Australian cricket team in England in 1953 explained

Series:	1953 Ashes Series
Date:	11 June – 19 August 1953
Place:	England
Result:	England won the 5-Test series 1 - 0
Team1:	England
Team2:	Australia
Captain1:	L Hutton
Captain2:	AL Hassett
Runs1:	L Hutton – 443 (55.37)
Runs2:	AL Hassett – 365 (36.50)
Wickets1:	AV Bedser – 39 (17.48)
Wickets2:	RR Lindwall – 26 (18.84)

The Australian cricket team toured England in the 1953 season to play a five-match Test series against England for The Ashes.

England won the final Test to take the series 1–0 after the first four Tests were all drawn. England therefore recovered the Ashes for the first time since losing them in 1934.

Australian squad

Name	State	Age	Arm	Role !	Tests	Runs	Highest	Average	100s	50s	Ct	St	Wickets	Best	Average	5 Wt	10 Wt
CC McDonald	Victoria	26	Right	Opening batsman	47	3107	170	39.32	5	17			14	0/3
AR Morris (vc)	NSW	32	Left	Opening batsman	46	3353	206	46.48	12	12	15		2	1/5	25.00
JH de Courcy	NSW	26	Right	Middle-order batsman	3	81	41	16.20			3
ID Craig	NSW	17	Right	Middle-order batsman	11	358	53	19.88		2	2
RN Harvey	Victoria	26	Left	Middle-order batsman	79	6145	205	48.41	21	24	64		3	1/8	40.00
AL Hassett (c)	Victoria	39	Right	Middle-order batsman	43	3073		46.56	10	11	30			0/1
GB Hole	South Australia	24	Right	Middle-order batsman	18	789	66	25.45		5	6		3	1–9	42.00
RG Archer	NSW	21	Right	All-rounder	19	713	128	24.58	1	2	20		48	5/53	27.45	1
R Benaud	NSW	24	Right	All-rounder	63	2201	122	24.45	3	9	65		248	7/72	27.03	16	1
AK Davidson	NSW	25	Left	All-rounder	44	1328	80	24.59		5	42		186	7/93	20.53	14	2
RR Lindwall	NSW	31	Right	All-rounder	61	1502	118	21.15	2	5	26		228	7/38	23.03	12
KR Miller	NSW	35	Right	All-rounder	55	2958	147	36.97	7	13	38		170	7/60	22.97	7	1
DT Ring	Victoria	34	Right	All-rounder	13	426	67	22.42		4	5		35	6/72	37.28	2
D Tallon	Queensland	37	Right	Wicket-keeper	21	394	92	17.13		2	50	8
GRA Langley	South Australia	25	Right	Wicket-keeper	26	374	53	14.96		1	83	15
WA Johnston	Victoria	32	Right (Bat) Left (Ball)	Fast-medium swing bowler	40	273	29	11.37			16		160	6/44	23.91	7
JC Hill	Victoria	29	Right	Slow leg-spin bowler	3	21		7.00			2		8	3/35	34.12

Hassett, Morris, Harvey, Johnston, Lindwall, Miller, Ring and Tallon had toured England with the 1948 Australian team, known as "The Invincibles". Davidson, de Courcy and Hill had not played Test cricket before this tour: all three made their debuts during the 1953 Ashes series.

