1964 ashes tour

Australian cricket team in England in 1964

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The Australian cricket team toured England in the 1964 season to play a five-match Test series against England for The Ashes .

Australia won the series 1-0 with 4 matches drawn and therefore retained The Ashes.

• 1 Test series summary
• 2 External sources
• 3 Annual reviews
• 4 Further reading

Test series summary [ ]

• 1st Test at Trent Bridge , 4–9 June 1964 – match drawn
• 2nd Test at Lord's , 18–23 June 1964 – match drawn
• 3rd Test at Headingley , 2–7 July 1964 – Australia won by 7 wickets
• 4th Test at Old Trafford , 23–28 July 1964 – match drawn
• 5th Test at Kennington Oval , 13–18 August 1964 – match drawn

In the decisive Third Test, Australia was 187-7 in reply to England's 268 when Ted Dexter decided to take the new ball. In response, Peter Burge , the last recognised batsman, went on the attack. He scored 160, well supported by Neil Hawke and Wally Grout , the last three wickets adding 211. This left England 121 behind on first innings and they could not recover.

Since a draw in the Fourth Test would ensure that Australia would retain the Ashes, they batted on till they had reached 656-8 before declaring, with Bob Simpson scoring 311, belatedly his first Test century. England responded with 611 ( Ken Barrington 256, Ted Dexter 174) and the match ended in the dullest of draws.

External sources [ ]

CricketArchive – tour summaries

Annual reviews [ ]

• Playfair Cricket Annual 1965
• Wisden Cricketers Almanack 1965

Further reading [ ]

• Bill Frindall, The Wisden Book of Test Cricket 1877-1978 , Wisden Group, 1979
• Chris Harte, A History of Australian Cricket , Andre Deutsch, 1993
• Ray Robinson, On Top Down Under : Cassell Australia (1975) ISBN 0-7269-7364-5 .
• 1 List of Australia national cricket captains
• 2 Leg before wicket

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Australia in England, 1964

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Jack Potter

'i'd cancel everything to watch clarke make a century'.

Victoria batsman Jack Potter looks back at Shield cricket in the '60s, the young Shane Warne, and his experiences on the fringes of the Test side

"Technique seems to have been forgotten among many batsmen I see, especially when playing against spin"

When I first met Shane Warne , with that wide smile and genuine handshake of his, I wondered if this kid was simply too good to be true. "Either he's a really nice guy or a conman," I thought to myself.

I was 29 when I retired. People didn't go on much after that, unless they were playing Test cricket, and even then contemporaries like [Bob] Cowper and [Paul] Sheahan stopped early.

It was a thrill to captain Victoria to the Sheffield Shield in 1966-67. That was the year Bill Lawry and the Australian team were away in South Africa. I don't think the selectors or anyone else expected us to win a game. Six of our boys were new to interstate cricket. In our first match against Western Australia in Perth I got them all together after training and told them how 12 cricketers from Victoria were far better than anyone they had over here in Perth and we took the [first-innings] points. And they had [Tony] Lock, [Laurie] Mayne and a pretty fair side. Against South Australia I won the toss and sent them in. Les Favell [SA's captain] said to me: "You won't get a hit!" They made 360-odd but we beat them [with a first-innings lead].

One of the worst decisions I ever saw was at Edgbaston in 2005, when Ricky Ponting sent England in to bat on a belter when his best fast bowler [Glenn McGrath] had just been stretchered off in the warm-ups. Ponting the captain lacked the flair and imagination of [Michael] Clarke. Captains need to take a punt occasionally and be imaginative and ahead of the game. I never thought Ricky was.

Not everyone was happy when I got my first and only four-for in Shield cricket [in 1961-62 ]. It was about 4:30pm on a hot opening afternoon in Brisbane and the Phantom [Victoria's captain, Bill Lawry] decided to take the second newie to try and finish the Queensland innings off as the spinners were getting nowhere. In his second or third over Ian Meckiff broke down. Colin Guest was at the other end and Phant had no one else to bowl mediums. It was about 5pm by now and Bill came up to me and said: "You know that shit you bowl in the nets? Those little innies and outies? Just tie down an end and we'll finish 'em off in the morning. We don't want to bat tonight against Wes [Hall]." Never give a part-time bowler a new ball in heavy atmospheric conditions and ask him just to tie an end down. The bloody thing was swinging everywhere and I got four wickets in four overs and we bowled 'em out with 12 minutes left to play. It meant Bill, and Dave Anderson from my club Fitzroy, had to go out to face one over from Wes and you don't want to know: Lawry c Burge b Hall 0 and stumps! I was Bill's vice-captain but I reckon it took about a month for him to talk to me again.

