the series for us.[1]

Alec Bedser

In selecting their team for Australia the MCC selectors (Sir Pelham Warner, Harry Altham, Gubby Allen, Les Ames, William Findlay, Tom Pearce, Walter Robins, Brian Sellers and Bob Wyatt) made the mistake on relying on experience on one hand and youth on the other, but with little between. In this they were not helped by the hole left in English cricket by the Second World War, but only three players (Godfrey Evans, Trevor Bailey and Reg Simpson) were aged between 26 and 31 and could be said to be at their prime; nine of the players were 32 or more and six 26 or less.[2] The captain Freddie Brown had last toured Australia in 1932–33 with Douglas Jardine and Len Hutton, Cyril Washbrook, Denis Compton, Doug Wright, Alec Bedser and Godfrey Evans in 1946-47 under Wally Hammond; the rest of the team had never travelled down under. Bill Edrich who had made a gutsy 462 runs (46.20) in 1946-47 and would tour Australia again in 1954–55, but was out of favour at Lord's (he was being divorced, and such things counted in the 1950s) and had had an injury-struck season. The two biggest wicket-takers of 1950 were the top spinners Jim Laker and Johnny Wardle.[3] Laker had taken an astounding 8/2 in the 1950 Bradford Test Trial, but his brand of off-spin was deemed too slow for the hard Australian pitches and he was not chosen for the 1954-55 tour either.[4] In the 1956 Ashes series he took 46 wickets (9.60) including 19/90 at Old Trafford and when he finally toured Australia in 1958-59 he took 15 wickets (21.20). The Yorkshireman Johnny Wardle was also left behind, but would finish with 102 Test wickets (20.39) with his combination of Slow Left Arm bowling and Chinamen. To be fair to the selectors Laker had only taken 32 Test wickets (37.34) at the time and Wardle just 2 (56.50). The MCC were committed to a youth policy that consistently failed them. In 1950 they relied overly on young undergraduates from Cambridge University and had lost 3–1 to the West Indies as a result. A continuation of this policy was unlikely to succeed in Australia, but John Dewes, David Sheppard and John Warr were chosen for the tour along with the young professionals Brian Close, Gilbert Parkhouse and Bob Berry. They all failed when faced with real class and only served to increase the burden on the senior players. Remembering his torrid time in 1946-47 Cyril Washbrook declined to tour when selected, but was later flown out with Roy Tattersall and Brian Statham. Washbrook's fears were full realised, Tattersall failed and Statham would not make his Test debut until the party reached New Zealand. Freddie Brown was the selector's third choice to lead the tour, after Norman Yardley of Yorkshire and George Mann of Middlesex both declined the job and he was only chosen as Lord's was determined to have an amateur captain. It was a thankless job as even with the retirement of the great Don Bradman it was clear that Australia were the stronger team and would be hard to beat on their own ground. They had defeated Wally Hammond 3–0 in 1946-47 and Yardley 4–0 in 1948 and England had not won a Test against them in twelve years.[5][6][7][8]

Managers

There were two managers of equal rank; Brigadier Michael Green, a career Army officer who had played for Gloucester and Essex and was the Secretary of Worcestershire County Cricket Club, was in charge of the social calendar and public relations,[9] and John Nash, Secretary of Yorkshire County Cricket Club since 1931, controlled the finances. This was the last tour of the 70-year-old scorer Bill Ferguson, who had toured with the MCC since 1907-08 and devised the famous Ferguson Charts which gave greater details than other scorecards, noting who bowled each ball, who batted and where it was fielded. He also invented the radial scoring chart which show the directions in which a batsman scored his runs.[5][10][11][12]

Captain

England's popular captain did a magnificent job both as an individual unit of the Test team and as captain of it. His unstinted devotion to his job and the unselfish manner in which he delved in with a will when the going was hardest won the admiration of all Australian enthusiasts and met a fitting reward when England emerged victorious from the Fifth Test at the end of the tour.

Bill O'Reilly[13]
 
England's captain Freddie Brown.

Frederick Richard Brown was a veteran of Douglas Jardine's Bodyline side of 1932-33 and was Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1933. Born in Peru and educated in Chile and Cambridge University he was a big-hearted, self-confident red-headed all-rounder usually seen wearing a white silk handkerchief round his neck, with a big grin and an avuncular pipe. Over six feet tall and weighing 15 stone (over 200lbs or 100 kilos) he loved to attack the bowling. Captured with Bill Bowes at Tobruk in 1942 Brown spent most of the Second World War in prisoner-of-war camps in Italy and Germany, where they organised games of cricket, baseball and rugby and lost over 60lbs (30 kilos) before being liberated by the Americans. A leg-spinner for Surrey before the war he became a medium-paced seamer in the late 1940s and organised cricket while working as a welfare officer in a Doncaster colliery. When the coal mines were nationalised Brown lost his job and became the captain and assistant-secretary of Northamptonshire County Cricket Club in 1949. From being in seventeenth and last place in the County Championship in 1948 (and failing to win a county match between 1934 and 1939) Brown led Northants to sixth place in 1949. He was rotated in the England captaincy in 1949–50 with George Mann and Norman Yardley without success. He drew twice against a weak New Zealand in 1949 and lost to the West Indies in 1950. After Mann and Yardley had turned down the Ashes tour Brown impressed the selectors by hitting a six into the Lord's Pavilion while smashing 122 out of 131 runs inside two hours as captain in the Gentlemen v Players match, followed with three quick wickets, and he was offered the post the same afternoon. This was still the age when the England captain had to be a gentleman, even if he was a 'passenger' in the team, Brown having made only 233 runs (23.30) and taken 14 wickets (40.79) in his 9 Tests. Despite his age (he turned 40 on tour) Brown had the most successful series of any England captain in Australia;[14] Taking 18 wickets (21.61) and making 210 runs (26.25), third in the batting averages (behind Len Hutton and Reg Simpson) and in the bowling averages (behind Trevor Bailey and Alec Bedser). Brown's jovial bonhomie and refusal to admit defeat won him many fans in Australia and he was a magnificent ambassador for the game, a role which the MCC regarded quite as important as sporting success, and the scorer Bill Ferguson said it was the easiest, happiest tour he had been on for over 40 years.[15] After losing 4–1 to Australia he won 1–0 in New Zealand and beat South Africa 3–1 at home in 1951. At 42 he was recalled to the England team for the 1953 Lord's Test, where took 4/82 and hit 50 runs to ensure a vital draw in the year England regained the Ashes. Like many amateur captains he was happy to take advice from the senior professional and 'Brown conferred with Len Hutton before he made a bowling change...there was little room for doubt...that Brown had tremendous respect for Hutton's advice on the cricket field',[16] as well he should as the Yorkshireman was recognised as 'a tactical genius, whose advice was often sought',[17] Actually making a northern professional vice-captain was a step too far and this office was granted to the debonair Middlesex batsman Denis Compton, the first professional cricketer to hold that office in living memory. Though Brown also conferred with Compton on the field, it was only after he had spoken to Hutton. The young Trevor Bailey surprised everybody by drawing up plans for dismissing and containing every Australian batsmen, which were used to great effect in the series.[5][10][11][12]

