English cricket team in Australia in 1897–98

An England cricket team toured Australia in the 1897–98 season to play a five-match Test series against the Australia national cricket team. The team was captained by Andrew Stoddart and, except in the Test matches when it was called England, it was generally known as A. E. Stoddart's XI. The playing strength of the team was weakened by Stoddart acceding to a request from the Australians to bring “new blood”. As a result, established players including JT Brown, Albert Ward and Bobby Peel were not selected.^[1]

Stoddart only played in the third and fourth Test matches, following the news before the first Test that his mother had died. Archie MacLaren captained England in the first, second and fifth Tests.^[1] England won the first Test comfortably by nine wickets after Ranjisinhji played one of the great Test innings. Weakened by illness he batted at number 7 he scored 175 in 223 minutes, hitting 26 fours, a performance which set up the victory.^[2] Australia then emphatically won the next four Tests.

Australia, captained by Harry Trott, therefore regained The Ashes. Australia were well served in batting by Joe Darling (he scored 537 runs, including three centuries), Clem Hill and Charlie McLeod; and in bowling by Ernie Jones, Monty Noble and Hugh Trumble. J. T. Hearne and Tom Richardson were England's most successful bowlers but the team was largely let down by its batting, with only MacLaren and Ranjitsinhji earning any distinction.

The English team played a total of 23 matches on tour: five Tests; seven first-class matches against state teams; and eleven minor matches against local teams. In the state matches, Stoddart's XI won three, drew three and lost one.^[3]

Players

The English party consisted of thirteen players, twelve of whom played for England in the Test series:^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]

Jack Board (Gloucestershire; wicketkeeper; did not play in any of the Test matches)
Johnny Briggs (Lancashire)
Frank Druce (Cambridge University and Surrey)
Tom Hayward (Surrey)
J. T. Hearne (Middlesex)
George Hirst (Yorkshire)
Archie MacLaren (Lancashire; vice-captain)
Jack Mason (Kent)
KS Ranjitsinhji (Sussex)
Tom Richardson (Surrey)
Andrew Stoddart (Middlesex; captain)
Bill Storer (Derbyshire; wicketkeeper)
Ted Wainwright (Yorkshire)

The following players represented Australia in the Test series:^[8]^[9]

Joe Darling (South Australia)
Syd Gregory (New South Wales)
Clem Hill (South Australia)
Bill Howell (New South Wales)
Frank Iredale (New South Wales)
Ernie Jones (South Australia)
Jim Kelly (New South Wales; wicketkeeper)
Jack Lyons (South Australia)
Tom McKibbin (New South Wales)
Charlie McLeod (Victoria)
Monty Noble (New South Wales)
Harry Trott (Victoria; captain)
Hugh Trumble (Victoria)
Jack Worrall (Victoria)

Test series summary

Australia won the Test series 4–1.

First Test

13–17 December 1897
(Timeless Test)
Scorecard

England	v	Australia
551 (175 overs) KS Ranjitsinhji 175 CE McLeod 3/80 (28 overs)		237 (100.1 overs) H Trumble 70 JT Hearne 5/42 (20.1 overs)
96/1 (28 overs) AC MacLaren 50* TR McKibbin 1/22 (5 overs)		408 (f/o) (121 overs) J Darling 101 JT Hearne 4/99 (38 overs)

England won by 9 wickets
Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
Umpires: C Bannerman and J Phillips

England won the toss and elected to bat.
JR Mason, W Storer, NF Druce and GH Hirst (all ENG) made their Test debuts.

Second Test

1–5 January 1898
(Timeless Test)
Scorecard

Australia	v	England
520 (185 overs) CE McLeod 112 J Briggs 3/96 (40 overs)		315 (119.5 overs) KS Ranjitsinhji 71 H Trumble 4/54 (26.5 overs)
		150 (f/o) (65.4 overs) AC MacLaren 38 MA Noble 6/49 (17 overs)

Australia won by an innings and 55 runs
Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
Umpires: C Bannerman and J Phillips

Australia won the toss and elected to bat.
2 January was taken as a rest day.
MA Noble (AUS) made his Test debut.

Third Test

14–19 January 1898
(Timeless Test)
Scorecard

Australia	v	England
573 (214.2 overs) J Darling 178 T Richardson 4/164 (56 overs)		278 (126.5 overs) GH Hirst 85 WP Howell 4/70 (54 overs)
		282 (f/o) (144 overs) AC MacLaren 124 CE McLeod 5/65 (48 overs)

Australia won by an innings and 13 runs
Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
Umpires: C Bannerman and J Phillips

Australia won the toss and elected to bat.
16 January was taken as a rest day
WP Howell (AUS) made his Test debut.

Fourth Test

29 January–2 February 1898
(Timeless Test)
Scorecard

Australia	v	England
323 (101.4 overs) C Hill 188 JT Hearne 6/98 (35.4 overs)		174 (61.1 overs) JR Mason 30 E Jones 4/56 (12 overs)
115/2 (39.4 overs) CE McLeod 64* TW Hayward 2/24 (10 overs)		263 (f/o) (114.2 overs) KS Ranjitsinhji 55 CE McLeod 2/11 (8.2 overs)

Australia won by 8 wickets
Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
Umpires: C Bannerman and J Phillips

Australia won the toss and elected to bat.
30 January was taken as a rest day.

Fifth Test

26 February–2 March 1898
(Timeless Test)
Scorecard

England	v	Australia
335 (129.2 overs) AC MacLaren 65 E Jones 6/82 (26.2 overs)		239 (100.1 overs) CE McLeod 64 T Richardson 8/94 (36.1 overs)
178 (78.1 overs) TW Hayward 43 H Trumble 4/37 (24 overs)		276/4 (62.4 overs) J Darling 160 T Richardson 2/110 (21.4 overs)