One of the biggest thrills was being made captain of the Fitzroy team of the century, which, to me, was an unbelievable honour given to a galaxy of stars from the Harvey brothers through to Bill Jacobs.

I'll never forget batting with Simmo [Bob Simpson] on a turner one day [on the 1964 Ashes tour] and I was doing all I could just to stay in. At the other end Simmo was stroking them effortlessly. He was another level up on me. I was relating this story to one of my old club team-mates, Bill Heller, one day and he said that's the way he felt when he was at the other end to me!

Technique seems to have been forgotten among many batsmen I see, especially when playing against spin. If a young Neil Harvey was so successful by practising every night, skipping down the wicket and getting the ball on the full before it had a chance to bounce and spin, why aren't kids doing it every session? Victoria's Keith Kirby was bowling against him once in a Shield game. Harv was past his best but he still took the first four on the full and hit them wide of mid-on and wide of cover. Shorter deliveries inevitably followed and away he went, cutting and pulling.

I told Warne once: "Shane don't ever let me catch you smoking." He said: "Jack, you will never catch me smoking!" And I didn't.

I never thought I was anything but an average player. On a few occasions it all came together like in that 200 I got against New South Wales .

I was 12th man three times for Australia. I was on the field for about 15 minutes against the South Africans in Melbourne [in 1963-64 ] and Trevor Goddard took a quick single in my direction at midwicket. The ball bounced perfectly into my hands and I was able to flick it quickly back to Griz [Wally Grout] and he ran Eddie Barlow out. I came back into the dressing room feeling pretty pleased about myself and Sir Donald Bradman was in the viewing area. Instead of passing on his congratulations the Don said I'd ruined the match - Barlow was their top player and he wanted a contest so the crowds would come!

I'd cancel fishing , everything, if I knew Michael Clarke was going to make a century. He is a beautiful player who has lifted a notch since becoming captain. People say he's hiding at No. 5. I don't agree. I think his best is better than Ricky Ponting's, especially against the very best attacks, like the South Africans.

In 1982, I made the best Victorian post-war team.

I'm 75 this year. People say: "Why are you working?" Because I have to work. When Shane Warne came to England and signed with Hampshire, he was on a million pounds-plus. We got $7 a day. Prominent Test players like Alan Connolly, Neil Harvey and Col McDonald are all on pensions. Those past players have set it up for the current players. I'm disappointed Cricket Australia and the players' association don't always look after players who suffer relatively hard times.

After the fifth Ashes Test in 1964, we went across to the Hague to play a friendly. It was a matting wicket and it hadn't been laid really tight and I was hit by a short one. I went for the pull shot, was too early and it hit me flush on my right temple. No helmets back then, of course. There was this very loud noise in my head. The Indian balls they used in Holland that day broke five of the Aussie bats - as well as my head. I suffered a hairline fracture of the skull, and while the others went off I had to stay in London. My face had dropped on one side, causing me to dribble and slur. During the treatment the Harley Street specialist told me I wasn't going back home until I could say "Massachusetts Institution" without slurring. I didn't get back to Melbourne until November.

We started the Australian Cricket Academy from nothing. We treated them like Olympic athletes and not all liked it. Western Australia didn't send anyone at all in the first year. Victoria sent fringe players rather than their best younger ones, but once these fellas got into first-class cricket everything changed and we had to knock a lot back. The academy boys were all terrific kids. I'm not only proud of what they have done on the cricket field but proud of what they are doing now. Slats [Michael Slater] is a natural with his commentary. Stuart Law is now a senior coach at the Centre of Excellence. Jamie Cox also built an outstanding record at Shield level. And he captained Somerset and did really well. Justin Langer is coaching WA. When I first saw him, he'd hit everything in front of square leg. But he worked very hard to play straighter and his technique improved greatly.

Coaches always have to give themselves a get-out clause. Especially with a player like Warnie: you can't afford to say two strikes and you're out. He could have had ten strikes!