Batting

All Australia honoured Hutton as the world's best batsman, and never did a man play harder or more successfully on his country's behalf...One man cannot make a cricket team, but Len Hutton did the next best thing in Australia last winter. He stood alone. Superb in craftsmanship, magnificent in the hour of stress, veritably a giant among all batsmen and worthy of ranking with such famous names as Hobbs, Sutcliffe, Woolley, Hammond...they were masters of all they surveyed. So was Hutton.

John Kay[18]

Rarely has the batting of a team been so dominated by one man as Len Hutton did the England side of 1950–51. He made 533 runs at an average of 88.83, 50 runs more than the next man Reg Simpson (38.77) and all the others except Freddie Brown (26.25) averaged under 20. He had broken his left arm in an accident on a commando course while a sergeant in the Army Physical Training Corps in the war and after an operation using 46 stitches, grafting bone from his leg onto his arm, which was left 2 inches (5 cm) shorter and weaker than his right.[19] He was forced to review his technique and use a lightened bat, but his defence was flawless and he was an expert on 'sticky dogs' like Brisbane and averaged higher in post-war Tests than in his youth, when he had made the record score of 364 at the Oval in 1938. The Yorkshireman was saddled with the heavy burden of knowing that England depended on his skill and was the prime target of the Australian fast bowlers Keith Miller and Ray Lindwall. Of Jack Iverson Hutton told Miller "Ah'll show thee how to play 'im", but never quite fathomed his mystery spin.[20] England had one other great batsmen, the 'golden boy' Denis Compton whose heroic strokeplay had enthralled the crowds in 1946-47 and 1948. Unlike Hutton he had no inhibition about playing his shots, but had spent much of 1950 suffering from the knee injury that would plague his career. He went on the tour against the advice of his doctor, who warned that his leg may be immobilised and took pain-killing drugs throughout the visit. It is unlikely that any batsman has had such a checked tour as Compton in 1950–51, he averaged 7.57 in the Tests and 92.11 in the other First Class matches, a difference of nearly 85 runs. His loss of form at the highest level was a severe blow to England's chances. Reg Simpson came a poor second to Hutton in the Test averages, his 349 runs (38.77) being almost entirely dependent on his 156 not out on his 31st birthday in the Fifth and final Test. This innings was the finest of his career, first adding 131 with Hutton and 64 out of a stand of 74 for the last wicket to put England 103 runs ahead and gave them their first victory against Australia since 1938. It was the highest score of his Test career and he also made 269, his highest First Class hundred against the Sheffield Shield Champions New South Wales. He was a fearless and effective player of fast bowling, but had a habit of getting out to spin bowlers, who he regarded with contempt. Hutton's regular opening partner was the Lancashire stalwart Cyril Washbrook, with whom he added 359 against South Africa in 1948–49, still a record opening stand for England. He averaged over 50 against Don Bradman's 1948 Australians, but couldn't handle the mystery spin of Jack Iverson. Apart from the captain's own efforts - Freddie Brown came third in the England Test averages with 210 runs at 26.25 - the rest of the England batting was woefully poor. John Dewes had amassed 1,262 runs (78.88) for Cambridge and 739 (61.58) for Middlesex in 1950 with defensive prods and pushes.[21] For Cambridge he added 343 vs the West Indies and 349 vs Sussex with David Sheppard, but they fared worse when not playing on the friendly wicket at Fenner's. Sheppard is best remembered for taking holy orders, becoming the first Reverend to play Test cricket, becoming captain of Sussex and England and later Bishop of Liverpool. Gilbert Parkhouse was a Welsh middle order batsman who was sent in to open for Glamorgan in 1950 and made such as success of it that he broke the county record by making seven centuries in a season. The teenage Brian Close was chosen after he took 100 wickets and made 1,000 runs in 1949 and became England's youngest ever player aged 18 years and 149 days.[22] Despite respectable all-round figures Close never reached the heights expected of him in Test cricket, though his tough, uncompromising, captaincy of Yorkshire, Somerset and England would become the stuff of legend. Trevor Bailey's barnacle-like qualities were already apparent and this notorious stonewaller tended to substitute stubbornness for strokeplay, though he made few runs in this series.[23][24][25][26]

Bowling

With thirty Test Match wickets to his name, Alec Bedser founded England's eventual success. He toiled for hours without complaint, and never once looked annoyed at the missing of a catch, or at a rejected l.b.w. appeal. A great bowler, and an example to all who aspire to cricketing fame. The schoolboys who cheered him, and the elderly folk who applauded politely, all realised one thing. In Alec Bedser England had the best bowler Australia had seen for years, and friend and foe alike admitted the fact.

