English cricket team in Australia in 1928–29

The England cricket team toured Australia in 1928–29. England, known as the MCC in matches outside the Tests, retained The Ashes, winning the first four Tests and losing the last for a 4–1 series victory.

English cricket team in Australia in 1928–29
Date18 October 1928 — 23 March 1929
LocationAustralia
ResultEngland won the 5-Test series 4-1
Teams
 Australia  England
Captains
J Ryder APF Chapman
Most runs
WM Woodfull (511)
J Ryder (492)
DG Bradman (468)
WR Hammond (905)
EH Hendren (472)
JB Hobbs (451)
Most wickets
CV Grimmett (23)
DD Blackie (14)
JC White (25)
G Geary (19)
H Larwood (18)
MW Tate (17)

Writing in the 1930 Wisden, SJ Southerton wrote:[1]

England were stronger in batting, more reliable and consistent in bowling and very definitely superior in fielding.

The series was defined by the prodigious runscoring of Wally Hammond, playing his maiden Ashes series, who with a run of scores of 251 at Sydney, 200 and 32 at Melbourne, and 119 not out and 177 at Adelaide, scored a then-record series aggregate of 905 runs at an average of 113.12; the record has only been surpassed once, by Donald Bradman in the 1930 Ashes.[2] In the fifth Test, England's Jack Hobbs became the oldest player to score a Test century, at the age of 46 years and 82 days, a record that still stands.[3]

The MCC team

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Percy Chapman leads out his powerful 1928–29 England team out onto the field
Scoreboard from the First Test.
Larwood bowling to Beckett at 6–342 in Australia's first innings in the Third Test at Melbourne.

The MCC touring party was:[1]

Tests

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First Test

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30 November – 5 December 1928
(Timeless Test)
Scorecard
v
521 (175.3 overs)
EH Hendren 169 (314)
H Larwood 70 (132)

JM Gregory 3/142 (42 overs)
CV Grimmett 3/167 (40 overs)
122 (50.4 overs)
J Ryder 33
H Larwood 6/32 (14.4 overs)
8/342 (dec) (135.1 overs)
CP Mead 73 (263)
DR Jardine 65* (194)

CV Grimmett 6/131 (44.1 overs)
66 (25.3 overs)
WM Woodfull 30 (73)
JC White 4/7 (6.3 overs)
  • 2 December was taken as a rest day.

Second Test

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14–20 December 1928
(Timeless Test)
Scorecard
v
253 (108.2 overs)
WM Woodfull 68 (216)
G Geary 5/35 (18 overs)
636 (272.1 overs)
WR Hammond 251 (605)
DD Blackie 4/148 (59 overs)
397 (151.4 overs)
HSTL Hendry 112 (305)
WM Woodfull 111 (286)

MW Tate 4/99 (46 overs)
2/16 (7 overs)
G Geary 8 (21)
HSTL Hendry 2/4 (3 overs)
  England won by eight wickets
Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, Australia
Umpires: DA Elder (Aus) and GA Hele (Aus)
  • 16 December was taken as a rest day.

Third Test

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29 December 1928 – 5 January 1929
(Timeless Test)
Scorecard
v
397 (180.5 overs)
J Ryder 112 (219)
AL Kippax 100 (255)

G Geary 3/83 (31.5 overs)
H Larwood 3/127 (37 overs)
417 (195 overs)
WR Hammond 200 (472)
DD Blackie 6/94 (44 overs)
351 (165.5 overs)
DG Bradman 112 (281)
WM Woodfull 107 (309)

JC White 5/107 (56.5 overs)
7/332 (159.5 overs)
H Sutcliffe 135 (462)
CV Grimmett 2/96 (42 overs)
  England won by three wickets
Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia
Umpires: DA Elder (Aus) and GA Hele (Aus)
  • 30 December was taken as a rest day.
  • This Test match still holds the record for the highest match aggregate (1497) without a no-ball extra.[4]

Fourth Test

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1–8 February 1929
(Timeless Test)
Scorecard
v
334 (183.1 overs)
WR Hammond 119* (374)
CV Grimmett 5/102 (52.1 overs)
369 (160 overs)
A Jackson 164 (331)
JC White 5/130 (60 overs)
MW Tate 4/77 (42 overs)
383 (200.4 overs)
WR Hammond 177 (603)
DR Jardine 98 (378)

RK Oxenham 4/67 (47.4 overs)
336 (151.5 overs)
J Ryder 87 (155)
JC White 8/126 (64.5 overs)
  England won by 12 runs
Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, Australia
Umpires: DA Elder (Aus) and GA Hele (Aus)
  • 3 February was taken as a rest day.

Fifth Test

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8–16 March 1929
(Timeless Test)
Scorecard
v
519 (215.1 overs)
JB Hobbs 142 (301)
M Leyland 137 (330)

TW Wall 3/123 (49 overs)
PM Hornibrook 3/142 (48 overs)
491 (271.3 overs)
DG Bradman 123 (247)
WM Woodfull 102 (381)

G Geary 5/105 (81 overs)
257 (86.3 overs)
JB Hobbs 65 (126)
MW Tate 54 (57)
M Leyland 53 (138)

TW Wall 5/66 (26 overs)
5/287 (134.1 overs)
J Ryder 57 (172)
WAS Oldfield 48 (156)
A Jackson 46 (75)

WR Hammond 3/53 (26 overs)
  Australia won by five wickets
Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia
Umpires: GA Hele (Aus) and AC Jones (Aus)
  • 10 March was taken as a rest day.

Ceylon

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The English team had a stopover in Colombo en route to Australia and played a one-day single-innings match there against the Ceylon national team, which at that time did not have Test status.[5]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Wisden: The Independent Voice of Cricket | Live Cricket Scores, News, Fixtures".
  2. ^ Test records: most runs in a series
  3. ^ "How many batters have made their first two centuries in the same Test?". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  4. ^ Walmsley, Keith (2003). Mosts Without in Test Cricket. Reading, England: Keith Walmsley. p. 375. ISBN 0947540067.
  5. ^ "Ceylon v MCC 1928". CricketArchive. Retrieved 3 July 2014.

Further reading

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  • Ralph Barker & Irving Rosenwater, England v Australia: A compendium of Test cricket between the countries 1877–1968, Batsford, 1969, ISBN 0-7134-0317-9.
  • Percy Fender, The Turn of the Wheel: MCC Team in Australia 1928–29, London, 1929
  • Bill Frindall, The Wisden Book of Test Cricket 1877–1978, Wisden, 1979
  • Chris Harte, A History of Australian Cricket, Andre Deutsch, 1993
  • Ray Robinson, On Top Down Under, Cassell, 1975
  • Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 1930