The 1964 Ashes tour began promisingly for Potter but ended with a crack on the head

In my final match I made 82 and 105 not out against NSW . In the second innings I came in when Les Joslin was 48 and I beat him to a hundred. Les got into an Australian [touring] side that year. I thought I won't hit them any better than this, so I retired. I'd first played for Victoria at 18 and had enough.

We'd won two from two in the Sheffield Shield in 1966-67 and all of a sudden thought we had a chance. Back in Melbourne we beat WA outright, but only just. Writing in the local paper - Melbourne Sun - cricket writer Kevin Hogan said something like "Ten points but no praise for Victoria". I went on World of Sport and ripped into him. This was a new team and we'd beaten WA twice. The next day's Sun ran a big picture and then a story about us the following day as well.

Right-handers , when playing off the back foot, must be in a position to be hit on the left nipple - if a ball is to suddenly rise. They must learn where their off stump is - and learn to let the ball go. I didn't do this enough when I played.

Warne had this most magnificent legbreak but little else. I told him the good players would wait and pick him off and he needed to develop a straighter ball for lbws. I showed him the flipper and you could see his eyes widening. He'd never considered such a thing. Initially when he tried to bowl one it was hitting the side of the net, the roof, everything, and he said to me: "I'll never be able to bowl this." If anyone from the media had seen him, they would have wondered what was going on. We kept it really quiet. But when he realised there was a sniff of success, he worked and worked at it.

Cricket writer and commentator Ken Piesse runs a new and secondhand cricket books website

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The Joy of Six: Australia's forgotten Ashes tourists

1) holdsworth cracks a spot in 1993.

Stocky New South Wales fast bowling tearaway Wayne Holdsworth was the definitive Ashes smokey. On the back of 53 first class wickets during the 1992-93 first-class season, including 7-41 in the Shield Final win against Queensland, the man they called "Cracka" leap-frogged Tony Dodemaide to claim the final fast bowling slot for Australia's victorious 1993 Ashes campaign.

In a tour better known for Shane Warne's "ball of the century" and Allan Border's famed bust-up with Craig McDermott , Holdsworth also managed to write himself into the record books, becoming the first Australian tourist since TJ Matthews in 1912 to take a hat-trick in England. Having been pasted for 113 wicketless runs in 20 overs on the first day of the tour match against Derbyshire, he returned to take four for none in eight balls the next day, going on to claim his only five-wicket haul for the tour.

Unfortunately for Holdsworth, barring his addition to the "Julios" group within the touring party, he would not be picked for any of the meaningful action on tour, his nine first-class tour matches reaping only 23 wickets at an average of 36.21.

In his tour diary from the trip (which is great if you want information about Scooby Doo, Steven Seagal films and ordering room service), Merv Hughes tells of how he was assigned a rotation of the younger first-time tourists (including Holdsworth) as a kind of "show them the ropes" measure by team management. What can be gleaned from Merv's entries of rooming with "Cracka" is that he mostly slept while Holdsworth and Damien Martyn went to nightclubs.

Holdsworth, when asked about his experiences on his first and only tour by Hughes's ghost-writer Ian Cover replied, "It's great – I'm a net bowler!" Along with Melbourne Tigers slam-dunk specialist Brett Rainbow , Holdsworth also holds the distinction of being that rare former athlete who has actually uploaded his own career highlights clip on to YouTube . This is a trend that sports lovers should definitely be encouraging. Simon Crawshay, I hope you are reading this . It's hard to know where to start with Holdsworth's clip; choosing The Cranberries as the backing music? The brilliant and probably rare footage of the aforementioned hat-trick? Including a clip of himself being warned for intimidatory bowling in a Shield game at the Waca? Making sure he included footage of the crestfallen faces of the losing Queenslanders in the Shield Final montage? There is not a thing about it that's not brilliant.

Once wash-outs had removed the opportunity of the tourists collecting a £100,000 cheque for winning 10 of their 14 first-class tour matches, their fixtures started to contain moments of farce, like Holdsworth batting at second drop in a game against Durham. Border bet him £50 that he couldn't make 20. Holdsworth struck three boundaries before getting out.

2) Jack Rutherford blazes a trail for Western Australians in 1956

Given the prominence of Western Australians in Baggy Green during the last four decades, it is hard to conceive of a time when they were considered inferior to their contemporaries in the eastern states. But so it was in 1956 when Jack Rutherford became the first sandgroper picked for a major international tour .