John Kay[27]

Alec Bedser dominated the England bowling (and the Australian batsmen) as much as Len Hutton did the batting and by the end of the tour the Australians rated him the best new-ball bowler in the world.[28] He sent down almost twice as many overs as anybody else in the Tests and took 30 wickets (16.06), including 10/105 in England's final victory at Melbourne. Bedser carried the England bowling on his broad back against in the 1940s and 1950s with a long list of short-term new-ball partners. His huge hands and powerful shoulders allowed him to bowl a lethal combination of in-swingers and leg-cutters off a short run-up and only Keith Miller - briefly - was able to cut loose from his control. In 1950–51 series he did have the support of his captain Freddie Brown, another big medium paced bowler, who surprised everybody by taking 18 wickets (21.61) despite celebrating his 40th birthday on the tour. There was also Trevor Bailey who took 14 wickets (14.14) with his naggingly accurate out-swingers that mirrored his monotonous batting as he settled on containing batsmen, but could be dangerous in the right conditions. After these three the quality of the England bowling dropped dramatically, for which the selectors must bear the brunt of the blame. Doug Wright was a mercurial leg-spinner who the MCC liked sent on tour instead of Jim Laker because he was more suited to the harder wickets abroad. He was potential match-winner, but he liked to buy his wickets and asking him to bowl was always a gamble as he could equally snap up a few quick wickets, concede a slew of runs, or both.[29] Eric Hollies bowled one of the most famous balls in cricket when his googly dismissed Don Bradman for a duck in his last Test innings, but the Warwickshire leg-spinner was not a great turner of the ball, instead relying on line and length. Unfortunately the 1950-51 tour was the first to use extensive air travel.[30] Hollies was scared stiff of flying and had to be drunk before he could get on a plane.[31] He failed to turn the ball on Australian wickets and was kept out of the team by Wright.[32] Roy Tattersall and Bob Berry were off-spinners who were supposed to tie down the Australian batsmen, but like many of their kind failed to adjust to the faster, harder Australian pitches.[29] John Warr quickly proved himself to be the worst player in the team, he took only one test wicket - for 281 runs - when Ian Johnson walked after the umpire declined to give him out, an almost unheard of practice in Australia at the time. He improved his game during the tour, but was never more than a decent county bowler.[33] Let loose from the hard life at Yorkshire and the Army Brian Close was undisciplined and failed on a tour for which he should not have been chosen.[23][24][25][26]

Fielding

It was not only that catches were missed. The picking up was slovenly and the returns to the wicket badly directed. There was no anticipation or cutting off of runs by the men in the deep, and quite often Brown had to halt a bowler in his run-up to direct a fieldsmen to his proper position.

John Kay[34]

England failed to match the Australians' high standards of fielding and were nicknamed Brown's Cows by the Australian barrackers.[35] They dropped six catches in a match against Victoria and made frequent mistakes in the state matches. However, they made a considerable improvement in the Tests with "...first class work in the field, in direct contrast to the slovenly and often lackadaisical displays in the previous games of the tour".[36] Even so, they never reached the heights of catching and fielding displayed by the Australian team. Both Brown and Alec Bedser weighted 15 stone (over 200 lb or 100 kilos) and were particularly ungainly in the field, but their bucket-like hands picked up 9 catches and Brown twice caught and bowled Keith Miller. Godfrey Evans was the outstanding wicket-keeper of his generation whose enthusiasm could energise a fielding team and always entertained the crowd with his antics. His deputy was Arthur McIntyre, who kept wicket for Alec Bedser, Jim Laker and Tony Lock in the Surrey side that would win the County Championship seven times in a row in 1952–58. Len Hutton was a good slip and would pick up 9 catches in the series and Trevor Bailey took some great catches in the gully. Unfortunately the MCC had no other slip fielders and they were joined by Gilbert Parkhouse, who hated the role and frequently dropped catches.[37] John Dewes was a good outfielder, but the rest of the team failed to impress and a picture of John Warr was used to illustrate how not to take catches.[23][24][25][26][38]

MCC Touring Team

By the convention of the time gentleman amateurs have their initials in front of their surname and professional players have their initials after their name, if their initials were used at all.[39][40]

Test Statistics of the England Cricket Team in Australia 1950-51
Name County Age Role Tests Runs Highest Average 100s 50s Ct St Wickets Best Average 5 Wt 10 Wt
Brigadier M.A. Green Worcs 59 Joint Manager
J.H. Nash Yorkshire 44 Joint Manager
Ferguson, W. 70 Scorer and Baggage Man
Hutton, L. Yorkshire 34 Right-Handed Opening Batsman 79 6971 364 56.67 19 33 57 3 1/2 77.33
W.G.A. Parkhouse Glamorgan 25 Right-Handed Opening Batsman 7 373 78 28.69 2 3
D.S. Sheppard Sussex
and Cambridge
21 Right-Handed Opening Batsman 22 1172 119 37.80 3 6 12
R.T. Simpson Notts 30 Right-Handed Opening Batsman 23 1401 156* 33.45 4 6 5 3 2/4 11.00
Washbrook, C. Lancashire 35 Right-Handed Opening Batsman 37 2569 195 42.81 6 12 12 1 1/25 33.00
Compton, D.C.S. (vc) Middlesex 32 Right-Handed Top Order Batsman 78 5807 278 50.06 17 28 49 25 5/70 56.40 1
J.G. Dewes Middlesex
and Cambridge
24 Left-Handed Top Order Batsman 5 121 67 12.10 1
Evans, T.G. Kent 29 Wicket-Keeper 91 2439 104 20.49 2 8 173 46
McIntyre, A.J.W. Surrey 32 Wicket-Keeper 3 19 7 3.16 8
T.E. Bailey Essex 26 Right-Arm fast–medium Bowler 61 2290 134* 29.74 1 10 32 132 7/34 29.21 5 1
Statham, J.B. Lancashire 20 Right-Arm fast–medium Bowler 51 675 38 11.44 28 252 7/39 24.84 9 1
J.J. Warr Middlesex
and Cambridge
23 Right-Arm fast–medium Bowler 2 4 4 1.00 1 1/76 281.00
Bedser, A.V. Surrey 32 Right-Arm medium-fast Bowler 51 714 79 12.75 1 26 236 7/44 24.89 15 5
F.R. Brown (c) Northants 39 Right-Arm medium Bowler
Leg-Spin Bowler
22 734 79 25.31 5 22 45 5/49 31.06 1
Close, D.B. Yorkshire 19 Right-Arm medium Bowler
Off-Spin Bowler
22 887 70 25.34 4 24 18 4/35 29.55
Hollies, W.E. Warwicks 38 Leg-Spin Bowler 13 37 18* 5.28 44 7/50 30.27 5
Wright, D.V.P. Kent 36 Leg-Spin Bowler 34 289 45* 11.11 10 108 7/105 39.11 6 1
Bedser, E.A. Surrey 32 Off-Spin Bowler
Tattersall, R. Lancashire 28 Off-Spin Bowler 16 50 10* 5.00 8 58 7/52 26.08 4 1
Berry, R. Lancashire 24 Slow Left Arm Bowler 2 6 4* 3.00 2 9 5/63 25.33 1

