Tour of Australia 1886-87                    Captain : Arthur Shrewsbury              

England’s sixth Test tour.

(September 1886–March 1887)

Sixth Test-playing tour of Australia by an English side

       (previous tour  1884-85)

This was the third tour got together by Shrewsbury, Shaw and Lillywhite. By now the latter two had given up playing cricket altogether. They managed a very competent and experienced group of professionals.

Their Australian agents were J.P.Tennant and Sydney Cohen of New South Wales.  Ben Wardill, Secretary of the Melbourne Cricket Club, had also wanted to invite a side in 1886-87, and put arrangements in place the previous summer. He signed several prominent amateurs to make the trip but, after failing to persuade W.G.Grace to lead his side, abandoned the idea. Only then would he give way and allow Shrewsbury's team to play on the Melbourne ground.

The promoters declined an offer to include matches in New Zealand in the programme because they had learned that matches there would most likely be unprofitable.

The First Test at Sydney saw England put in to bat and dismissed for 45, which remains its lowest total in Test cricket, yet beat Australia by 13 runs thanks to Barnes taking six wickets.

The first replacement tourist to be included in an England Test side, Reginald Wood of Lancashire, joined the tour party when William Barnes broke his hand and had to miss the second Test match at Sydney.  There England won again, despite Barnes's all-round skills being badly missed. George Lohmann captured 8 for 35 as Australia collapsed to 84 all out. Leading bowler, the left-arm spinner Johnny Briggs (who had barely bowled on tour two years before) took 179 wickets in all matches on the tour.

All England tours

Previous Test tour

Australia 1884-85 

(Shaw & Shrewsbury’s team)

Next Test tours

Australia 1887-88(Shrewsbury’s)

Australia 1887-88(Vernon’s)

Next tour of  Australia

 1887-88

Members of the Test tour party (11)

Opening batsmen:   Arthur Shrewsbury, William Scotton

Middle-order batsmen William Gunn, Dick Barlow,  Maurice Read

Wicket-keeper:Mordecai Sherwin

All-rounders:  William Barnes, Billy Bates,

Slow bowler:Wilfred Flowers, Johnny Briggs

Fast bowlers: George Lohmann

County representation:

La  -  Lancashire (2)

Nt - Nottinghamshire (6)

Sy  -  Surrey (2)

Yo  -  Yorkshire (1)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(28 January 1887) :

  29 yrs 10 months.

Test Appearances made before the tour

Barlow 15,  Barnes 15,  Shrewsbury 15,  Bates 13,  Scotton 13,  Briggs 8,  Read 6,  Flowers 5,  Lohmann 3,  Gunn 0,  Sherwin 0,  Wood 0.

Tour Officials

Selectors

Shrewsbury, Shaw and Lillywhite chose the team.

Selection

Unavailable  Four amateurs - Mr M C Kemp (Kent), Mr C W Wright (Cambridge University), Mr W E Roller (Surrey) and Mr W Newham (Sussex) - were thought to be in the party, but the side that left was made up of professionals only.

Tour Party Announced  :  ?

Mordecai Sherwin’s was the last place to be settled.

Time between selection and departure from England

   x days

 (August - 18 September)

Travel

Plymouth T    Adelaide

                ‘Cuzco’

The team sailed in he Orient liner 'Cuzco', boarding the vessel at Plymouth Sound on Saturday 18 September 1886 and sailed via Naples, Port Said, Suez and Aden (but not Ceylon). 

The ship reached Adelaide and the team disembarked on the evening of Friday 29 October 1886.

Time spent in Australia

    148 days

(29 October -  26 March)

Reinforcements

Reginald Wood,  who had emigrated from Lancashire to Australia, joined the team when William Barnes broke his hand taking a punch at the Australian McDonnell.  Barnes missed and hit the wall behind.

James Lillywhite and Alfred Shaw played twice each.  W Shaw, J Clarke and F Jarvis (of South Australia) turned out in minor matches.

Fixtures/Results

Lillywhite, Shaw and Shrewsbury asked for fixtures to be arranged by S Cohen of Sydney after feeling they were let down by Melbourne’s J P Tennant

† not first-class

Time spent in Australia before First Test:

  91 days

(29 October - 28 January)

Test appearances on tour

(v Australia 1886-87)

2 -  Barlow,  Bates,  Briggs,  Flowers,  Gunn,  Lohmann,  Read,  Scotton,  Sherwin,  Shrewsbury.

1 -  Barnes,  Wood.

0  -  A Shaw.

Match appearances

T  Test match

o  one-day international 

x other match 

∙  played for opposition

 W won  L lost  D drawn  

N no result   A abandoned  

u unknown result

England’s previous Test tour results:

in Australia 1884-85 (5 Tests)

 - won 3-2

in Australia 1882-83 (4 Tests)

 - drew 2-2

in Australia 1881-82 (4 Tests)

 - lost 0-2

in Australia 1878-79 (1 Test)

 - lost 0-1

in Australia 1876-77 (2 Tests)

 - drew 1-1

Highlights

•  England's record low score of 45 was recorded in the first Test at Sydney.

•  They  were 128-8 in their second innings but the last two wickets added a further 56 runs to set Australia a target

•  England went on to win the match, thanks to Barnes taking 6-28.

•  In the second Test match, also at Sydney, George Lohmann took 8-35, the record bowling analysis until 1956.

Tour Summary

Return to England

Adelaide    T    London

                ‘Massilia’

Alfred Shaw, who started for home after the First Test because of his coaching work for Lord Sheffield, left Sydney on  the ‘Bengal’ on 4 February and arrived in London on 25 March. Ivo Bligh who had been in Australia for his health was also aboard. The ship was carrying among its cargo a collection of kangaroos for the Zoological Gardens.

On 26 March 1887 the English eleven left Adelaide on the P & O steamer 'Massilia', sailing via Albany, Colombo, Aden, Suez, Port Said, Malta and Gibraltar to Plymouth, arriving in England on the morning of Saturday 7 May. They then sailed on to London.

Time away from England

  231 days  

(18 September - 7 May)

Finances

Wisden’s Almanack´said:“It is understood that the tour did not yield much profit but  the cricket shown was very fine indeed.”

Accounts of the tour

Postscript