Rutherford's selection is all the more remarkable for the fact that until 1956-57, the Western Australians played the other states only once per season. In his Ashes preview, the Australian writer RS Whitington spoke of Rutherford's promise, noting "Rutherford, bred in Western Australia, is a nuggety, straight-stroking batsman for whom bowlers' reputations mean little. He tends to play a trifle outside the ball, a good fault on English pitches."

Rutherford played as an opening batsman but his efforts on tour in partnership with Colin McDonald were not enough to win him an Ashes Test. Coming in on a pair and in fading light during one tour match against Lancashire, he was struck in the face by a Brian Statham bouncer and retired hurt. In the next game against the MCC at Lord's, Rutherford fell two short of a dour century as his partner Neil Harvey scored 225. It impressed the recently retired Arthur Morris who noted that Statham's blow "had affected neither his courage nor his determination." Sadly Rutherford's tour had peaked early and he otherwise failed to find the form that would force a Test berth, with the Australians preferring a pairing of McDonald and Jim Burke. England would go on to retain the Ashes with a 2-1 series victory.

There was some consolation for Rutherford as the tourists stopped by Pakistan and India on the way home to Australia, though. Rutherford won his only Test cap against India, scoring 30 in the drawn second Test at Bombay. His career tailed off sharply upon his return to Australia and he retired within three years of his Test debut. Making a brief return to captain Western Australia against the famous West Indian tourists of 1960-61, Rutherford made it an eventful professional finale, suffering a heart attack during the game. It would be his last first-class outing.

3) Jack Potter – the perennial 12th man

Also charmingly described by the English cricket writer EM Wellings as "an occasional bowler of assorted spin", the Victorian batsman Jack Potter made the 1964 Ashes voyage on the back of a strong 1963-64 Sheffield Shield season. It was a summer in which he was also 12th man for the second Test against the touring South Africans at the MCG, coming as the cricket world was sent into a spin by the Ian Meckiff throwing controversy during the previous Test in Brisbane.

Having booked his Ashes ticket, Potter would repeat his drink-carrying duties in the first Test of the 1964 series but failed to break into the team and went some way to establishing an unfortunate record; his three appearances as 12th man for his country are the most for an Australian without playing in a Test.

He would find only middling success on English wickets, scoring 751 first-class runs at an average of 31.29 and claiming 11 wickets at 39.64. Potter's tour ended in highly unusual circumstances during a shock Australian loss in a one-day game against the Netherlands at The Hague. Potter progressed to seven not out before being struck by a ball that fractured his skull. He returned home soon after, missing a potential Test debut during Australia's tour of India and Pakistan that followed.

Potter went on to captain Victoria to the 1966/67 Sheffield Shield title and pass the 5,000 run mark for his state , but he never recaptured the form that had taken him to the brink of Test selection. He later became the inaugural head coach of the Australian Cricket Academy and helped hone the techniques of some of its most notable graduates during its first three years of operation. Shane Warne would later credit Potter as having been a major influence on his life and it was Potter who taught Warne how to bowl his flipper . It would prove to be a more than adequate contribution to the annals of Test cricket.

4) The keepers of the Ashes flame

There is perhaps no more thankless task on an Ashes tour than the role of reserve wicketkeeper. In recent generations, Australia's premier glovemen have been an iron-willed lot who have refused to let injury or lapses in form keep them away from the stumps. The exception to this rule was when South Australian Graham Manou, won his sole Test cap in the 2009 series after Brad Haddin had broken his finger during the warm-up.

Otherwise, the primary role of the back-up keeper has been to mix the Powerade and make sure the beers are cold at the end of play. Or in the case of Tim Zoehrer in 1993, take up leg-spin and top the tour bowling averages.

Darren Berry is regarded as one of the best wicketkeepers to never don the Baggy Green and with good reason. Rated by Shane Warne as the best keeper to spin he saw in his career, Berry took 552 first-class catches and made 51 stumpings in a 15-year career with South Australia and Victoria. Coming into Australia's 1997 Ashes squad late in the tour as cover for the injured Adam Gilchrist, Berry was not required for Test duty owing to the continuation of Ian Healy's indestructible resilience behind the stumps. On the only occasion that Healy succumbed to injury during his entire Test career, for the Lahore Test on the 1994 tour of Pakistan, selectors chose the New South Welshman Phil Emery to take his place.