First Test – Brisbane

1–4 December 1950
scorecard
  Australia won by 70 runs
Brisbane Cricket Ground, Woolloongabba, Australia
Umpires: A.N. Barlow (AUS) & H.A.R. Elphinstone (AUS)
  • 2 December

See Main Article - 1950-51 Ashes series

Second Test – Melbourne

22–27 December 1950
scorecard
  Australia won by 28 runs
Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
Umpires: G.S. Cooper (AUS) & R.J.J. Wright (AUS)

See Main Article - 1950-51 Ashes series

Third Test – Sydney

5–9 January 1951
scorecard
  Australia won by an innings and 13 runs
Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
Umpires: A.N. Barlow (AUS) & H.A.R. Elphinstone (AUS)

See Main Article - 1950-51 Ashes series

Fourth Test – Adelaide

2–8 February
scorecard
  Australia won by 274 runs
Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, Australia
Umpires: A.N. Barlow (AUS) & A.R. Cocks (AUS)

See Main Article - 1950-51 Ashes series

Fifth Test – Melbourne

23–28 February 1951
scorecard
  England won by 8 wickets
Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
Umpires: A.N. Barlow (AUS) & H.A.R. Elphinstone (AUS)

See Main Article - 1950-51 Ashes series

Ceylon

The English team had a stopover in Colombo en route to Australia and played a one-day single-innings match there against the Ceylon national team, which at that time did not have Test status.[41]

References

Notes

  1. ^ p8, Alec Bedser, May's Men in Australia, the M.C.C. Tour 1958-59, Stanley Paul, 1959
  2. ^ p70, Swanton
  3. ^ p69, Swanton
  4. ^ p146, Andrew Ward, Cricket's Strangest Matches, Robson Books, 2001
  5. ^ a b c pp70-71, Swanton
  6. ^ pp22-26, pp214-228, Fingleton
  7. ^ p402, Colin Frith, Pageant of Cricket, Macmillan Company of Australia, 1987
  8. ^ pp9-12, O'Reilly
  9. ^ p149, Kay
  10. ^ a b pp27-36, pp214-228 Fingleton
  11. ^ a b pp81-83, Kay
  12. ^ a b pp9-12 & pp153-155, O'Reilly
  13. ^ p153, O'Reilly
  14. ^ p80, Swanton
  15. ^ pp80-81, Swanton
  16. ^ p25, O'Reilly
  17. ^ p14, Kay
  18. ^ pp14-15, Kay
  19. ^ p47, Cary
  20. ^ p84, Keith Miller, Cricket Crossfire, Olbourne Press, 1956
  21. ^ p402, Frith
  22. ^ p396, Frith
  23. ^ a b c pp214-228 Fingleton
  24. ^ a b c pp13-27, Kay
  25. ^ a b c pp9-15 & pp153-168, O'Reilly
  26. ^ a b c pp80-82, Swanton
  27. ^ p16, Kay
  28. ^ p13, Kay
  29. ^ a b pp22-23, Kay
  30. ^ p61, Kay
  31. ^ p56, Frank Tyson, In the Eye of the Typhoon, The Parrs Wood Press, 204
  32. ^ p26, Kay
  33. ^ pp21-22, Kay
  34. ^ p99, Kay
  35. ^ p10, Freddi
  36. ^ p128, Kay
  37. ^ p25, Kay
  38. ^ p400, Frith
  39. ^ p42, p56, p68, Ashley Brown, The Pictorial History of Cricket, Bison Books, 1988.
  40. ^ p14 and p97, Fred Titmus, My Life in Cricket, John Blake Publishing Ltd, 2005
  41. ^ "Ceylon v MCC 1950". CricketArchive. Retrieved 3 July 2014.

Sources

  • J.H. Fingleton, Brown and Company, The Tour in Australia, Collins, 1951
  • John Kay, Ashes to Hassett, A review of the M.C.C. tour of Australia, 1950-51, John Sherratt & Son, 1951
  • W.J. O'Reilly, Cricket Task-Force, The Story of the 1950-51 Australian Tour, Werner Laurie, 1951
  • E.W. Swanton, Swanton in Australia with MCC 1946-1975, Fontana/Collins, 1975
References using Cricinfo or Wisden may require free registration for access.

Further reading

  • John Arlott, John Arlott's 100 Greatest Batsmen, MacDonald Queen Anne Press, 1986
  • Peter Arnold, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Cricket, W. H. Smith, 1985
  • Ashley Brown, The Pictorial History of Cricket, Bison, 1988
  • Bill Frindall, The Wisden Book of Test Cricket 1877-1978, Wisden, 1979
  • Tom Graveney and Norman Miller, The Ten Greatest Test Teams Sidgewick and Jackson, 1988
  • Gideon Haigh, Mystery Spinner: The Story of Jack Iverson, Aurum Press Ltd, 2002
  • Chris Harte, A History of Australian Cricket, Andre Deutsch, 1993
  • Alan Hill, The Bedsers: Twinning Triumphs, Mainstream Publishing, 2002
  • Keith Miller, Cricket Crossfire, Oldbourne Press, 1956
  • Ray Robinson, On Top Down Under, Cassell, 1975
  • E.W. Swanton (ed), Barclay's World of Cricket, Willow, 1986

