English cricket team in Australia in 1882–83

The England national cricket team toured Australia and Ceylon in 1882–83.

The team, captained by Ivo Bligh, was on a quest "to recover those Ashes", a reference to the famous RIP notice that was published in the aftermath of England's defeat by Australia at The Oval during the previous English season.

Originally, three Tests were arranged and England won two of these after losing the first. Although the actual sequence of events has never been completely confirmed, it was after England won the third Test that Ivo Bligh was somehow presented with a small urn which is believed to contain the ashes of a burnt bail. He brought this back to England and it is now the most famous exhibit in the museum at Lord's Cricket Ground. England and Australia have been contesting these mythical Ashes ever since.

The "fourth Test" of this tour was arranged ad hoc after the original series had been completed.

Tour Matches

Two/Three-day Matches

10 - 11 November 1882	South Australia	v	IFW Bligh's XI	Match drawn
Scorecard	128/7 (96 overs) J Noel 37 Morley 3/17 (19 overs)		153 (113 overs) EFS Tylecote 59 Quilty 6/60 (36 overs)	Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
IFW Bligh's XI won the toss and elected to bat South Australia had 15 players

22 - 23 November 1882	Sandhurst	v	IFW Bligh's XI	Match Drawn
Scorecard	100 (114.2 overs) GN Campbell 28 Steel 8/35 (40.2 overs)		117 (92 overs) CFH Leslie 48* Spargo 4/46 (40.1 overs)	Back Creek Ground, Bendigo
	119 (92.3 overs) G Mackay 29 Steel 10/35 (30 overs)		28/0 (11 overs) GB Studd 19*
Sandhurst had 22 players

24 - 25 November 1882	Castlemaine	v	IFW Bligh's XI	Match Drawn
Scorecard	136 (154.1 overs) G Smith 41 Morley 8/45 (51 overs)		238 (125 overs) Studd 52 Vick 2/0 (2 overs)	Wattle Flat, Castlemaine
	22/8 (37 overs) Dawes 10 Steel 2/0 (2 overs)
Castlemaine won the toss and elected to bat Castlemaine had 22 players

6 - 7 December 1882	Maitland	v	IFW Bligh's XI	IFW Bligh's XI won by an innings and 15 runs
Scorecard	49 (46.1 overs) J McAlpine 15 Steel 8/25 (23 overs)		155 (88.1 overs) W Barnes 25 McAlpine 3/44 (31 overs)	Albion Ground, West Maitland
	91 (52.3 overs) TA Onus 20 Studd 7/30 (17 overs)
IFW Bligh's XI won the toss and elected to bat Maitland had 18 players

6 - 7 December 1882	Newcastle	v	IFW Bligh's XI	Match Drawn
Scorecard	67 (82.2 overs) W Smith 13 Steel 7/36 (38 overs)		339 (246.2 overs) WW Read 64 Ryder 3/70 (76 overs)	Newcastle Number 1 Sports Ground, Newcastle
	54/15 (75 overs) J Rodgers 12 Steel 10/29 (38 overs)
Newcastle won the toss and elected to bat Newcastle had 18 players

11 - 12 December 1882	Tamworth	v	IFW Bligh's XI	Match Abandoned
Scorecard				Tamworth No 1 Oval, Tamworth
No toss

26 - 28 December 1882	Ballarat	v	IFW Bligh's XI	Match Drawn
Scorecard	227 (151 overs) P McGregor 53 Barnes 7/24 (16 overs)		272 (201 overs) WW Read 55 Duffy 5/58 (52 overs)	Eastern Oval, Ballarat
	176/14 (136 overs) P Lewis 40 Steel 8/68 (43 overs)
Ballarat won the toss and elected to bat Ballarat had 18 players

8 - 9 January 1883	Northern Tasmania CA	v	IFW Bligh's XI	IFW Bligh's XI won by an innings and 75 runs
Scorecard	114 (99.2 overs) OG Douglas 29 Barnes 6/25 (29 overs)		270 (176 overs) CT Studd 99 Kendall 5/104 (85 overs)	NTCA Ground, Launceston
	81 (83 overs) OG Douglas 16 Steel 10/33 (30 overs)
Northern Tasmania Cricket Association won the toss and elected to bat Northern Tasmania Cricket Association had 18 players

12 - 13 January 1883	Southern Tasmania CA	v	IFW Bligh's XI	IFW Bligh's XI won by 7 wickets
Scorecard	82 (83 overs) JG Davies 23 Steel 6/42 (34 overs)		110 (103.1 overs) IFW Bligh 32 Kendall 6/56 (48 overs)	TCA Ground, Hobart
	95 (74 overs) GH Arthur 14 Steel 7/41 (34 overs)		68/3 (44 overs) Steel 30* Bayley 2/12 (20 overs)
Southern Tasmania Cricket Association won the toss and elected to bat Southern Tasmania Cricket Association had 18 players