Likewise, Queenslander Wade Seccombe was fittingly rewarded for his stellar Queensland career when he was flown in as cover for Gilchrist during Australia's triumphant quest in 2001. As with so many stumpers before him, he was not required for Test action. Though Seccombe was a gloveman par excellence, he and Berry were both unfortunate to enter their prime in an era when Adam Gilchrist was redefining the role that wicketkeepers were expected to play with the bat. If Seccombe was unable to replicate the kind of pyrotechnics exemplified by Gilchrist's 152 from 143 deliveries in the first Test at Edgbaston, his 538 first class dismissals were testament to his longevity in the physically demanding role. In four first-class matches on the tour he pouched 10 dismissals and averaged 30 with the bat.

Picked in an Australia A tour to Zimbabwe in the same year, Seccombe revealed the remarkable fact that despite his long list of record-breaking achievements for Queensland, his stint keeping to Stuart MacGill during those matches was the first time in senior cricket that he had stood behind the stumps to a leg-spinner. You'd assume that fact would have been of interest to a certain blonde tweaker in the Ashes squad.

5) Quick goes slow in 1961

Geelong-born Ian Quick , though tall and boasting a name that seemed to pre-ordain him to a life of fast-bowling, was a left-arm orthodox spin bowler who was a relatively surprising selection in Australia's Ashes touring party of 1961. Former English player cum cricket writer Bill Bowes was not overly impressed by the Aussie squad for the series, claiming that Quick and Australia's other spinner Lindsay Kline "had not produced performances in Australia to warrant a trip to England," though qualified this analysis by adding that "they could both prove valuable" on wetter English wickets.

Fellow spinner Jim Laker, who had skittled the Aussies during the 1956 trip , would also label Quick "a trifle fortunate" to be selected for the tour during his preview to the series. Laker's outlook on Quick's prospects for the tour was even more damning, the Englishman seemingly puzzled at the inclusion of the spinner.

"There are and have been many bowlers of this type in England, but only the good ones succeed, and to do so one must have great control of length, spin and direction. I feel that Ian Quick may well be lacking in two of these necessities".

In actual fact Quick's selection possibly owed more to Australia's reluctance to plunge themselves further into the mire regarding illegal bowling actions, which had become a topic of hot debate during England's tour of Australia in 1958-59. Unlike Ian Meckiff, Gordon Rorke or the Western Australian Keith Slater, there were no questions as to the legitimacy of Quick's deliveries. He may not have been a world-beater, but then many others in the squad were unheralded players who were expertly drilled and led to an upset 2-1 series victory by their captain, Richie Benaud .

Though he consistently took wickets in the tour matches, Quick was unable to force his way into the Test side and had disappeared from first class cricket altogether within 12 months with 195 first-class wickets to his name.

6) Quick Whit with a bolt from the blue

Another Ashes phenomenon of note is that of the unlikely debutant plucked from English League cricket. Before cricket became one big endless summer of lucrative Twenty20 leagues, it was still relatively likely that a player could rise from such obscure environs and be thrust into Ashes battle for their country.

Mike Whitney is known for many things. He's the guy who'd offer you "50 bucks!" to stick your head into a bucket of spaghetti on Channel Seven's Who Dares Wins . He's the Australian tailender who defied the great Richard Hadlee to secure a draw for Australia during the 1987-88 summer . He's also the man responsible for a memorable rendition of Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You .

But before all that he was a virtually unknown beach bum who was plucked from a Lancashire league stint with Fleetwood Cricket Club into a televised one-day game for Gloucestershire. Noticed by an Aussie team management who were looking for a replacement quick after injuries to Rodney Hogg and Geoff Lawson, Whitney was sensationally drafted into the Aussie squad f or the Old Trafford Test of the 1981 series .

Assigned to room with the great Dennis Lillee, Whitney told Christian Ryan that he was awestruck by the sight of Lillee as he settled into his bed on Test eve: "I've gotta be dreaming. Nup. There he is."

Having missed the team bus as a result of a recurring prank that Lillee would play on debutants, Whitney had trouble convincing the Old Trafford gateman he genuinely was an Australian cricketer before incurring the wrath of captain Kim Hughes for his tardiness. Recovering sufficiently to take four wickets for the game, Whitney played a further 11 Tests spread over as many years, to go with 38 one-day internationals as a reliable back-up paceman. He never missed another team bus, either.