External links

  • CricketArchive tour itinerary

english, cricket, team, australia, 1950, freddie, brown, captained, playing, england, 1950, ashes, series, against, australians, their, other, matches, tour, they, were, regarded, weak, team, some, critics, wanted, cancel, tour, failed, regain, ashes, however,. Freddie Brown captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1950 51 playing as England in the 1950 51 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour They were regarded as a weak team some critics wanted to cancel the tour and failed to regain the Ashes However these facts do not tell the whole story as the inspirational Brown exposed flaws in the powerful Australian team By winning the Fifth and final Test he ended Australia s record of 26 Tests without defeat and paved the way for England s victories in 1953 1954 55 and 1956 The England touring team in Australian in 1950 51 from left to right rear row Bill Ferguson scorer Bob Berry Arthur McIntyre wk Trevor Bailey Gilbert Parkhouse and Eric Hollies middle row John Dewes David Sheppard John Warr Alec Bedser Brian Close Reg Simpson and Doug Wright and front row Brigadier Michael Green manager Cyril Washbrook Denis Compton vc Freddie Brown c Len Hutton Godfrey Evans wk and John Nash assistant manager Contents 1 Selection 2 Managers 3 Captain 4 Batting 5 Bowling 6 Fielding 7 MCC Touring Team 8 First Test Brisbane 9 Second Test Melbourne 10 Third Test Sydney 11 Fourth Test Adelaide 12 Fifth Test Melbourne 13 Ceylon 14 References 14 1 Notes 14 2 Sources 14 3 Further reading 15 External linksSelection EditThe 1950 51 side under Freddie Brown was full of inexperienced players and we paid the penalty I m sure if we had selected one or two solid players such as Jack Robertson Dennis Brookes Jack Ikin and Bill Edrich we would have won the Ashes in spite of once again being caught on a glue pot at Brisbane Two Tests were lost by a very small margin and we won the last In addition Denis Compton was a complete failure in the Tests scoring only 53 runs in four matches In spite of the critics the bowling proved adequate and Freddie Brown did a grand job in view of the shortcomings of the side To me the annoying part was that we had players in England who could have won the series for us 1 Alec Bedser In selecting their team for Australia the MCC selectors Sir Pelham Warner Harry Altham Gubby Allen Les Ames William Findlay Tom Pearce Walter Robins Brian Sellers and Bob Wyatt made the mistake on relying on experience on one hand and youth on the other but with little between In this they were not helped by the hole left in English cricket by the Second World War but only three players Godfrey Evans Trevor Bailey and Reg Simpson were aged between 26 and 31 and could be said to be at their prime nine of the players were 32 or more and six 26 or less 2 The captain Freddie Brown had last toured Australia in 1932 33 with Douglas Jardine and Len Hutton Cyril Washbrook Denis Compton Doug Wright Alec Bedser and Godfrey Evans in 1946 47 under Wally Hammond the rest of the team had never travelled down under Bill Edrich who had made a gutsy 462 runs 46 20 in 1946 47 and would tour Australia again in 1954 55 but was out of favour at Lord s he was being divorced and such things counted in the 1950s and had had an injury struck season The two biggest wicket takers of 1950 were the top spinners Jim Laker and Johnny Wardle 3 Laker had taken an astounding 8 2 in the 1950 Bradford Test Trial but his brand of off spin was deemed too slow for the hard Australian pitches and he was not chosen for the 1954 55 tour either 4 In the 1956 Ashes series he took 46 wickets 9 60 including 19 90 at Old Trafford and when he finally toured Australia in 1958 59 he took 15 wickets 21 20 The Yorkshireman Johnny Wardle was also left behind but would finish with 102 Test wickets 20 39 with his combination of Slow Left Arm bowling and Chinamen To be fair to the selectors Laker had only taken 32 Test wickets 37 34 at the time and Wardle just 2 56 50 The MCC were committed to a youth policy that consistently failed them In 1950 they relied overly on young undergraduates from Cambridge University and had lost 3 1 to the West Indies as a result A continuation of this policy was unlikely to succeed in Australia but John Dewes David Sheppard and John Warr were chosen for the tour along with the young professionals Brian Close Gilbert Parkhouse and Bob Berry They all failed when faced with real class and only served to increase the burden on the senior players Remembering his torrid time in 1946 47 Cyril Washbrook declined to tour when selected but was later flown out with Roy Tattersall and Brian Statham Washbrook s fears were full realised Tattersall failed and Statham would not make his Test debut until the party reached New Zealand Freddie Brown was the selector s third choice to lead the tour after Norman Yardley of Yorkshire and George Mann of Middlesex both declined the job and he was only chosen as Lord s was determined to have an amateur captain It was a thankless job as even with the retirement of the great Don Bradman it was clear that Australia were the stronger team and would be hard to beat on their own ground They had defeated Wally Hammond 3 0 in 1946 47 and Yardley 4 0 in 1948 and England had not won a Test against them in twelve years 5 6 7 8 Managers EditThere were two managers of equal rank Brigadier Michael Green a career Army officer who had played for Gloucester and Essex and was the Secretary of Worcestershire County Cricket Club was in charge of the social calendar and public relations 9 and John Nash Secretary of Yorkshire County Cricket Club since 1931 controlled the finances This was the last tour of the 70 year old scorer Bill Ferguson who had toured with the MCC since 1907 08 and devised the famous Ferguson Charts which gave greater details than other scorecards noting who bowled each ball who batted and where it was fielded He also invented the radial scoring chart which show the directions in which a batsman scored his runs 5 10 11 12 Captain EditEngland s popular captain did a magnificent job both as an individual unit of the Test team and as captain of it His unstinted devotion to his job and the unselfish manner in which he delved in with a will when the going was hardest won the admiration of all Australian enthusiasts and met a fitting reward when England emerged victorious from the Fifth Test at the end of the tour Bill O Reilly 13 England s captain Freddie Brown Frederick Richard Brown was a veteran of Douglas Jardine s Bodyline side of 1932 33 and was Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1933 Born in Peru