Australian cricket team in England in 1956

Date

7 June 1956 – 28 August 1956

Location

England

Result

England won the 5-Test series 2–1

Teams
England	Australia
Captains
PBH May	IWG Johnson
Most runs
PBH May (453) PE Richardson (364)	JW Burke (271) CC McDonald (243)
Most wickets
JC Laker (46) GAR Lock (15)	KR Miller (21) RG Archer (18)

The Australian cricket team toured England in the 1956 season to play a five-match Test series against England for The Ashes.

England won the series 2-1 with 2 matches drawn and therefore retained The Ashes.

The series is most notable for off-spinner Jim Laker's 46 wickets (a record for a 5-Test series) at an average of 9.60,^[1] including all ten wickets in the second innings of the fourth Test at Old Trafford, the first time this had been achieved in Test cricket. In that Test, known as Laker's Match, Laker took 19 wickets for 90 runs, still the best match bowling analysis achieved in both Test and all first-class cricket. The cartoonist Roy Ullyett summed up the summer with the picture of a dazed kangaroo in Australian strip and the ditty: Here lie the Ashes of '56, skittled by Laker for next to nix. Never forgotten, sorry you thought our wicket rotten, signed "Love from the groundstaff".^[2] The second line refers to the Australian complaints that the grass had been shaved off the Old Trafford wicket to help the England spinners.^[3]

Test series summary

First Test: Trent Bridge

7–12 June 1956
scorecard

England	v	Australia
217/8 (dec) (103.4 overs) PE Richardson 81 PBH May 73 KR Miller 4/69		148 (83.1 overs) RN Harvey 64 JC Laker 4/58
188/3 (dec) (61 overs) MC Cowdrey 81 PE Richardson 73 KR Miller 2/58		120/3 (86 overs) JW Burke 58 JC Laker 2/29

Match drawn
Trent Bridge
Umpires: TS Bartley (ENG) and JS Buller (ENG)

Peter Richardson (Eng) made his Test debut.

Second Test: Lord's

21–26 June 1956
scorecard

Australia	v	England
285 (146.1 overs) CC McDonald 78 JW Burke 65 JC Laker 3/47		171 (82 overs) PBH May 63 KR Miller 5/72
257 (92.5 overs) R Benaud 97 FS Trueman 5/90		186 (99.2 overs) PBH May 53 KR Miller 5/80 RG Archer 4/71

Australia won by 185 runs
Lord's Cricket Ground
Umpires: DE Davies (ENG) and FS Lee (ENG)

Pat Crawford and Ken Mackay (Aus) made their Test debuts.

Third Test: Headingley

12–17 July 1956
scorecard

England	v	Australia
325 (167.4 overs) PBH May 101 C Washbrook 98 RR Lindwall 3/67 RG Archer 3/68 R Benaud 3/89		143 (71.1 overs) JW Burke 41 KR Miller 41 Jim Laker 5/58 GAR Lock 4/41
		140 (follow-on) (99.3 overs) RN Harvey 69 JC Laker 6/55 GAR Lock 3/40

England won by an innings and 42 runs
Headingley
Umpires: JS Buller (ENG) and DE Davies (ENG)

Alan Oakman (Eng) made his Test debut.

Fourth Test: Old Trafford

26–31 July 1956
scorecard

England	v	Australia
459 (158.3 overs) DS Sheppard 113 PE Richardson 104 MC Cowdrey 80 IW Johnson 4/151		84 (40.4 overs) CC McDonald 32 JC Laker 9/37
		205 (follow-on) (150.2 overs) CC McDonald 89 JC Laker 10/53

England won by an innings and 170 runs
Old Trafford
Umpires: DE Davies (ENG) and FS Lee (ENG)

Fifth Test: The Oval

23–28 August 1956
scorecard

England	v	Australia
247 (109.2 overs) DCS Compton 94 PBH May 83 RG Archer 5/53 KR Miller 4/91		202 (92 overs) KR Miller 61 JC Laker 4/80
182/3 (dec) (61 overs) DS Sheppard 62 RR Lindwall 1/29		27/5 (38.1 overs) IWG Johnson 10 JC Laker 3/8

Match drawn
The Oval
Umpires: TJ Bartley (ENG) and DE Davies (ENG)

References

↑ Test Bowling Figures for England, 1956 Ashes
↑ p75, Peter Arnold, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Cricket, W.H. Smith, 1986
↑ p296, E.W. Swanton (ed), The Barclays World of Cricket, Collins, 1986

Annual reviews

Playfair Cricket Annual 1957
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 1957

External links

CricketArchive – tour summaries

The Ashes

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

1850

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1900

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2000

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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
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Major tournaments hosted

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Other tournaments hosted

Multiple teams	1979 1982 1986

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