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About: Australian cricket team in England in 1964

The Australian cricket team toured England in the 1964 season to play a five-match Test series against England for The Ashes. Australia won the series 1-0 with 4 matches drawn and therefore retained The Ashes.

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Australians in England, 1964

Norman Preston

April 15, 1965

Opinions differed considerably concerning the quality of the twenty-fourth Australian team to visit the United Kingdom, but the fact remained that R.B. Simpson and his men achieved their objective in that they won the rubber and returned home with the Ashes which their country had held since wresting them from P.B.H. May's side in 1958-59.

The retirement of R. Benaud, R.N. Harvey and A.K. Davidson had certainly left the Australian ranks rather bare and, indeed, it could be said they arrived in England with an experimental side, eight of the seventeen being in a land completely strange to them.

They left themselves only ten days to settle down and unfortunately rain fell almost the whole of this time so that they began their match-programme very short of serious net-practice.

Happily the month of May was fine and generally the weather throughout the summer was grand; yet three of the five Test Matches were spoiled by rain. Rain halved the playing time in each of the first two Tests, at Nottingham and Lord's, and prevented a ball being bowled on the last day of the fifth at The Oval.

Consequently, these three games were drawn, with England having enjoyed the better of the argument in the first two. It was a different story in the third Test at Leeds. Apart from a cold wind, the weather stayed fine and on E.R. Dexter winning the toss for the third time (he won it again at The Oval) Australia, thanks to their opening bowlers, McKenzie and Hawke, whom they supported magnificently in the field, dismissed England for 268.

This seemed a modest total, but the Australian batsmen lacked confidence and were baffled by Titmus and Gifford, so that seven wickets fell for 178 before Burge came to the rescue with his now famous innings of 160. Unquestionably, this fearless knock by Burge decided the destination of the Ashes.

Three years earlier at Old Trafford, Australia were in similar trouble and England seemed certain of winning when in twenty minutes before tea on the last day Benaud changed the opposition's total from 150 for one wicket to 165 for five wickets and Australia went on to win by 54 runs. So it was at Leeds in 1964.

At the crisis, Australia found in Burge the man to pull them out of trouble and once they had lowered England's colours they took good care not to throw away their hold on the Ashes.

They knew they needed only to avoid defeat in one of the remaining two Tests to retain those Ashes and so they went to Manchester for the fourth Test with that single motive in mind. This was the only Test in which Simpson won the toss and he seized the opportunity not only to make his first century in any Test, but to stay at the crease for twelve and three-quarter hours, until the third day, while he carefully compiled his mammoth 311.

It was not the kind of cricket the majority of people like to see, but it was so typical of the pattern of many Tests over the past twenty-five years that England, who would probably have pursued the same tactics, could not object to it. Moreover, in Lawry (106), Simpson, found the ideal collaborator and between them they established a new record stand of 201 for the first wicket for Australia against England.

Eventually, the total reached 656 for eight wickets before Simpson declared and then England, thanks to Barrington (256) and Dexter (174), completed the stalemate by replying with a total of 611.

While it was easy to criticise Simpson for his negative tactics at Manchester, one must remember that his team was not over-blessed with talent. Indeed, when the party was chosen, the Australian critics almost to a man condemned it as one of the weakest ever to represent their country.

That they were near the mark can be seen from the following summary of first-class match results by Australian teams in England since the First World War:--

That the side fared as well as they did was due mainly to Simpson. He proved a shrewd captain as well as an outstanding cricketer of all-round ability. Although he began the tour by opening the batting with Lawry, he soon realised that he was deficient in spin bowling. Consequently, he dropped himself to number six in the batting order for the first two Tests, but as Redpath accomplished little in those matches Simpson was compelled to go in first again and no doubt that decision was right.

Simpson finished the tour as the leading batsman with 1,714 runs, average 57.13, but his intermittent spells of leg-spin bowling earned him only 32 wickets at a cost of 32.28 runs each. Still, he broke up some stubborn partnerships and played another valuable part in the field by holding 36 catches, the majority in the slips; many of these were brilliant efforts.