and educated in Chile and Cambridge University he was a big hearted self confident red headed all rounder usually seen wearing a white silk handkerchief round his neck with a big grin and an avuncular pipe Over six feet tall and weighing 15 stone over 200lbs or 100 kilos he loved to attack the bowling Captured with Bill Bowes at Tobruk in 1942 Brown spent most of the Second World War in prisoner of war camps in Italy and Germany where they organised games of cricket baseball and rugby and lost over 60lbs 30 kilos before being liberated by the Americans A leg spinner for Surrey before the war he became a medium paced seamer in the late 1940s and organised cricket while working as a welfare officer in a Doncaster colliery When the coal mines were nationalised Brown lost his job and became the captain and assistant secretary of Northamptonshire County Cricket Club in 1949 From being in seventeenth and last place in the County Championship in 1948 and failing to win a county match between 1934 and 1939 Brown led Northants to sixth place in 1949 He was rotated in the England captaincy in 1949 50 with George Mann and Norman Yardley without success He drew twice against a weak New Zealand in 1949 and lost to the West Indies in 1950 After Mann and Yardley had turned down the Ashes tour Brown impressed the selectors by hitting a six into the Lord s Pavilion while smashing 122 out of 131 runs inside two hours as captain in the Gentlemen v Players match followed with three quick wickets and he was offered the post the same afternoon This was still the age when the England captain had to be a gentleman even if he was a passenger in the team Brown having made only 233 runs 23 30 and taken 14 wickets 40 79 in his 9 Tests Despite his age he turned 40 on tour Brown had the most successful series of any England captain in Australia 14 Taking 18 wickets 21 61 and making 210 runs 26 25 third in the batting averages behind Len Hutton and Reg Simpson and in the bowling averages behind Trevor Bailey and Alec Bedser Brown s jovial bonhomie and refusal to admit defeat won him many fans in Australia and he was a magnificent ambassador for the game a role which the MCC regarded quite as important as sporting success and the scorer Bill Ferguson said it was the easiest happiest tour he had been on for over 40 years 15 After losing 4 1 to Australia he won 1 0 in New Zealand and beat South Africa 3 1 at home in 1951 At 42 he was recalled to the England team for the 1953 Lord s Test where took 4 82 and hit 50 runs to ensure a vital draw in the year England regained the Ashes Like many amateur captains he was happy to take advice from the senior professional and Brown conferred with Len Hutton before he made a bowling change there was little room for doubt that Brown had tremendous respect for Hutton s advice on the cricket field 16 as well he should as the Yorkshireman was recognised as a tactical genius whose advice was often sought 17 Actually making a northern professional vice captain was a step too far and this office was granted to the debonair Middlesex batsman Denis Compton the first professional cricketer to hold that office in living memory Though Brown also conferred with Compton on the field it was only after he had spoken to Hutton The young Trevor Bailey surprised everybody by drawing up plans for dismissing and containing every Australian batsmen which were used to great effect in the series 5 10 11 12 Batting EditAll Australia honoured Hutton as the world s best batsman and never did a man play harder or more successfully on his country s behalf One man cannot make a cricket team but Len Hutton did the next best thing in Australia last winter He stood alone Superb in craftsmanship magnificent in the hour of stress veritably a giant among all batsmen and worthy of ranking with such famous names as Hobbs Sutcliffe Woolley Hammond they were masters of all they surveyed So was Hutton John Kay 18 Rarely has the batting of a team been so dominated by one man as Len Hutton did the England side of 1950 51 He made 533 runs at an average of 88 83 50 runs more than the next man Reg Simpson 38 77 and all the others except Freddie Brown 26 25 averaged under 20 He had broken his left arm in an accident on a commando course while a sergeant in the Army Physical Training Corps in the war and after an operation using 46 stitches grafting bone from his leg onto his arm which was left 2 inches 5 cm shorter and weaker than his right 19 He was forced to review his technique and use a lightened bat but his defence was flawless and he was an expert on sticky dogs like Brisbane and averaged higher in post war Tests than in his youth when he had made the record score of 364 at the Oval in 1938 The Yorkshireman was saddled with the heavy burden of knowing that England depended on his skill and was the prime target of the Australian fast bowlers Keith Miller and Ray Lindwall Of Jack Iverson Hutton told Miller Ah ll show thee how to play im but never quite fathomed his mystery spin 20 England had one other great batsmen the golden boy Denis Compton whose heroic strokeplay had enthralled the crowds in 1946 47 and 1948 Unlike Hutton he had no inhibition about playing his shots but had spent much of 1950 suffering from the knee injury that would plague his career He went on the tour against the advice of his doctor who warned that his leg may be immobilised and took pain killing drugs throughout the visit It is unlikely that any batsman has had such a checked tour as Compton in 1950 51 he averaged 7 57 in the Tests and 92 11 in the other First Class matches a difference of nearly 85 runs His loss of form at the highest level was a severe blow to England s chances Reg Simpson came a poor second to Hutton in the Test averages his 349 runs 38 77 being almost entirely dependent on his 156 not out on his 31st birthday in the Fifth and final Test This innings was the finest of his career first adding 131 with Hutton and 64 out of a stand of 74 for the last wicket to put England 103 runs ahead and gave them their first victory against Australia since 1938 It was the highest score of his Test career and he also made 269 his highest First Class hundred against the Sheffield Shield Champions New South Wales He was a fearless and effective player of fast bowling but had a habit of getting out to spin bowlers who he regarded with contempt Hutton s regular opening partner was the Lancashire stalwart Cyril Washbrook with whom he added 359 against South Africa in 1948 49 still a record opening stand for England He averaged over 50 against Don Bradman s 1948 Australians but couldn t handle the mystery spin of Jack Iverson Apart from the