England in Australia 1950-51 Five Tests. Australia Won 4 - 1

England in Australia 1950-51 Five Tests. Australia Won 4 - 1. Balls per Over: 8 Playing Hours: 6 days x 5 hr Captains: AL Hassett (Aus), FR Brown (Eng) England’s second post-war visit produced a curiously flat series, which had some parallels with the equivalent tour after World War One. Once again, Australia won 4-1 after securing the Ashes at the first opportunity; the one defeat was Australia’s first for over twelve years. And then there was Bedser, whose superb fast-medium bowling, like Tate’s in 1924, was still unable to swing the result. Unlike 1924, though, there was a general dominaton of ball over bat, and the response of the bat, especially from England, was too often a sort of paralysed defence which would become commonplace in the 1950s. With Bradman retired and Miller mellowing, Australian batting fireworks were also in short supply. Harvey was consistent, but couldn't find top gear. The series was played in good spirit, thanks largely to the easy-going natures of captains “Puck” Hassett and the suave Freddie Brown, but public response to one of the lowest-scoring series of the century was judged to be disappointing. For the third series in a row, Brisbane weather dictated terms in the opening match. Storms prevented play on the second day, and rendered the pitch unsuitable for play until well into the third. One wonders how suitable it was thereafter, as 20 wickets fell in less than four hours. England saved the follow-on, but if anything their bowlers were then too successful, encouraging Hassett’s extraordinary declaration at 7 for 32, and casting England back into the gluepot. The next day Hutton played one of the great “Trumperesque” sticky- wicket innings, 62* in 90 minutes from number eight, but it wasn’t enough. Melbourne was also bowler-dominated, but far less remarkable. No one scored more than 73 runs or took more than six wickets, although the mystery finger-spinner Iverson served notice that he would be a real handful. Set just 179 to win after an excellent all-round effort from Brown, England opted for pure defence and paid a price, finally dislodged 29 runs short. In Sydney, Miller returned to top form as England lost two bowlers to injury during the match, and their problems with Iverson (second innings 6 for 27) were compounded by a wearing pitch. Australia's batsmen kept up the pressure at Adelaide, where Morris (206) scored two-thirds of his runs for the series, and Burke registered a (second innings) century on debut. Hutton responded well, but feeble support “helped” him to become, with 156*, only the second opener to carry his bat against Australia. By the time the tour returned to Melbourne, England, apart from Hutton, had recorded only three half-centuries, but Simpson finally put in a fine innings of 156*, his last 60 in an extremely uncharacteristic 74 minutes. Bedser bowled brilliantly throughout to record the only ten-wicket haul of the series, and England’s long Ashes drought was broken. England would go on to complete the parallels with the post-WWI era by winning back the Ashes 1-0 in the final Test of 1953. Charles Davis 2001.

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