It was no mean feat on the part of Simpson and his men to go unbeaten through the first three months, but Glamorgan Surprised them in the August Bank holiday match at Swansea by winning on a spin-bowler's pitch and they narrowly lost the following game at Edgbaston after a most sporting contest with Warwickshire. Later in the month the Essex batsmen really collared the bowling at Southend before two spin bowlers, Phelan and Hobbs, gave Trevor Bailey's county victory by six wickets.

Potentially, this Australian team was well equipped with batsmen, but while seven of them scored at least 1,000 runs in the first-class engagements, there was a general lack of certainty when they came to the Tests. This was partly due to the wet weather as well as to the stubbornness of Lawry and Redpath, who surrendered the initiative to the England bowlers so that by the time men like O'Neill, Burge and Booth arrived, the attack held the mastery.

Lawry, after his tremendous success in 1961, was somewhat disappointing. Although he played two more innings his aggregate not only fell from 2,019 to 1,601, but he took much more time to make his runs.

The three most attractive batsmen were Booth, the vice-captain Burge and O'Neill. A true stylist, Booth gave some glorious displays without distinguishing himself in the Tests apart from his 98 at Manchester.

O'Neill fared even more moderately in the Tests. Knee trouble kept him out when Australia won at Leeds and it inconvenienced him at other times; but on his day he lived up to his reputation as a splendid driver.

Burge seemed to reserve his best efforts for the big occasion, as when he dominated the only Test which reached a definite conclusion.

The State of Victoria sent three new batsmen in Redpath, Cowper and Potter and easily the best of them was the left-handed Cowper, who finished third in the averages at 51.48 with a total of 1,287 runs. An enterprising player, he showed the right approach to the game.

In two of the Tests, Australia were indebted to Veivers for his confident left-handed batting. He probably saved them from complete collapse and possible defeat at Lord's with a top score of 54 in a total of 176 and his not out 67 helped considerably towards Australia gaining a first innings of 197 in the final Test. A popular character on and off the field, Veivers might well have made many more runs but for his main duties as an off-spin bowler. Who will forget his mammoth spell of endurance in the Manchester Test?

Reviewing the bowlers as a whole, one formed the opinion that their figures at the end of the tour were better than many people expected. There were four of fast-medium pace who could use the new ball; McKenzie, Hawke, Connolly and Corling, and the first two served their side handsomely. Both possessed excellent physique and played a vital part in the Tests.

In fact, McKenzie, by taking 29 wickets in the five matches, equalled the record number by an Australian bowler in Tests in England -- Clarrie Grimmett in 1930. Hawke, who headed the bowling averages with 83 wickets at 19.80 runs each, virtually denied England any chance of drawing the rubber when on the first day of the Oval Test he played the main part in dismissing England for 182 by taking six wickets for 47 runs, his best performance in Test cricket.

Corling, aged 22, the youngest member of the party being junior by three weeks to McKenzie, was the surprise choice and gave cheerful support in all five Tests. Connolly, on the other hand, missed many games through a variety of aches and pains which were never satisfactorily diagnosed.

When the party left Australia it was expected that the main spin bowlers would be Simpson, Veivers, Sellers and Martin. Sellers, a tall leg-spinner had the misfortune to damage his bowling hand in one of the preliminary games before the team arrived in England and appeared in only one match before the first Test.

Martin, an unorthodox left-hander of the Wardle-Tribe type, was not sufficiently accurate to command a place in the representative matches and, with Simpson forced to concentrate on his batting, the main burden of the slow bowling fell on Veivers, the off-spinner whose 56 wickets cost 36.17 runs each.

The side possessed two capable wicket-keepers in Grout and Jarman who came with the 1961 party and again Grout, the senior, kept in all five Tests. While some individuals like Simpson, O'Neill and Grout excelled, the fielding generally did not reach the usual high standard associated with Australian teams. Yet, when they won the Test at Leeds, not a chance was missed and everyone performed splendidly under the eyes of their Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies.

At the end of the tour, the players spent a fortnight's holiday on the Continent before playing three Tests with India and one with Pakistan on their way home. They eventually arrived in Australia, tired but triumphant, in November.

That the tour went through smoothly was due in no small way to the efficiency and courtesy of Mr. Ray Steele (manager), Mr. Jack Ledward (treasurer) and Mr. David Sherwood (scorer).

AUSTRALIAN RESULTS

Test Matches -- Played 5; Won 1, Drawn 4.

