Tour of England 1905                   Captain : Joe Darling

Eleventh Australian Test tour

Eleventh Test-playing tour of England by Australia.

(February -

      - November 1905)

Joe Darling was again elected captain and Noble, who had led the Australian side in New Zealand, became vice-captain at a meeting on 27 April.  It was the last time that the players appointed their own captain.  Hill who was vice-captain in New Zealand was made the third selector.

William Ferguson, who became renowned as the scorer and baggageman 'Fergie', was persuaded by an acquaintance of Noble's in Sydney to apply for the job and came on the first of his 39 tours.

The tourists had a great record outside the Test series but F S Jackson's captaincy and all-round  performances ensured that England won the Test series and retained the Ashes.

Armstrong fulfilled the promise he had shown in 1902.  He scored 2000 runs and took 200 wickets in the season.  On the final afternoon of the tour  Dr W G Grace declared the South's innings closed to allow Armstrong time to achieve the feat.

Other Australian Tours

Previous Test tour

South Africa 1902-03

Next tour

England 1909

Next tour of England

1909

Members of the Test tour party  (15)

Opening batsmen:  Reggie Duff, Victor Trumper.

Middle-order batsmen  Syd Gregory, Joe Darling, Monty Noble, Clem Hill, Frank Laver, Warwick Armstrong, Algie Gehrs

Wicket-keepers: Joe Kelly, Philip Newland

Slow bowlers   Charlie  McLeod (Noble)

Fast bowlers:Jack Hopkins, Albert Cotter, Bill Howell

State representation

  Sheffield Shield teams

NSW   New South Wales (8)

SA   South Australia (4)

Vic   Victoria (3)

Qld  Queensland (0)

Tas   Tasmania (0)

WA  Western Australia (0)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

 (29 May 1905) :

   30 yrs  9 months.

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

Gregory 41,  Hill 39,  Kelly 31,  Darling 29,  Noble 27,  Trumper 23,  Howell 18,  Duff 17,  Armstrong 15,  Hopkins 15,  McLeod 12,  Laver 6,  Cotter 2,  Gehrs 1,  Newland 0.

Tour Officials

Selectors

Monty Noble (New South Wales),  Joe Darling (South Australia),   RW (Bob) McLeod (Victoria).

Selection

Unavailable::   Hugh Trumble (retired from cricket);  Joe Darling (at first  - he was persuaded by those first selected to put his name forward).

The selectors met on 2 January and agreed the names of ten players definitely selected which were then made known: Duff, Trumper, Gregory, Hopkins, Kelly, Noble (NSW), Gehrs, Newland, Hill (South Australia) and Armstrong (Victoria).

Newland was reserve wicket-keeper and had the advantage of business experience so that he could assist the manager.

Their selection was completed in Sydney on 9 January with the addition of Darling, Cotter, Howell and McLeod.

Tour Party Announced :  9 January 1905

Not selected :    Jack Saunders was not chosen because it was known that English umpires would no-ball him.  Frank Johnson (NSW) - leg-break,  Norman Claxton (South Aust) - RHB,  Fred Collins (Victoria) - RFM.

Darling was elected captain and Noble as vice-captain,  once in England, on 28 April.

Time between selection and departure from Australia

       23 days

(9 January    - 1 February)

Travel

Sydney      T      Auckland

               ‘Manuka’

Auckland   T    Vancouver

         ‘’Navua’ and ‘Miowera’

New York    T     Liverpool

                ‘Majestic’

The team left Sydney on the 'Manuka' for Auckland on 1 February. Newland joined the team at Christchurch in mid-March.

They left Auckland on the 'Navua' on 22 March, sailing to Fiji; then by the Miowera to Vancouver, Canada, arriving on 12 April; they visited Niagara Falls and left New York in the 'Majestic' on 19 April arriving at Liverpool at 6 pm on Wednesday 26 April.  The train to London arrived at Euston Station at 11 pm and was met by Pelham Warner. 

Darling came from Adelaide separately on the P & O liner Marmora by the conventional route, through Suez, and arrived on 25 April. Scorer Ferguson and some of the players’ wives came to England on the ‘Suevic’.

Time spent in England    

  145 days

(26 April  - 5 October)

On tour selection

Joe Darling (captain),  Monty Noble (vice-captain),  Clem Hill;   with contributions from Laver and Trumper.

Reinforcements

None, although Laver injured his knee badly on the voyage.  Saunders and Windsor were on engagements in England and could have been used in an emergency.

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

Time spent in England before First Test: 

   33 days

(26 April - 29 May)

Test appearances on tour

5  -   Armstrong,  Darling,  Duff,  Hill,  Kelly,  Laver,  McLeod,  Noble,  Trumper

3  -   Cotter, Gregory,  Hopkins

1  -   Gehrs

0  -   Howell, Newland.

Highlights

• 

Tour Summary

Return to Australia

London  T   Sydney

               ‘Omrah’

               ‘Chine’

             ‘Orontes’

           ‘Barbarossa’

               ‘Oruba’’

Trumper left England with his wife on Monday 11 September for a short holiday on the continent.  They sailed home on a German liner ‘Barbarossa’ from Genoa.  McLeod left by the ‘Oruba’

Darling, Gregory, Howell and Kelly left Tilbury on the 'Chine'  on Friday 15 September. The ship arrived in Adelaide where Darling disembarked on Saturday 21 October. The other three continued to Sydney.

Hill, Newland, Armstrong, Duff and Cotter left Gravesend on the 'Omrah', via Marseilles and Naples, and reached Sydney on 2 November.

Noble, Hopkins, Laver and Gehrs returned by the RMS ‘Orontes’ leaving London on 22 September. At Perth he said the fact that the team returned by different ships did not mean they had quarrelled  “There was not the slightest vestige of a quarrel from start to finish”

Time spent away from Australia 

 274 days  

(1 February  to 2 November)

Finances

The Melbourne Club invested £   for overheads before the tour and these were paid off by 21 June.  profits of the tour resulted in £900 per man

Written accounts of the tour

"Jackson's Year"  (1965)  by Alan Gibson  [Cassell, London].

Postscript

The Australians’ defeat made it yet more likely that the “closed shop” of the 1905 team would be replaced by a central authority and an Australian Cricket Board of Control was soon formed.