captain s own efforts Freddie Brown came third in the England Test averages with 210 runs at 26 25 the rest of the England batting was woefully poor John Dewes had amassed 1 262 runs 78 88 for Cambridge and 739 61 58 for Middlesex in 1950 with defensive prods and pushes 21 For Cambridge he added 343 vs the West Indies and 349 vs Sussex with David Sheppard but they fared worse when not playing on the friendly wicket at Fenner s Sheppard is best remembered for taking holy orders becoming the first Reverend to play Test cricket becoming captain of Sussex and England and later Bishop of Liverpool Gilbert Parkhouse was a Welsh middle order batsman who was sent in to open for Glamorgan in 1950 and made such as success of it that he broke the county record by making seven centuries in a season The teenage Brian Close was chosen after he took 100 wickets and made 1 000 runs in 1949 and became England s youngest ever player aged 18 years and 149 days 22 Despite respectable all round figures Close never reached the heights expected of him in Test cricket though his tough uncompromising captaincy of Yorkshire Somerset and England would become the stuff of legend Trevor Bailey s barnacle like qualities were already apparent and this notorious stonewaller tended to substitute stubbornness for strokeplay though he made few runs in this series 23 24 25 26 Bowling EditWith thirty Test Match wickets to his name Alec Bedser founded England s eventual success He toiled for hours without complaint and never once looked annoyed at the missing of a catch or at a rejected l b w appeal A great bowler and an example to all who aspire to cricketing fame The schoolboys who cheered him and the elderly folk who applauded politely all realised one thing In Alec Bedser England had the best bowler Australia had seen for years and friend and foe alike admitted the fact John Kay 27 Alec Bedser dominated the England bowling and the Australian batsmen as much as Len Hutton did the batting and by the end of the tour the Australians rated him the best new ball bowler in the world 28 He sent down almost twice as many overs as anybody else in the Tests and took 30 wickets 16 06 including 10 105 in England s final victory at Melbourne Bedser carried the England bowling on his broad back against in the 1940s and 1950s with a long list of short term new ball partners His huge hands and powerful shoulders allowed him to bowl a lethal combination of in swingers and leg cutters off a short run up and only Keith Miller briefly was able to cut loose from his control In 1950 51 series he did have the support of his captain Freddie Brown another big medium paced bowler who surprised everybody by taking 18 wickets 21 61 despite celebrating his 40th birthday on the tour There was also Trevor Bailey who took 14 wickets 14 14 with his naggingly accurate out swingers that mirrored his monotonous batting as he settled on containing batsmen but could be dangerous in the right conditions After these three the quality of the England bowling dropped dramatically for which the selectors must bear the brunt of the blame Doug Wright was a mercurial leg spinner who the MCC liked sent on tour instead of Jim Laker because he was more suited to the harder wickets abroad He was potential match winner but he liked to buy his wickets and asking him to bowl was always a gamble as he could equally snap up a few quick wickets concede a slew of runs or both 29 Eric Hollies bowled one of the most famous balls in cricket when his googly dismissed Don Bradman for a duck in his last Test innings but the Warwickshire leg spinner was not a great turner of the ball instead relying on line and length Unfortunately the 1950 51 tour was the first to use extensive air travel 30 Hollies was scared stiff of flying and had to be drunk before he could get on a plane 31 He failed to turn the ball on Australian wickets and was kept out of the team by Wright 32 Roy Tattersall and Bob Berry were off spinners who were supposed to tie down the Australian batsmen but like many of their kind failed to adjust to the faster harder Australian pitches 29 John Warr quickly proved himself to be the worst player in the team he took only one test wicket for 281 runs when Ian Johnson walked after the umpire declined to give him out an almost unheard of practice in Australia at the time He improved his game during the tour but was never more than a decent county bowler 33 Let loose from the hard life at Yorkshire and the Army Brian Close was undisciplined and failed on a tour for which he should not have been chosen 23 24 25 26 Fielding EditIt was not only that catches were missed The picking up was slovenly and the returns to the wicket badly directed There was no anticipation or cutting off of runs by the men in the deep and quite often Brown had to halt a bowler in his run up to direct a fieldsmen to his proper position John Kay 34 England failed to match the Australians high standards of fielding and were nicknamed Brown s Cows by the Australian barrackers 35 They dropped six catches in a match against Victoria and made frequent mistakes in the state matches However they made a considerable improvement in the Tests with first class work in the field in direct contrast to the slovenly and often lackadaisical displays in the previous games of the tour 36 Even so they never reached the heights of catching and fielding displayed by the Australian team Both Brown and Alec Bedser weighted 15 stone over 200 lb or 100 kilos and were particularly ungainly in the field but their bucket like hands picked up 9 catches and Brown twice caught and bowled Keith Miller Godfrey Evans was the outstanding wicket keeper of his generation whose enthusiasm could energise a fielding team and always entertained the crowd with his antics His deputy was Arthur McIntyre who kept wicket for Alec Bedser Jim Laker and Tony Lock in the Surrey side that would win the County Championship seven times in a row in 1952 58 Len Hutton was a good slip and would pick up 9 catches in the series and Trevor Bailey took some great catches in the gully Unfortunately the MCC had no other slip fielders and they were joined by Gilbert Parkhouse who hated the role and frequently dropped catches 37 John Dewes was a good outfielder but the rest of the team failed to impress and a picture of John Warr was used to illustrate how not to take catches 23 24 25 26 38 MCC Touring Team EditBy the convention of the time gentleman amateurs have their initials in front of their surname and professional players have their initials after their name if their initials were used at all 39 40 Test Statistics of the England Cricket Team in Australia 