2 - 3 February 1883	Queensland	v	IFW Bligh's XI	IFW Bligh's XI won by an innings and 154 runs
Scorecard	62 (82.3 overs) H Strickland 10* Steel 10/28 (41.3 overs)		265 (115 overs) WW Read 84 Wearne 5/79 (36 overs)	Eagle Farm Racecourse, Brisbane Umpires: MR Cobbett and RC Miller
	49 (38.1 overs) W Hobbs 9* Steel 9/16 (19.1 overs)
IFW Bligh's XI won the toss and elected to bat Queensland had 18 players

8 - 9 February 1883	Maryborough	v	IFW Bligh's XI	IFW Bligh's XI won by an innings and 58 runs
Scorecard	42 (55 overs) JT Gaskell 11 Steel 8/14 (24 overs)		179 (87.3 overs) WW Read 66 Roberts 6/62 (39.3 overs)	Showground Oval, Maryborough Umpires: MR Cobbett and CF Gataker
	79 (77 overs) RS Warry 30 Steel 8/28 (34 overs)
Maryborough won the toss and elected to bat Maryborough had 18 players

First-class Matches

17 - 20 November 1882	Victoria	v	IFW Bligh's XI	IFW Bligh's XI won by 10 wickets
Scorecard	104 (95.1 overs) E Turner 25 WW Read 4/28 (12 overs)		273 (126.2 overs) CT Studd 56 WH Cooper 5/89 (35 overs)	Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne Umpires: Edward Elliott and JA Smith
	169 (96.1 overs) (f/o) W Bruce 40 RG Barlow 3/31 (16 overs)		4/0 (0.1 overs) RG Barlow 0* (1)
IFW Bligh's XI won the toss and elected to bat J Rosser, W Bruce and W Logan (Victoria) made their first-class debuts

17 - 20 November 1882	New South Wales	v	IFW Bligh's XI	IFW Bligh's XI won by an innings and 144 runs
Scorecard	152 (140.1 overs) AP Marr 34 AG Steel 5/32 (28 overs)		461 (221 overs) CFH Leslie 144 Edwin Evans 6/146 (85 overs)	Association Ground, Sydney Umpires: WC Goddard and James Swift
	165 (148 overs) JJ Davis 85 RG Barlow 3/18 (26 overs)
New South Wales won the toss and elected to bat AP Marr, CTB Turner and JJC Callachor (NSW) made their first-class debuts

9 - 12 March 1883	Victoria	v	IFW Bligh's XI	Victoria won by an innings and 73 runs
Scorecard	284 (219.2 overs) WE Midwinter 92* Barnes 5/70 (51.2 overs)		55 (31.1 overs) CT Studd 11 Palmer 4/21 (15.1 overs)	Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne Umpires: WC Goddard and James Swift
			156 (109 overs) (f/o) AG Steel 76 Palmer 7/65 (48 overs)
Victoria won the toss and elected to bat

Test Matches

First Test

Second Test

Third Test

"Extra" Test

Players

England was captained by Ivo Bligh and had Edward Tylecote as its specialist wicket-keeper, the other players being Billy Bates, Dick Barlow, Allan Steel, Charles Leslie, Walter Read, Charles Studd, Fred Morley, Billy Barnes, George Vernon and George Studd.

Australia was captained by Billy Murdoch and had Jack Blackham as wicket-keeper. Other players to represent Australia were Billy Midwinter, Alec Bannerman, George Bonnor, Tom Horan, Percy McDonnell, George Giffen, Harry Boyle, Edwin Evans, Hugh Massie, Eugene Palmer, Tom Garrett and Fred Spofforth.

Ceylon

The team used Colombo as a stopover during its long sea voyage and played two matches against local sides in October 1882 that were not first-class. This was the first time that an overseas team visited Ceylon.

13 - 14 October 1882	Europeans	v	IFW Bligh's XI	Match drawn
Scorecard	92 (47 overs) E Cave-Browne 19 Studd 5/21 (10 overs)		155/9 (73 overs) (d) CFH Leslie 23 Jackson 4/27 (25 overs)	Galle Face, Colombo
	16/7 (14.4 overs) Bird 7 Bates 6/8 (7.4 overs)
Europeans won the toss and elected to bat Europeans had 18 players

23 October 1882	Royal Dublin Fusiliers	v	IFW Bligh's XI	Match drawn
Scorecard	24/9 (20 overs) Bird 7 Bates 5/14 (10 overs)		184 (98.4 overs) EFS Tylecote 44 Carr 3/32 (21.1 overs)	Colombo
Royal Dublin Fusiliers had 18 players

External sources

• CricketArchive tour itinerary

Further reading

• The Wisden Book of Test Cricket 1877–1978 by Bill Frindall
• Chris Harte, A History of Australian Cricket, Andre Deutsch, 1993

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