First-Class Matches -- Played 30; Won 11, Lost 3, Drawn 16.

All Matches -- Played 36; Won 14, Lost 4, Drawn 18.

Wins -- England, Duke of Norfolk's XI, Gloucestershire, Somerset, M.C.C., Cambridge University, Minor Counties, Northamptonshire, Sussex, Yorkshire, Kent, A.E.R. Gilligan's XI, T.N. Pearce's XI, Sussex (Knock-out rules).

Losses -- Glamorgan, Warwickshire, Essex, Netherlands.

Draws -- England (4), Worcestershire, Surrey, Nottinghamshire, Glamorgan, Cambridge University, Lancashire, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Leicestershire, Hampshire, Middlesex, President of M.C.C.'s XI, Scotland (2).

Match reports for

Only Test: Pakistan v Australia at Karachi, Oct 24-29, 1964 Report | Scorecard

1st Test: India v Australia at Chennai, Oct 2-7, 1964 Report | Scorecard

2nd Test: India v Australia at Brabourne, Oct 10-15, 1964 Report | Scorecard

3rd Test: India v Australia at Eden Gardens, Oct 17-22, 1964 Report | Scorecard

Tour Match: Duke of Norfolk's XI v Australians at Arundel, Apr 25, 1964 Scorecard

Tour Match: Worcestershire v Australians at Worcester, Apr 29-May 1, 1964 Scorecard

Tour Match: Gloucestershire v Australians at Bristol, May 2-5, 1964 Scorecard

Tour Match: Somerset v Australians at Taunton, May 6-8, 1964 Scorecard

Tour Match: Surrey v Australians at The Oval, May 9-12, 1964 Scorecard

Tour Match: Nottinghamshire v Australians at Nottingham, May 13-15, 1964 Scorecard

Tour Match: Glamorgan v Australians at Cardiff, May 16-19, 1964 Scorecard

Tour Match: Cambridge University v Australians at Cambridge, May 20-22, 1964 Scorecard

Tour Match: Marylebone Cricket Club v Australians at Lord's, May 23-26, 1964 Scorecard

Tour Match: Oxford University v Australians at Oxford, May 27-28, 1964 Scorecard

Tour Match: Lancashire v Australians at Manchester, May 30-Jun 2, 1964 Scorecard

1st Test: England v Australia at Nottingham, Jun 4-9, 1964 Report | Scorecard

Tour Match: Derbyshire v Australians at Derby, Jun 10-12, 1964 Scorecard

2nd Test: England v Australia at Lord's, Jun 18-23, 1964 Report | Scorecard

Tour Match: Northamptonshire v Australians at Northampton, Jun 27-30, 1964 Scorecard

3rd Test: England v Australia at Leeds, Jul 2-6, 1964 Report | Scorecard

Tour Match: Leicestershire v Australians at Leicester, Jul 8-10, 1964 Scorecard

Tour Match: Hampshire v Australians at Southampton, Jul 11-14, 1964 Scorecard

Tour Match: Sussex v Australians at Hove, Jul 15-17, 1964 Scorecard

Tour Match: Middlesex v Australians at Lord's, Jul 18-21, 1964 Scorecard

4th Test: England v Australia at Manchester, Jul 23-28, 1964 Report | Scorecard

Tour Match: Glamorgan v Australians at Swansea, Aug 1-4, 1964 Scorecard

Tour Match: Warwickshire v Australians at Birmingham, Aug 5-7, 1964 Scorecard

Tour Match: Yorkshire v Australians at Bradford, Aug 8-11, 1964 Scorecard

5th Test: England v Australia at The Oval, Aug 13-18, 1964 Report | Scorecard

Tour Match: Marylebone Cricket Club President's XI v Australians at Lord's, Aug 19-21, 1964 Scorecard

Tour Match: Essex v Australians at Southend-on-Sea, Aug 22-25, 1964 Scorecard

Tour Match: Kent v Australians at Canterbury, Aug 26-28, 1964 Scorecard

Tour Match: AER Gilligan's XI v Australians at Hastings, Sep 2-4, 1964 Scorecard

Tour Match: TN Pearce's XI v Australians at Scarborough, Sep 5-8, 1964 Scorecard

Tour Match: Sussex v Australians at Hove, Sep 14, 1964 Scorecard

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