Tour of England 2001           Captain: Steve Waugh

Australia’s 71st Test tour

(May - August 2001)

34th Test-playing tour of England by Australia

The team broke into its journey to England to pay a visit to Gallipoli, the battle scene where thousands of Australian soldiers had fought against the Turks in the First World War. They were able to stand where Anzacs played a cricket match at Shell Green to distract the enemy during the troops' evacuation.

The cricket tour began with the NatWest ODI series but crowd trouble marred the matches.  Following pitch invasions at Edgbaston and Headingley, a full beer can was hurled on to the balcony during the presentation ceremony after the final at Lord's and hit Michael Bevan in the face.  Australian Cricket Board chief executive Malcolm Speed wrote an urgent letter to the England Cricket Board demanding better security arrangements.

Warne and McGrath bowled Australia to a comfortable 4-1 victory in the Test series. England’s batsmen had no answer to these two except at Headingley where stand-in captain Adam Gilchrist became the first Australian skipper ever to lose a Test match after declaring and setting the opposition a target. Shane Warne took 31 wickets, and became the first Australian to pass 400 wickets in Test cricket. McGrath had 32 wickets, his impressive returns including five in an innings in almost every Test. 

England’s humiliation was complete when Steve Waugh, hobbling but refusing to allow a leg injury prevent him from playing at The Oval, scored 157 not out. Australia’s other great player Adam Gilchrist became the wicket-keeper to reach 100 dismissals in the fewest Tests (22).

Other Australian Tours

Previous Tour

India 2000-01

Next Tour

South Africa 2001-02

Next tour of England

2005

Members of the Test tour party (17  + 1)

Opening batsmen  Michael Slater, Matthew Hayden

Middle-order batsmen: Damien Martyn, Justin Langer Ricky Ponting, Simon Katich, Mark Waugh, Stephen Waugh

Wicket-keepers  Adam Gilchrist, Wade Seccombe

Spin bowlers  Shane Warne, Colin Miller

Fast bowlers : Brett Lee, Damien Fleming, Jason Gillespie, Glenn McGrath, Nathan Bracken (replaced by Ashley Noffke)

⋄ contracted player (the ACB named 25 players chosen by the selectors on 1 May 2001)

State representation

 Pura Cup teams

NSW   New South Wales (6)

Qld  Queensland (2)

SS   South Australia (1)

Tas   Tasmania (1)

Vic   Victoria  (2)

WA  Western Australia (5)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

   (5 July 2001) : 

      29 yrs  10 months

⋄  contracted player

ODI   member of the ODI squad for the National Westminster Bank series.

Test Appearances made before the tour

S Waugh 135,  M Waugh 111,  Warne 87,  McGrath 70,  Slater 70,  Ponting 42,  Gillespie 21,  Gilchrist 17,  Hayden 16,  Martyn 11,  Lee 7,  Katich  0,  Seccombe 0.  [Noffke 0].

Tour Officials

This was the first time the Australians brought a massage specialist in addition to a physio; Rebecca Lauder had previously worked with South Australia.

Selectors

Trevor Hohns (chairman),  David Boon,  Allan Border,  Andrew Hilditch.

Selection

Unavailable:  

Tour Party Announced :  12 April 2001.

The selection included only two opening batsmen and no reserve wicket-keeper.  In the event that Gilchrist needed to be rested, New South Wales wicketkeeper Brad Haddin was available in English league cricket.

On 8 May the selectors' request for a second wicket-keeper Wade Seccombe was agreed.

Not selected :  Greg Blewett (SA ⋄),  Jamie Cox (Tas),  Darren Lehmann (SA ⋄), Stuart MacGill (NSW  ⋄), Mike Kasprowicz (Qld)

Time between selection and departure from Australia      

 44 days

(12 April - 26 May)

Travel

Sydney   Q Istanbul Q  London Heathrow

Brett Lee (elbow) and Jason Gillespie (foot) needed to pass fitness tests on 18 May before joining the tour.

