Australian cricket team in England in 1888 explained

The Australian cricket team in England in 1888 played 37 first-class matches including three Tests. England won the series 2–1, after losing the first Test. The next time England would come back from one down to win a three match Test series at home was in July 2020, after they beat the West Indies 2–1.[1]

Touring party

Test matches

First Test

Australian captain Percy McDonnell won the toss and chose to bat first. The visitors scored 116 runs in their innings, during which only Percy McDonnell, Jack Blackham and Test debutant Jack Edwards scored 20 runs or more. The English bowlers, led by Bobby Peel, who claimed four wickets and Johnny Briggs, who took three, ran through the Australian batting line-up. At the close of play on the opening day, England had scored eighteen runs for the loss of three wickets (18/3).

Resuming at 11.30 on day two, the score was lifted to 22, on which score England lost Walter Read, W. G. Grace (failing to add to his overnight ten), and Tim O'Brien. When Steel fell four runs later, England were seven wickets down and still eleven runs short of avoiding the follow-on. Thanks to Briggs, who top-scored for England with seventeen runs, the hosts managed to reach 53 from exactly fifty overs, after 55 minutes of play on the second day. The famous combination of John Ferris and Charlie Turner took eight of the wickets to fall, Turner picking up a five-for.

When Ferris and Turner arrived at the wicket in Australia's second innings, they found their side on eighteen for seven, with Lohmann and Peel demolishing the top- and middle-order. Turner scored a dozen and Ferris twelve, but The Daily Telegraph remarked that "it has to be said that never in the annals of cricket has such a fortunate innings as that of Ferris been compiled".

England needed 124 to win, but it managed to get only halfway. Of the home team's second innings of 62, Grace scored 24, "far and away the best batting display of the match," said the Daily Telegraph. Allan Steel, the captain, also chipped in with an unbeaten ten, but he was the only other batsman to reach double figures. Turner and Ferris claimed five wickets each, making for match figures of ten for 63 and eight for 45 respectively. The aforementioned newspaper, however, believed that Peel's first innings' four for 36 was a far better performance, as the wicket had been easier than at any other stage of the match.

This win was Australia's first over England since that at Sydney three years earlier. After that, the Antipodeans had been defeated on seven successive occasions. In the eight years since the 1880 visit, this was only Australia's second win in England, the other being the famous Test at the Oval in 1882.[2]

Third Test

Other first-class matches

No.DateOpponentsVenueResultRef
1 7–8 May CI Thornton's XI Won by six wickets [3]
2 14–15 May Won by an innings and 154 runs [4]
3 17–19 May Won by an innings and 19 runs [5]
4 21–22 May Won by an innings and 64 runs [6]
5 24–25 May Won by 23 runs [7]
6 28–29 May Drawn [8]
7 31 May–1 June Lost by ten wickets [9]
8 4–5 June Lost by ten wickets [10]
9 7–9 June Drawn [11]
10 11–13 June Oxford University Past and Present Won by 74 runs [12]
11 14–16 June Won by eight wickets [13]
12 18–20 June England XI Won by ten wickets [14]
13 21–23 June Won by 14 runs [15]
14 25–27 June Drawn [16]
15 28–30 June Won by five wickets [17]
16 2–4 July Won by 130 runs [18]
17 12–13 July England XI Won by an innings and 135 runs [19]
18 19–21 July Lost by 58 runs [20]
19 23–25 July Cambridge University Past and Present Drawn [21]
20 26–28 July Drawn [22]
21 30 July–1 August Drawn [23]
22 2–4 August England XI Won by an innings and 27 runs [24]
23 6–8 August Won by 81 runs [25]
24 9–11 August Lost by 257 runs [26]
25 16–18 August Lost by an innings and 199 runs [27]
26 20–22 August Lost by eight wickets [28]
27 23–25 August England XI Lost by 78 runs [29]
28 27–29 August Oxford and Cambridge Universities Past and Present Drawn [30]
29 3–4 September England XI Won by 56 runs [31]
30 6–8 September Lord Londesborough's XI Lost by 155 runs [32]
31 10–12 September A Shrewsbury's Australian Team Lost by four wickets [33]
32 13–14 September A Shrewsbury's Australian Team Lost by nine wickets [34]
33 17–19 September Won by nine wickets [35]
34 20–22 September Won by 34 runs [36]

Summary of results

First-class matches, excluding Test matches
PlayedWon by
Australia		Lost by
Australia		Drawn3417 10 7

Batting averages

PlayerMatches Highest Score 50s
35 58 1,331 1 6
36 60 1,155 2 5
36 61 1,081 0 3
33 59 887 0 3
36 56 789 1 1
31 48 569 0 0
36 57 517 0 0
[37]

Bowling averages

PlayerMatches 5wi
36 9,702 283 12
37 8,321 199 3
36 1,916 43 1
[38]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Stuart Broad celebrates 500th Test wicket with a perfect 10 and series win . The National . 28 July 2020 . 28 July 2020.
  2. Daily Telegraph 18 July 1882
  3. Web site: CI Thornton's XI v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-04-27 .
  4. Web site: Surrey v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-04-27 .
  5. Web site: Oxford University v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-04-27 .
  6. Web site: Yorkshire v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-04-27 .
  7. Web site: Lancashire v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-04-27 .
  8. Web site: Gentlemen of England v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-04-27 .
  9. Web site: Players v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-04-27 .
  10. Web site: Nottinghamshire v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-04-27 .
  11. Web site: Cambridge University v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-04-27 .
  12. Web site: Oxford University Past and Present v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-04-27 .
  13. Web site: Middlesex v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-04-27 .
  14. Web site: England XI v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-04-27 .
  15. Web site: Marylebone Cricket Club v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-04-27 .
  16. Web site: Yorkshire v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-04-27 .
  17. Web site: North v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-05-01 .
  18. Web site: Liverpool and District v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-05-01 .
  19. Web site: England XI v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-05-01 .
  20. Web site: Sussex v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-05-01 .
  21. Web site: Cambridge University Past and Present v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-05-01 .
  22. Web site: Yorkshire v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-05-01 .
  23. Web site: Surrey v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-05-02 .
  24. Web site: England XI v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-05-02 .
  25. Web site: Kent v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-05-02 .
  26. Web site: Gloucestershire v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-05-02 .
  27. Web site: Nottinghamshire v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-05-02 .
  28. Web site: Gloucestershire v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-05-02 .
  29. Web site: England XI v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-05-02 .
  30. Web site: Oxford and Cambridge Universities Past and Present v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-05-02 .
  31. Web site: England XI v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-05-02 .
  32. Web site: Lord Londesborough's XI v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-05-02 .
  33. Web site: A Shrewsbury's Australian Team v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-05-02 .
  34. Web site: A Shrewsbury's Australian Team v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-05-02 .
  35. Web site: South v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-05-02 .
  36. Web site: Surrey v Australians . CricketArchive . 2011-05-02 .
  37. Web site: First-class Batting and Fielding for Australians: Australia in England 1888 . CricketArchive . 2011-05-02.
  38. Web site: First-class Bowling for Australians: Australia in England 1888 . CricketArchive . 2011-05-02.

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