Australian cricket team in England in 1961

The 1961 Australian cricket tour of England began with a three-day match versus Worcestershire at the County Ground, New Road, Worcester on Saturday 29 April, play continuing on Monday 1 May and Tuesday 2 May. This match was rain-affected and ended in a draw. The tour ended at Trinity College Park, Dublin on 19 September when the Australians completed a 282 run victory in a two-day match versus Ireland.

The Australian tour party consisted of these players: R Benaud (captain), R N Harvey (vice-captain), A T W Grout (wicket-keeper), B N Jarman (wicket-keeper), W M Lawry, N C O'Neill, P J P Burge, C C McDonald, B C Booth, R B Simpson, K D Mackay, A K Davidson, F M Misson, G D McKenzie, R A Gaunt, I W Quick, L F Kline.

Series overview

The main business of the tour was a five-Test series versus England. The matches were played at Edgbaston, Lord's, Headingley, Old Trafford and The Oval. Australia won the series 2-1 to retain The Ashes.

Test series summary

No captain of my time has impressed me more than Richie Benaud. Richie had the gift of making you feel you were a better player than you really were. He made his players believe they could win, even when the cause looked utterly hopeless. Nothing illustrated more clearly Richie's adroit handling of men than his leadership of the 1961 Australian team which came to Britain. They should never have won the rubber with those players, but Richie instilled into them his belief in themselves - this attitude that "there is nothing we cannot achieve if we set our minds to it".

Ray Illingworth^[1]

1st Test at Edgbaston – match drawn
2nd Test at Lord's – Australia won by 5 wickets
3rd Test at Headingley – England won by 8 wickets
4th Test at Old Trafford – Australia won by 54 runs
5th Test at The Oval – match drawn

Five years after their disastrous showing against Jim Laker, the Australians returned to the top of the international tree by retaining the Ashes in England only months after their exciting victory over the West Indies in the memorable Tied test series of 1960-1961 played "Down Under".

The 1961 series was a personal triumph for skipper Richie Benaud, whose match-winning bowling and astute leadership in the fourth Test at Old Trafford proved to be the decisive factor in the series. With the series square, England needed 256 to win and were expected to get them, but Benaud, by bowling his leg breaks round the wicket into some rough created by footmarks, took 6-70 to secure an Australian victory by 54 runs. The key moment came when he bowled the England captain Peter May behind his legs for a duck. The bemused May had to be told by Aussie keeper Wally Grout that he had been bowled.

Australia won the series by drawing the final Test at The Oval and it confirmed a supremacy over England that would endure throughout the decade.

England in 1961 was heavily reliant on the fast bowling of Fred Trueman, then at his peak. It was his brilliant performance at Headingley, where he took 11 wickets in the match, that earned England its only win in the series.

Peter May had missed the start of the series and he relinquished the captaincy at the end of the summer, telling the selectors he did not wish to be considered for any more overseas tours. At the age of 32, he hoped to continue playing for Surrey but, as it turned out, he was lost to the game. He was one of the last amateur cricketers and he decided to make his living in the City of London.

The Tests in detail

After the first match was drawn, Australia had their traditional victory at Lord's (England not having defeated them there since 1934), by 5 wickets on a lively pitch. Davidson did the damage in the first England innings and McKenzie in the second. Lawry's 130 in Australia's first innings, when nobody else on either side made more than 66 in either innings, was crucial.

England won by 8 wickets at Headingley, Australia collapsing in their second innings from 99-2 to 120 all out, thanks to Trueman's devastating spell of off-cutters. He finished with figures of 6-30, having taken 5-58 in the first innings.

The Fourth Test at Old Trafford proved decisive. It was won by Australia by 54 runs. The last day was very exciting, seeing many turns of fortune. England had managed a first innings lead of 177. Australia's second innings had reached 331-6 at the close of the fourth day, a lead of 154. On the final morning, David Allen took 3 wickets quickly, reducing Australia to 334-9, and the game seemed won by England. But Davidson then took the attack to the bowlers, hitting Allen for 20 in an over, and with help from McKenzie added 98 for the last wicket. England needed 256 to win at 67 runs an hour. Ted Dexter, well supported by Raman Subba Row, scored 76 in 84 minutes and took England to 150-1, and strong favourites to win. But Benaud went round the wicket and aimed at the bowlers' footmarks, and caused a collapse. He finished with 6-70, and Australia won with 20 minutes to spare, thereby retaining The Ashes.

The final Test was drawn, after Australia had taken a big first innings lead.