England selections

Name	County	Age	Arm	Role	Tests	Runs	Highest	Average	100s	50s	Ct	St	Wickets	Best	Average	5 Wt	10 Wt
L Hutton (c)	Yorkshire	36	Right	Opening batsman	79	6971	364	56.67	19	33	57		3	1/2	77.33
D Kenyon		29	Right	Opening Batsmen	8	192	87	12.80		1	5
RT Simpson	Notts	33	Right	Opening batsman	27	1401	156*	33.45	4	6	5		3	2/4	11.00
DCS Compton		35	Right	Middle-order batsman	78	5807	278	50.06	17	28	49		25	5/70	56.40	1
TW Graveney		25	Right	Middle-order batsman	79	4882	258	44.38	11	20	80		1	1/34	167.00
PBH May		23	Right	Middle-order batsman	66	4537	285*	46.77	14	22	42
W Watson		33	Left	Middle-order batsman	23	879	116	25.85	2	3	8
TE Bailey		29	Right	All-rounder	61	2290	134*	29.74	1	10	32		132	7/34	29.21	5	1
FR Brown		42	Right	All-rounder	22	734	79	25.31		5	22		45	5/49	31.06	1
WJ Edrich		37	Right	All-rounder	37	2440	219	40.00	6	13	39		41	4/68	41.29
TG Evans		32	Right	Wicket-keeper	91	2439	104	20.49	2	8	173	46
JB Statham		22	Left (Bat) Right (Ball)	Fast seam bowler	51	675	38	11.44			28		252	7/39	24.84	9	1
FS Trueman	Yorkshire	22	Right	Fast swing bowler	67	981	39*	13.81			64		307	8/31	21.57	17	3
AV Bedser		34	Right	Medium-fast swing bowler	51	714	79	12.75		1	26		236	7/44	24.89	15	5
GAR Lock		23	Right (Bat) Left (Ball)	Slow left-arm bowler	49	742	89	13.74		3	59		174	7/35	25.58	9	3
JH Wardle		30	Left	Slow left-arm bowler	28	653	66	19.78		2	12		102	7/36	20.39	5	1
JC Laker		31	Right	Slow off-spin bowler	46	676	63	14.08		2	12		193	10/53	21.24	9	3
R Tattersall		30	Left (Bat) Right (Ball)	Slow off-spin bowler	16	50		5.00			8		58	7/52	26.08	4	1

Test series summary

First Test at Trent Bridge

Rain washed out play entirely on the fourth day and prevented a resumption until half past four on the last day. Before that, Alec Bedser, with seven wickets in each innings, had bowled England into a strong position after they trailed by 105 on the first innings. In Australia's first innings, Morris, who made 67 and Hassett put on 122 for the second wicket and then Hassett and Miller made 109 for the fourth wicket, Miller making 55. Hassett's 115 was his ninth century in Test cricket. From 243 for four at lunch on the second day, Australia lost their remaining six wickets for six runs, Bedser finishing with seven for 55. The Australian scorecard is one of the more unbalanced in Test history – a century, two half centuries, two single figure scores, single figure extras, and six batsmen failing to score.^[1]

England, apart from Leonard Hutton, with 43, struggled and Lindwall took five wickets for 57 runs. In Australia's second innings, only Morris, who made 60, was confident against Bedser, who took seven for 44 to have match figures of 14 for 99. Hutton was 60 not out in England's weather-interrupted reply.^[2]

Second Test at Lord's

Hassett opened with Morris and made his second century of the series, though he retired hurt at 101. Harvey made 59, but Johnny Wardle removed the middle order batsmen before Davidson, with 76, coaxed 117 runs out of the last six wickets. Hutton and Tom Graveney put on 168 for the second wicket, and after Graveney was out for 78, Denis Compton (57) added a further 102 with Hutton, who scored 145. But England lost their last seven wickets between lunch and tea on the third day, and the first innings lead was only 26. Morris and Miller regained the initiative for Australia in a second wicket partnership of 165 and when Morris was out for 89 Miller went on to 109, with useful runs also from Hole (47) and Lindwall (50). Set 343 to win, England lost three wickets for 12 runs, and Willie Watson was missed before the end of the fourth day. On the last day, Watson battled to 109 and shared a fifth wicket stand of 163 with Trevor Bailey (71), which saved the match for England.^[3]

