Tour of England 1980             Captain: Greg Chappell

Australia's 43rd Test tour

Twenty eighth Test-playing tour of England by Australia

 (July - September 1980)

Following the success of the Centenary Test Match at Melbourne in March 1977, an equivalent match was arranged in England in 1980.  As then The Ashes, which were still held by England, were not at stake.  Although the year and timing were correct to mark the anniversary of the first Australian Test tour in 1880, the original Test match was played at The Oval rather than at Lord's.

The Australians were able to select a full-strength side for the first time since 1977. 

The tour was a forerunner of shorter tours by Australian sides.  Chappell said "On previous tours to England teams have been away for five months which is far too long."

Two one-day internationals and five other matches served as preparation for the touring team, though the playing record was not very good: four defeats and one win in 8 matches. The organisation of the occasion suffered nothing by comparison with the Melbourne match three years previously but wet weather and over-cautious rulings by the umpires about whether conditions were suitable for play (eleven hours of play being lost on the first three days) produced a boring draw.

Other Australian Tours

Previous tour

To Pakistan 1979-80

Next tour

Members of the Test tour party  (14)

Opening batsmen:  John Dyson,  Graeme Wood, Bruce Laird.

Middle-order batsmen:  Allan Border, Greg Chappell, Kim Hughes, Graham Yallop.

Wicket-keeper:  Rodney Marsh

Spin bowlers:  Ray Bright, Ashley Mallett

Fast bowlers:  Geoff Dymock, Dennis Lillee, Lennie Pascoe, Jeff Thomson

Comments taken from

State representation

   Sheffield Shield teams

N   New South Wales (

Q  Queensland (

S   South Australia (

T   Tasmania (

V   Victoria  (

W  Western Australia (

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(28 August 1980) : 

         29 yrs  4 months.

ODI played in the one-day series

Test Appearances made before the tour

Marsh 61,  G S Chappell 60,  Lillee 41,  Mallett 37,  Thomson 34,  Hughes 26,  Yallop 24,  Dymock 21,  Border 20,  Wood 15,  Bright 8,  Laird 8,  Pascoe 6,  Dyson 3.

Tour Officials

Selectors

Phil Ridings (chairman - South Australia), Sam Loxton (Victoria),  Alan Davidson (New South Wales) and  Ray Lindwall (Queensland).

Selection

Unavailable:  Ian Chappell (declared on 18 January).

Tour Party Announced:   1 May 1980.

The captain and vice-captain were named on 6 May.

Not selected :   Geoff Lawson, Julien Weiner.

Time between selection and departure from Australia   

 89 days

(1 May - 29 July)

Travel

Melbourne/Sydney  Q    Perth   Q   London

Bright and Yallop came up from Tullamarine Airport, Melbourne and, with the NSW players, flew from Sydney to Perth. The remainder of the team assembled at Perth for departure on the evening of 29 July 1980.

Their plane touched down at Heathrow Airport, London, on 30 July and within four hours the team was having its first practice session at The Oval.

Time spent in England

   36 days

(30 July -  4 September)

On-tour selection panel

Greg Chappell (captain),  Kim Hughes (vice-captain),  Phil Ridings (tour manager).

No recent Australian tour party used a manager on its tour committee except Simpson's inexperienced party to West Indies in 1977-78.

Reinforcements

None.  There was no reserve wicket-keeper and Rodney Marsh played in every match (as did Kim Hughes, who would probably have stood in for him behind the stumps in the event of injury).

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

§  one-day international

Time spent in England before First Test: 

  29 days

(30 July - 28 August)

Test appearances on tour

1  -  Border,  Bright,  Chappell,  Hughes,  Laird,  Lillee,  Mallett,  Marsh,  Pascoe,  Wood,  Yallop.

0  -  Dymock,  Dyson,  Thomson.

Highlights

Kim Hughes scored very brightly in the Test match during his two innings of 117 and 84, including a huge six which struck the top tier of the Lord's pavilion.

Tour Summary

Return to Australia

London  Q  Sydney 

On 4 September 1980.

Time away from Australia    

  38 days  

(29 July to 5 September)

Finances

The Centenary Test match was sold out in advance, and earned receipts of £360,000.

Written accounts of the tour

Postscript