Tour of England 1896                     Captain: Harry Trott

Eighth Australian Test tour

EighthTest-playing tour of England by Australia

 (March -

         October 1896)

In August 1895 the Australian authorities (that is, the Melbourne CC and the trustees of the Sydney Cricket Ground and the Australasian Cricket Council which ran from 1892-98) declined the 1896 tour as there was no official host in England. MCC and the counties then sent a formal invitation.

The selection was in a terrible tangle when an “executive committee” from the chosen team contradicted decisions of the selectors. The place of John Harry as wicket-keeper was cancelled - unlikely to be because of the announced knee injury, since he received £160 in compensation - to allow Kelly into the team. Quoting business reasons (his banking interests in Queensland) Turner was unable to leave with the team and the vacancy went unfilled because Albert Trott, now a professional on the Middlesex staff, could be called upon.

The tourists visited Ceylon (playing a match there again), America and New Zealand as well as England, and ended their trip in Tasmania, making it the longest tour with 48 matches.

Harry Trott as captain restored discipline to the team, both on and off the field.

It was Lord Harris's doing that the MCC would not choose Ranjitsinhji to play for England at Lord's. The  Australians would have welcomed him.  The Lancashire selectors had no compunction in picking him for the Old Trafford Test and he scored a brilliant century on debut. Despite this Australia won an exciting victory and the teams went to The Oval all square. Although Lohmann and Gunn were absent from its team because of strike action, England triumphed

All Australian tours

Previous tour

England 1893

Next tour

England 1899

Members of the Test tour party (14)

Opening batsmen Frank Iredale, Joe Darling.

Middle-order batsmen Harry Donnan, Syd Gregory, Clem Hill, Harry Trott, Harry Graham

Wicket-keepers   James Kelly, Alfred Johns

Medium pace/off break:  George Giffin, Tom McKibbin, Hugh Trumble.

Fast bowlers : Ernie Jones, Charlie Eady.

Colonial representation

Sheffield Shield teams

NSW - New South Wales (5)

SA South Australia (4)

Tas  - Tasmania (1)

Vic  -  Victoria (4)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

 (22 June 1896) :

 27 yrs  1 month.

Key to type:

RHB Right-handed bat

RM  Right arm medium-paced bowler

RFM  Right-arm fast medium

OB   Off break

WK  Wicket-keeper

Test Appearances made before the tour

Giffen 28,  Trott 16,  Gregory 11,  Trumble 6,  Darling 5,  Graham 5,  Iredale 5,  Donnan 2,  Jones 1,  McKibbin 1,  Eady 0,  Hill 0,  Johns 0,  Kelly 0.

Tour Officials

Selectors

Messrs Giffen, Garrett and Bruce were appointed as selectors by the Australasian Cricket Council and chose thirteen players.

The latter two, already unhappy because the ACC insisted on even representation from all the colonies, were not involved in finalising the team,  which was done by an ‘executive committee’ of  McDonnell, Trott and Giffen.

Selection

Unavailable  Tom Garrett, though he had led N S W in 1895-95, was not persuaded to tour again. William Bruce was unavailable because of his work in the legal profession; Harry Howell broke his arm during a match at Adelaide and was unable to play in the trial.

Tour Party Announced   29 January 1896.

Thirteen names were announced:  Darling, Donnan, Eady, Graham, Gregory, Giffen, Harry, Iredale, Johns, Jones, McKibbin, Trott, Trumble.

Not selected:  John Lyons,  Albert Trott.

Before departure a trial match between the chosen Australian Eleven and the Rest of Australia was played at Sydney on 6 March,including Hill, Turner, Kelly and Albert Trott and won by two wickets. The former three were added to the team while Alfie Johns and Jack Harry were stood down.

Harry had an injured knee before the trial so Kelly took his place in the match, and then replaced him in the team; Harry was awarded £160 compensation.  Kelly agreed to share his tour profits with Johns rather than see him miss the tour.