Third Test at Old Trafford

More than half the scheduled playing time was lost to rain. In an innings spread over three days, Harvey made 122 and Hole with 66 and de Courcy on his Test debut also made useful runs. England's innings was also made disjointed by rain, which prevented any play at all on the fourth day. Hutton top-scored with 66. With the match dead, Wardle, Bedser and Jim Laker took eight Australian second-innings wickets, with none of the batsmen reaching double figures.^[4]

Fourth Test at Headingley

On a pitch affected by damp, England batted very cautiously, making just 142 for seven in five-and-a-half hours on the first day, Graveney top-scoring with 55. Lindwall took five for 54. Australia batted more enterprisingly, with Harvey making 71 and Hole 53 and were all out at the end of the second day with a lead of 99. Light rain prevented play for more than four hours on the third day, and across the Monday England batted doggedly, with Bill Edrich making 64, Compton 61 until he had to retire hurt, and Bailey 38 in more than four hours. In all, England's innings occupied nine hours and 40 minutes, and left the Australians 115 minutes in which to score 177. Despite 30s from Morris, Harvey and Hole, they finished 30 runs short. Bailey restricted the scoring by bowling wide of the leg stump.^[5] ^[6]

Fifth Test at The Oval

The series being undecided, six days were allowed and the match began, unusually for a Test in England, on a Saturday. Hassett won the toss for the fifth time. He made 53 and Harvey and Hole made 30s, but Lindwall top-scored with 62 and last five wickets more than doubled the score. Fred Trueman, in his only match of the series, took four wickets. Hutton scored 82, but at the end of the second day England, at 235 for seven, were still 40 behind. The lead was not gained until the last pair, Bailey and Bedser, were together; Bailey made 64. When Australia batted for the second time, Hutton turned very quickly to the Surrey spin-bowling pair, Laker and Tony Lock, and they took nine of the 10 wickets to fall, the other being a run-out. Lock finished with five for 45 and Laker four for 75. Australia's lack of a spinner - though Johnston bowled slows from one end - meant England got the 132 needed for victory easily, if slowly. The match was finished in mid-afternoon on the fourth day and the Ashes had been won.^[7]

1953 Ashes Series averages

Batting averages

source

Player	Matches	Innings	Not out	Runs	Highest score	Average	100s	50s		St
L Hutton (c)	5	9	1	443	145	55.37	1	3	4
WJ Edrich	3	5	1	156	64	39.00		2	6
AL Hassett (c)	5	10		365	115	36.50	2	1	2
RN Harvey	5	10		346	122	34.60	1	2
AR Morris (vc)	5	10		337	89	33.70		3	2
W Watson	3	5		168	109	33.60	1		1
DCS Compton	5	8	1	234	61	33.42		2	4
TE Bailey	5	7		222	71	31.71		2	3
JH Wardle	3	4	2	57		28.50
PBH May	2	3		85	39	28.33
FR Brown	1	2		50	28	25.00			1
KR Miller	5	9		223	109	24.77	1	1	2
TW Graveney	5	7		169	78	24.14		2	4
RG Archer	3	5	1	95	49	23.75			1
TG Evans (wk)	5	7	2	117		23.40			11	5
AK Davidson	5	10	2	182	76	22.75		1	5
RT Simpson	3	5	1	74	31	18.50			1
RR Lindwall	5	9		159	62	17.66		2	2
JH de Courcy	3	6	1	81	41	16.20			3
JC Laker	3	4		64	48	16.00
AV Bedser	5	6	3	38		12.66			1
DT Ring	1	2		25	18	12.50
FS Trueman	1	1		10	10	10.00			2
GRA Langley (wk)	4	6		55	18	9.16			8	1
D Tallon (wk)	1	2		15	15	7.50			2
D Kenyon	2	4		29	16	7.25			1
GAR Lock	2	3		21	9	7.00			3
JC Hill	2	4	2	12		6.00			1
R Benaud	5	5		15	7	3.00			1
R Tattersall	1	1		2	2	2.00			2
WA Johnston	3	6	6	22
JB Statham	1	1	1	17					2

Bowling averages