The touring party gathered at the Darling Harbour Convention Centre in Sydney on 25 May for a farewell lunch and left Sydney International Airport on Saturday 26 May 2001, flying to Turkey for a two-day stopover.  After a five-hour bus trip from Istanbul to Gelibolu (Gallipoli) on 27 May they witnessed where cricket was played at Shell Green.  Arrived at Heathrow Airport on Tuesday 29 May 2001, and travelled directly to Worcester for the first match.

The Test-only players departed Australia on 18 June, except for Lee who flew over early, arriving on 5 June to work on his fitness with Jock Campbell. Nottinghamshire allowed him to play for their second XI. The Test players joined the rest of the team on 19 June.

Time spent in England

   91 days

(29 May- 28 August)

On-tour selection

Steve Waugh and Adam Gilchrist, in consultation with Trevor Hohns as the chairman of selectors.

Coach John Buchanan lost his role as a tour selector before the team left Australia, on the recommendation of the national selection panel, so he would be independent of the selection process

Reinforcements

It was a surprise when Brett Lee, who was in in England working on his fitness for the Test squad, was included in the one-day team at Cardiff. The management had said a fortnight previously that Lee would not take part in the one-day tournament but three fast bowlers were injured. Taking 1-85, Lee set a new record with the most expensive ten overs by an Australian bowler in one-day internationals. It was then announced that Andy Bichel, who was playing for Worcestershire, would also join the one-day squad.

Nathan Bracken’sinjured left shoulder meant he was sent home after the NatWest final match, to be replaced by  Ashley Noffke.  He was recently awarded a contract with the ACB for the first time

Fixtures/Results

Police were called in to investigate after the Australian team's dressing room at Hove was broken into overnight during their match against Sussex and equipment to the value of £1200 was stolen.

† not first-class

§   one-day international

(Nat West Bank series)

Time spent in England before First Test: 

  37 days

(29 May - 5 July)

Test appearances on tour

5  -  Gilchrist, Gillespie,  Hayden,  Lee,  McGrath,  Martyn,  Ponting,  Warne,  M Waugh

4  -  Slater,  S Waugh

1  -  Katich,  Langer

0  -  Bracken,  Fleming,  Miller,  Noffke,  Seccombe.

Match appearances

T  Test match

o  one-day international 

x other match 

⊕ T/20 international

∙  played for opposition

W won  L lost  D drawn  

N no result   A abandoned  

u unknown result

Australia’s six previous Test tour results:

in India 2000-01 (3 Tests)

 - lost 1-2

in New Zealand 1999-00 (3 Tests)

 - won 3-0

in Zimbabwe 1999-00 (1 Test)

 - won 1-0

in Sri Lanka 1999-00 (3 Tests)

 - lost 0-1

in West Indies 1999 (4 Tests)

 - drawn 2-2

in Pakistan 1998-99 (3 Tests)

 - won 1-0

Highlights

•   Shane Warne began the Test series by taking 5-71; he captured 6-33 at Trent Bridge and 7-165 & 4-64 at The Oval.  His haul was 31 wickets and he became the first Australian to pass 400 Test wickets

•   McGrath had 32 wickets in the series, taking 5-54 at Lord’s, 5-49 at Notts, 7-76 at Leeds and 5-43 at The Oval.

•   Steve Waugh, refusing to let a leg injury prevent him from playing at The Oval, acored 157*.

•   At The Oval Shane Warne took his 400th wicket and Adam Gilchrist became the wicket-keeper to reach 100 dismissals in the fewest Tests (22)

Tour Summary

Return to Australia

London   Q 

The limited-overs players .....

The team left for Australia from London on 28 August 2001.

Time away from Australia

   95 days  

(26 May to 29? August)

Finances

In a six-figure deal, foreign exchange specialists, Travelex, were the official sponsors of the Australians for the entire tour of the UK, including the one-day international series with England and Pakistan and the five-Test series. Adam Gilchrist was Travelex’s representative during the tour.

Written accounts of the tour

“Ashes Diary 2001”  (2001)  by Steve Waugh (Harper Sports, 2001)

Postscript