Ceylon

The Australians had a stopover in Colombo en route to England and played a one-day single-innings match there against the Ceylon national team, which at that time did not have Test status.^[2]

References

↑ pp33-34, Richard Whitington, Captains Outrageous?, Stanley Paul, 1972
↑ "Ceylon v Australia 1961". CricketArchive. Retrieved 30 June 2014. (Subscription required (help)).

Annual reviews

Playfair Cricket Annual 1962
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 1962

External links

CricketArchive – tour summaries

The Ashes

List of Ashes series (white – in England, yellow – in Australia)

1850

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												1882–83		1884–85		1886–87		1887–88				1891–92		1894–95		1897–98

1900

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1950

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2000

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		2002–03		2006–07		2010–11		2013–14		2017–18

Non-Ashes Australia v England Test series
1876–77 1878–79 1880 1881–82 1882 1945 1976–77 1979–80 1980 1987–88

International cricket tours of England

Test and LOI tours

Australia	1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1893 1896 1899 1902 1905 1909 1912 1921 1926 1930 1934 1938 1948 1953 1956 1961 1964 1968 1972 1975 1977 1980 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2010 2012 2013 2015 2019
Bangladesh	2005 2010
India	1932 1936 1946 1952 1959 1967 1971 1974 1979 1982 1986 1990 1996 2002 2004 2007 2011 2014 2018
Ireland	2017
New Zealand	1931 1937 1949 1958 1965 1969 1973 1978 1983 1986 1990 1994 1999 2004 2008 2013 2015
Pakistan	1954 1962 1967 1971 1974 1978 1982 1987 1992 1996 2001 2006 2010 2016 2018 2019
South Africa	1907 1912 1924 1929 1935 1947 1951 1955 1960 1965 1994 1998 2003 2008 2012 2017
Sri Lanka	1984 1988 1991 1998 2002 2006 2011 2014 2016
West Indies	1928 1933 1939 1950 1957 1963 1966 1969 1973 1976 1980 1984 1988 1991 1995 2000 2004 2007 2009 2011 2012 2017
Zimbabwe	2000 2003

Major tournaments hosted

Multiple teams	1912 1975 1979 1983 1999 2004 2009 2013 2017 2019

Other tours

Australian	1868 1878 1919 1945 1988 2009
Bangladeshi	1998
Canadian	1880 1887 1922 1936 1954 1974
Indian	1886 1888 1911
Kenyan	1984
Multi-national	1932 1970 1972 1987
New Zealand	1927 1945
Philadelphian	1884 1889 1897 1903 1908
South African	1894 1901 1904 1961
Sri Lankan	1975 1979 1981 1990
West Indian	1900 1906 1923 1964
Zimbabwean	1982 1985 1986 1990 1993

Other tournaments hosted

Multiple teams	1979 1982 1986

International cricket tours of Sri Lanka

Test and LOI tours
Australia	1982–83 1992 1999 2003–04 2011 2016
Bangladesh	2002 2005–06 2007 2012–13 2016–17
England	1981–82 1992–93 2000–01 2003–04 2007–08 2011–12 2014–15
India	1985 1993 1997 2001 2006 2008 2008–09 2010 2012 2015 2017
New Zealand	1983–84 1984–85 1986–87 1992–93 1998 2003 2009 2012–13 2013–14
Pakistan	1985–86 1994 1996–97 2000 2005–06 2009 2012 2014 2015
South Africa	1993 2000 2004 2006 2013 2014
West Indies	1993–94 2001–02 2005 2010–11 2015-16
Zimbabwe	1983–84 1996–97 1997–98 2001–02 2017

Tournaments hosted
Multiple teams	1986 1994 1996 1996 1997 1998 2000 2001–02 2001 2002 2004 2010 2011 2012 2017–18

Other tours
Afghan	2009–10
Australian	1884 1890 1893 1896 1912 1926 1930 1934 1935–36 1938 1945 1948 1953 1961 1964 1969 1981
Bangladeshi	1985–86
Canadian	2000–01 2009–10 2011–12
English	1882–83 1889–90 1891–92 1892–93 1894–95 1911–12 1920–21 1922–23 1924–25 1926–27 1928–29 1929–30 1932–33 1933–34 1935–36 1936–37 1936–37 1950–51 1951–52 1954–55 1958–59 1961–62 1962–63 1965–66 1968–69 1969–70 1972–73 1976–77 1977–78 1984–85 2000–01
Indian	1925–26 1944–45 1956–57 1973–74 1975–76
Kenyan	2001–02 2013–14
Malaysian	1893–94 1971–72
Multi-national	1930–31 1949–50 1950–51 1967–68
New Zealand	1927 1937–38
Pakistani	1948–49 1972–73 1975–76 1978–79
Scottish	2011–12 2013–14
West Indian	1948–49 1966–67 1974–75 1978–79

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