Tour of England 1886               Captain: Harry Scott

Fourth Australian Test tour

Fourth Test-playing tour of England by Australia

 (March -

      November 1886)

The tour was organised by Mr J G Sutherland of the Melbourne Cricket Club, the oldest sporting club in Australia, in repayment for Lord Harris's 1878-79 visit to Australia.  It was the first touring venture sponsored by the Melbourne Club rather than privately but at one stage it looked certain for cancellation. The South Australian and New South Wales associations were reluctant to be involved in the arrangements, and Melbourne was dissuaded by possible objections in England to the inclusion of five members of the 1884 side (throughout the 1884 tour there had been many instances of team members who described themselves as amateurs looking for commercial opportunities). Uncertainty was not removed until December. At Lord's the county secretaries complained about the difficulties this late decision gave them in making fixtures.

Though hampered by wet weather and playing on green pitches in the first matches, the Australians won nine times and had the best of most of their drawn matches.  But they were soundly beaten in the three Test matches, apart from suffering heavy defeats against Surrey and Yorkshire. It looked like the end of the road for Evans, Spofforth, McIlwraithe, Palmer, Bonnor and Trumble, as well as Scott who had already decided to leave cricket to train as a doctor.

The Parsees (from Bombay) also made a tour of England in 1886, playing 28 matches.

All Australian tours

Previous tour

England 1884

Next tour

England 1888

Members of the Test tour party (13)

Opening batsmen:  William Bruce, Sammy Jones, Harry Scott

Middle-order batsmen  George Bonnor, John McIlwraithe

All-rounder  George Giffen

Wicket-keepers    Jack Blackham, Affie Jarvis

Slow bowlers  Billy Trumble, ‘Ted’ Evans, George Palmer

Fast bowlers  Tom Garrett, Fred Spofforth.

Colonial representation

NSW -   New South Wales (5)

S A -  South Australia (2)

Vic -   Victoria (6)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(5 July 1886) : 

     28 yrs  4 months.

Key to type:

RHB Right-handed bat

LM  Left-arm medium-paced bowler

RFM  Right-arm fast medium

OB   Off break

WK  Wicket-keeper

Test Appearances made before the tour

Blackham 18,  Giffen 14,  Palmer 14,  Spofforth 14,  Garrett 13,  Bonnor 12,  Jones 7,  Scott 5,  Evans 4,  Trumble 4,  Jarvis 3,  Bruce 2,  McIlwraithe 0.

Tour Officials

Selectors

The selection was made by representatives of the tour organisers, the Melbourne Cricket Club. They held a trial match between Victoria and An Australian XI at New Year, made meaningless because the NSW players would not take part.

Selection

As sponsors, the Melbourne Club appointed Dr Henry Scott as captain.

Unavailable:    Walter Giffen was injured in an accident at an engineering works ;  Tom Horan;  Harry Boyle;  Hugh Massie (all for business reasons); Fred Spofforth was not available at first but in mid-January changed his mind.

The last three players to be chosen for the team were Garrett, Jones and Evans.

Tour Party Announced :  1 February 1886.

Not selected  Following a dispute over fees paid in the 1884-85 season, the Club did not consider the following three players:  Alick Bannerman, Percy McDonnell and Billy Murdoch.

Time between selection and departure from Australia

       55 days

(1 February - 28 March)

Travel

Adelaide  T    Plymouth

         ‘’Austral / ‘Adelaide’’

After completing a tour match against 'The Combined Team' on 20 March 1886, the 'Austral' left the port of Adelaide on Monday 28 March, carrying seven of the players.

The other six left with the manager on the 'Adelaide' on 10 April.  All met up at Naples, from where Bonnor travelled overland. 

The main body of the tour party reached Plymouth on 4 May.  The team took practice at Chiswick Park.

Time spent in England

    156 days

(4 May - 7 October)

On-tour selection

Reinforcements

Spofforth dislocated a finger against North of England and missed a number of matches.

Roly Pope, 22, who became a regular factotum for Australian touring teams, accompanied the tour once he had completed studying medicine at Edinburgh University and often assisted the tourists by making up the numbers or fielding for them; he was asked to play fully in five matches

Bonnor missed all of the matches in August through injury.

Henry Hyslop (Hampshire) aged 45 (who had played several times as substitute for the 1878 Australians) and J Hardie, a young amateur from Sydney on a visit to England, appeared in the final match because Garrett and McIlwraithe were preparing for their early return home.

Manager Ben Wardill played in one match. 

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

Time spent in England before First Test: 

  62 days

(4 May - 5 July)

Test appearances on tour

3 -   Blackham,  Garrett,   Giffen,  Jarvis,  Jones,  Palmer,  Scott,  Spofforth, Trumble.

2 -   Bonnor,  Bruce,  Evans,  Jarvis

1 -   McIlwraithe

Highlights

•   In the first Test Sammy Jones opened the Test series with an innings of 87

•   George Giffen’s bowling was outstanding while Spofforth was injured and he took 154 wickets on the tour

•   Though no longer as effective as in 1884, Fred Spofforth took 16 wickets in the Test matches at 16.25

Tour Summary

Return to Australia

London     T   Melbourne

               ‘Orizaba’

London     T     Hobart

                ‘Arawa’’

Harry Scott remained in England to complete his medical studies.

Spofforth married Phyllis Cadman from Derbyshire near the end of the tour.  Garrett, McIlwraithe and Spofforth, and their wives left Tilbury docks on the new Orient liner, the 'Orizaba'  on 30 September.

The remainder of the players - Blackham, Giffen, Palmer, Jones, Evans, Trumble, Jarvis, Bruce - accompanied by manager Wardill and tour promoter J G Sutherland left the Royal Albert Dock, London, on 7 October on the 'Arawa'.  The ship’s departure from Plymouth (where Bonner, who failed to meet the ship at Gravesend as arranged, joined the Arawa on 9 October) was delayed by bad weather.

Sailing via Tenerife and Cape Town, the team reached at Hobart on 7th? November 1886.  They landed early in the day, and made the most of their time ashore before immediately resuming their tour by visiting New Zealand in November and December 1886.  

Spofforth, Garrett and McIlwraith who had returned to Melbourne on Sunday by the ‘Orizaba’ rejoined the team, while Major and Mrs Wardill returned to Melbourne on the ‘Pateena’  because Mr H Atkinson took over as manager.  James Phillips also joined the team to act as umpire, and to play if necessary, while Blackham took the captaincy for the five matches played.

Time away from Australia

  224 days  

(28 March to 7 November)

Finances

The Melbourne Club reaped a return of more than £1000 from the tour.

Written accounts of the tour

"The Australians in England 1886"  by Charles F.Pardon.

Postscript

The manager B J Wardill denied that the liberal hospitality they received had hampered the team and insisted that the team was the most self-restrained set of sportsmen he had travelled with.  He would not comment on dissent within the team except to praise Scott and speak in high terms of his abilities.