Withdrawals :   Charlie Turner withdrew when he was told by the executive committee he must sail by the Cuzco.  When told on 15 March he could come by the Austral instead after all, Turner was most displeased because it was too late to change his business arrangements. The executive of the team decided not to replace Turner with Howell but to call on Albert Trott if necessary, as he would be sailing for England to join Middlesex.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/130405361?searchTerm=The Australian Eleven  March Cuzco&searchLimits=fromyyyy=1896|||frommm|||fromdd|||toyyyy=1896|||tomm|||todd

Time between selection and departure from Australia 

     50 days

(29 January - 19 March)

Travel

Sydney   T  Tilbury

              ‘Cuzco’

The touring team played against a Combined Australia XI in Sydney. On 11 and 12 March the players left Sydney in two batches for Melbourne. Donnan, Eady, Gregory, Graham, Iredale, McKibbin and Trumble boarded the Orient liner 'Cuzco' while Musgrove, Johns, Trott, Kelly went by rail from Melbourne to join the Cuzco at Adelaide. The ship left Adelaide on 19 March.

They played a match in Ceylon on 1 April, and reached Naples on 17 April when the manager Musgrove left the ship to travel overland. He met the team at Plymouth, and together they sailed on to Tilbury where they arrived on 24 April. Eady also left the ship at Naples to sight see on the continent.

The team began practice on the old village green at Mitcham on 29 April.

Time spent in England

     137 days

(24 April - 8 September)

On-tour selection

By the time they reached Colombo the team had agreed on Harry Scott as captain and he was on the tour selection committee with George Giffen and Syd Gregory.

Reinforcements

None. Harry Musgrove played against Ceylon when the team was also helped by Mr Hetherington, a passenger on the Cuzco, and Gray, the ship’s engineer.   Musgrove also played against Hampshire.

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

Time spent in England before First Test: 

  59 days

(24 April - 22 June)

Test appearances on tour

3 -   Darling,  Donnan,  Giffen,  Gregory,  Hill,  Jones,  Kelly,  Trott,  Trumble.

2 -   Iredale,  McKibbin.

1  -  Graham,  Eady.

0 -   Johns.

Highlights

•  Against M C C the Australians reached 18 for 3 when Pougher took five wickets in three overs at no cost, and they were all out without addition to the score, failing even to reach MCC's inglorious total of 19 in 1878.

•  In the Lord's Test match Harry Trott scored 143 in a partnership of 221 with Syd Gregory

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Tour Summary

Return to Australia

Southampton   T   New York

                ‘New York’

San Francisco  T    Auckland

                  ‘Mariposa’

Leaving Waterloo Station, London, at 9.40 am on 8 September, the team embarked from Southampton on the American Line vessel 'New York'.  Jim Phillips was to have sailed with the team but his wife was seriously ill. Joe Darling had some jewellery stolen from his baggage during the crossing. They arrived safely in New York on 17 September.

After playing matches in Philadelphia, New Jersey and Chicago, the team had two clear days planned in San Francisco but in the end played a Californian team.  Stumps were drawn early on 15 October so the Australians could catch their ship, the ‘Mariposa' to Auckland.      

They arrived at Auckland on 5 November to play five matches. Harry Donnan had to stay on board here as he was unable to obtain an extension of leave from his employers and the ship arrived at Sydney on 9 November.

Albert Trott and John Harry who were employed by MCC but were never summoned to help the touring team after all, left Plymouth on 5 September. They sailed on the 'Oruba' for Sydney.

The team finished their tour with two matches in Tasmania and arrived back in Melbourne on the ‘Pateena’ on  Tuesday 15 December

Time away from Australia  

     273 days  

(17 March to 15 December)

Finances

A report that receipts exceeded expenditure by about £10 000 and that each man earned £700 were denied.

Each player made about £300 over and above expenses [letter by Trott to the Hobart Mercury 30 Dec 1908].

Written accounts of the tour

Postscript