1950 51Name County Age Role Tests Runs Highest Average 100s 50s Ct St Wickets Best Average 5 Wt 10 WtBrigadier M A Green Worcs 59 Joint ManagerJ H Nash Yorkshire 44 Joint ManagerFerguson W 70 Scorer and Baggage ManHutton L Yorkshire 34 Right Handed Opening Batsman 79 6971 364 56 67 19 33 57 3 1 2 77 33W G A Parkhouse Glamorgan 25 Right Handed Opening Batsman 7 373 78 28 69 2 3D S Sheppard Sussex and Cambridge 21 Right Handed Opening Batsman 22 1172 119 37 80 3 6 12R T Simpson Notts 30 Right Handed Opening Batsman 23 1401 156 33 45 4 6 5 3 2 4 11 00Washbrook C Lancashire 35 Right Handed Opening Batsman 37 2569 195 42 81 6 12 12 1 1 25 33 00Compton D C S vc Middlesex 32 Right Handed Top Order Batsman 78 5807 278 50 06 17 28 49 25 5 70 56 40 1J G Dewes Middlesex and Cambridge 24 Left Handed Top Order Batsman 5 121 67 12 10 1Evans T G Kent 29 Wicket Keeper 91 2439 104 20 49 2 8 173 46McIntyre A J W Surrey 32 Wicket Keeper 3 19 7 3 16 8T E Bailey Essex 26 Right Arm fast medium Bowler 61 2290 134 29 74 1 10 32 132 7 34 29 21 5 1Statham J B Lancashire 20 Right Arm fast medium Bowler 51 675 38 11 44 28 252 7 39 24 84 9 1J J Warr Middlesex and Cambridge 23 Right Arm fast medium Bowler 2 4 4 1 00 1 1 76 281 00Bedser A V Surrey 32 Right Arm medium fast Bowler 51 714 79 12 75 1 26 236 7 44 24 89 15 5F R Brown c Northants 39 Right Arm medium Bowler Leg Spin Bowler 22 734 79 25 31 5 22 45 5 49 31 06 1Close D B Yorkshire 19 Right Arm medium Bowler Off Spin Bowler 22 887 70 25 34 4 24 18 4 35 29 55Hollies W E Warwicks 38 Leg Spin Bowler 13 37 18 5 28 44 7 50 30 27 5Wright D V P Kent 36 Leg Spin Bowler 34 289 45 11 11 10 108 7 105 39 11 6 1Bedser E A Surrey 32 Off Spin BowlerTattersall R Lancashire 28 Off Spin Bowler 16 50 10 5 00 8 58 7 52 26 08 4 1Berry R Lancashire 24 Slow Left Arm Bowler 2 6 4 3 00 2 9 5 63 25 33 1First Test Brisbane Edit1 4 December 1950 scorecard Australia v England228R N Harvey 74 Bedser A V 4 45 T E Bailey 3 28 68 7 dec Washbrook C 19 W A Johnston 5 3532 7 dec R N Harvey 12 T E Bailey 4 22 Bedser A V 3 9 122Hutton L 62 J B Iverson 4 43 S J E Loxton 3 Ct Australia won by 70 runsBrisbane Cricket Ground Woolloongabba Australia Umpires A N Barlow AUS amp H A R Elphinstone AUS 2 December See Main Article 1950 51 Ashes seriesSecond Test Melbourne Edit22 27 December 1950 scorecard Australia v England194A L Hassett c 52 Bedser A V 4 37 T E Bailey 4 40 197F R Brown c 62 J B Iverson 4 37181K A Archer 46 F R Brown c 4 26 150Hutton L 40 W A Johnston 4 26 R R Lindwall 3 29 Australia won by 28 runsMelbourne Cricket Ground Melbourne Umpires G S Cooper AUS amp R J J Wright AUS See Main Article 1950 51 Ashes seriesThird Test Sydney Edit5 9 January 1951 scorecard England v Australia290F R Brown c 79 Hutton L 62 K R Miller 4 37 I W G Johnson 3 94 426K R Miller 145 I W G Johnson 77 A L Hassett c 70 Bedser A V 4 107 F R Brown c 4 153123Washbrook C 34 J B Iverson 6 27 Australia won by an innings and 13 runsSydney Cricket Ground Sydney Umpires A N Barlow AUS amp H A R Elphinstone AUS See Main Article 1950 51 Ashes seriesFourth Test Adelaide Edit2 8 February scorecard Australia v England371A R Morris vc 206 Wright D V P 4 99 Bedser A V 3 74 Tattersall R 3 95 272Hutton L 156 R R Lindwall 3 51 W A Johnston 3 58 J B Iverson 3 68403 8 dec J W Burke 101 K R Miller 99 N R Harvey 68 Wright D V P 2 109 228R T Simpson 61 W A Johnston 4 73 K R Miller 3 27 Australia won by 274 runsAdelaide Oval Adelaide Australia Umpires A N Barlow AUS amp A R Cocks AUS See Main Article 1950 51 Ashes seriesFifth Test Melbourne Edit23 28 February 1951 scorecard Australia v England217A L Hassett c 92 A R Morris vc 50 Bedser A V 5 46 F R Brown c 5 49 320R T Simpson 156 Hutton L 79 K R Miller 4 76 R R Lindwall 3 77197G B Hole 63 N R Harvey 52 Bedser A V 5 59 Wright D V P 3 56 150 2Hutton L 60 W A Johnston 1 36 England won by 8 wicketsMelbourne Cricket Ground Melbourne Umpires A N Barlow AUS amp H A R Elphinstone AUS See Main Article 1950 51 Ashes seriesCeylon EditThe English team had a stopover in Colombo en route to Australia and played a one day single innings match there against the Ceylon national team which at that time did not have Test status 41 References EditNotes Edit p8 Alec Bedser May s Men in Australia the M C C Tour 1958 59 Stanley Paul 1959 p70 Swanton p69 Swanton p146 Andrew Ward Cricket s Strangest Matches Robson Books 2001 a b c pp70 71 Swanton pp22 26 pp214 228 Fingleton p402 Colin Frith Pageant of Cricket Macmillan Company of Australia 1987 pp9 12 O Reilly p149 Kay a b pp27 36 pp214 228 Fingleton a b pp81 83 Kay a b pp9 12 amp pp153 155 O Reilly p153 O Reilly p80 Swanton pp80 81 Swanton p25 O Reilly p14 Kay pp14 15 Kay p47 Cary p84 Keith Miller Cricket Crossfire Olbourne Press 1956 p402 Frith p396 Frith a b c pp214 228 Fingleton a b c pp13 27 Kay a b c pp9 15 amp pp153 168 O Reilly a b c pp80 82 Swanton p16 Kay p13 Kay a b pp22 23 Kay p61 Kay p56 Frank Tyson In the Eye of the Typhoon The Parrs Wood Press 204 p26 Kay pp21 22 Kay p99 Kay p10 Freddi p128 Kay p25 Kay p400 Frith p42 p56 p68 Ashley Brown The Pictorial History of Cricket Bison Books 1988 p14 and p97 Fred Titmus My Life in Cricket John Blake Publishing Ltd 2005 Ceylon v MCC 1950 CricketArchive Retrieved 3 July 2014 Sources Edit J H Fingleton Brown and Company The Tour in Australia Collins 1951 John Kay Ashes to Hassett A review of the M C C tour of Australia 1950 51 John Sherratt amp Son 1951 W J O Reilly Cricket Task Force The Story of the 1950 51 Australian Tour Werner Laurie 1951 E W Swanton Swanton in Australia with MCC 1946 1975 Fontana Collins 1975References using Cricinfo or Wisden may require free registration for access Further reading Edit John Arlott John Arlott s 100 Greatest Batsmen MacDonald Queen Anne Press 1986 Peter Arnold The Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Cricket W H Smith 1985 Ashley Brown The Pictorial History of Cricket Bison 1988 Bill Frindall The Wisden Book of Test Cricket 1877 1978 Wisden 1979 Tom Graveney and Norman Miller The Ten Greatest Test Teams Sidgewick and Jackson 1988 Gideon Haigh Mystery Spinner The Story of Jack Iverson Aurum Press Ltd 2002 Chris Harte A History of Australian Cricket Andre Deutsch 1993 Alan Hill The Bedsers Twinning Triumphs Mainstream Publishing 2002 Keith Miller Cricket Crossfire Oldbourne Press 1956 Ray Robinson On Top Down Under Cassell 1975 E W Swanton ed Barclay s World of Cricket Willow 1986External links EditCricketArchive tour itinerary Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title English cricket team in Australia in 1950 51 amp oldid 1132044017, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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