Tour of England 1926                Captain: Herbie Collins

15th Australian Test tour

Fifteenth Test-playing tour of England by Australia

 (March -

     November 1926)

The Australian Board was criticised for deciding the names of the first twelve players to tour in December so that later performances during the season could not be taken into account. This was nothing to the condemnation they triggered by omitting Kelleway and Kippax. The omission of Alan Kippax was described by Monty Noble as a “crime against the cricketing youth of Australia” (though Kippax was by then 28) and deprived Australia of a star from the previous 1924-25 Ashes series. Kelleway published letters attacking the Board's selectoral approach and later took an offer to report the tour for a newspaper. Sydney Smith supposedly engineered things so that the argumentative Kelleway would not tour.

The tour began the tradition of playing in Tasmania before the journey to England and the tourists also took ten days for a holiday in Europe before crossing the Channel. "See Mr Smith" said the players repeatedly because the manager started by banning his players from talking to the press and later displeased them further by declining an invitation to meet the Prime Minister.

The General Strike had little effect on the progress of the tour.

Australia was unable to dismiss England with Gregory and Everett injured. Mailey and Grimmett made up Australia's attack, with Richardson and Macartney in support - all slow to medium-paced  bowlers. After four matches drawn, the fifth Test resulted in a famous victory by England to regain the Ashes.

All Australian tours

Previous tour

South Africa 1921-22

Next tour

England 1930

Next tour of England

1930

Members of the Test tour party  (16)

Opening batsmen:Herbie Collins, Bill Woodfull, Bill Ponsford, Warren Bardsley. 

Middle-order batsmen:Jack Ryder, Johnny Taylor, Tommy Andrews, Charlie Macartney, Arthur Richardson, ‘Stork’ Hendry.

Wicket-keeper:  Bertie Oldfield, John Ellis

Slow bowlers: Arthur Mailey (also Richardson and Macartney)

Fast bowlers:Jack Gregory, Sam Everett.

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

 (12 June 1926) : 

    34 yrs  1 months.

State representation

  Sheffield Shield teams

N   New South Wales (9)

S South Australia (2)

V  Victoria (5)

Test Appearances made before the tour

Bardsley 36,  Macartney 30,  Gregory 18,  Taylor 17,  Collins 16,  Mailey 16,  Andrews 11,  Ryder 11,  Oldfield 10,  Hendry 7,  Ponsford 5,  Richardson 4,  Grimmett 1,  Ellis 0,  Everett 0,  Woodfull 0.

Tour Officials

Smith of New South Wales was appointed tour manager on 9 October 1925; he had previously managed the 1921 tour, Other nominations for the manager's job were for Ernest E Bean, Monty Noble, Vernon Ransford and Tom Howard.  Smith applauded Dr Rowley Pope's value to the team as honorary medical officer.

Selectors

Clem Hill (South Australia),  Herbie Collins (New South Wales),  Jack Ryder (Victoria)

Selection

Unavailable   Ted McDonald.

The selectors first picked the twelve leading players in Australia. This group included two of the selectors, Collins and Ryder. They then added three more later in January: Richardson, Woodfull and Ellis.  It was announced that Collins would be captain and Bardsley his vice-captain (beating Jack Ryder to the post).

First names Announced : 30 December 1925

Tour Party Completed:   27 January 1926.

As soon as the tour party of fifteen was announced, the Board agreed to the selectors' request to add another player, the fast bowler Sam Everett, to assist Jack Gregory.

Not selected:   Charles Kelleway,  Alan Kippax,  Vic Richardson,  John Scott (South Australian fast bowler)

Time between selection and departure from Australia              47 days

(27 January  - 15 March)

Travel

Fremantle   T  Southampton

                ‘Otranto’

Paris      t   London

The team left Melbourne to start their tour on 26 February.  They arrived back from playing two matches in Tasmania on 8 March and had an official farewell in Melbourne Town Hall.  In the afternoon they left on the Great Western Express for Perth  “All along the line welcome awaited them … it was a sort of triumphal advance by the team, who were acclaimed everywhere as though they were returning with The Ashes, instead of setting out to give Old England one more tilt for their possession.” (The Referee, 24 March 1926)

Ending their preliminary tour with a match against Western Australia, they boarded the R M S Otranto on 15 March.  Kelleway who was employed by an English paper to write on the series also travelled on the 'Otranto' .

A match was played in Colombo on 23 March.

The team left the ship at Naples on 7 April and reached England overland by way of Rome, Lucerne and Paris where Collins laid a wreath on the tomb of the unknown soldier.  Gregory and Macartney arrived in England on 16 April, as did baggageman Fergie on his tenth international tour, but the bulk of the party came on the boat train from Paris, via Dover, and pulled into Victoria Station, London, on 18 April. They were greeted by a huge crowd of approximately 10 000 people. Their London headquarters was again the Hotel Cecil.

Time spent in England

   166 days

(18 April - 1 October)

On-tour selection panel

Herbie Collins (captain),  Warren Bardsley (vice-captain)  and  Jack Ryder

Reinforcements

None although the team was affected by major illnesses to Hendry (scarlet fever), Ponsford (tonsilitis) and Collins (neuritis).  Sydney Smith played in the two end-of-tour games.

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

Time spent in England before First Test: 

  55 days

(18 April - 12 June)

Test appearances on tour

5 -   Andrews,  Bardsley,  Gregory,  Macartney,  Mailey,  Oldfield,  Richardson,  Woodfull

4 -   Ryder

3 -   Collins,  Grimmett,  Taylor.

2 -   Ponsford, 

0 -   Ellis,  Everett,  Hendry.

Highlights

•   Macartney made a century at Lord's (133*), a second at Headingley (151) and another at Old Trafford (109)

•   He scored his century at Headingley before lunch on the first day

•   Bardsley scored 193 not out at Lord's, carrying his bat through the innings.

•   Woodfull (141 at Lord's and 117 at Old Trafford) scored two centuries in the Test series.

Tour Summary

Return to Australia

Liverpool   T    Quebec

               ‘Montrose’

Victoria    T    Sydney

               ‘Aorangi’

The players were given the option of returning via Suez or through North America.

The team took a train from Paddington Station, London, to Liverpool and on 1 October sailed from the Merseyside port on the 'Montrose'.  They arrived in Quebec on 9 October, then to Montreal, and via Niagara Falls and New York to the Pacific coast. They sailed in the Aorangi' from Victoria via Honolulu, Suva (5 November) and Auckland (8 November) to Sydney where they disembarked on 13 November 1926..

Time away from Australia

  246 days  

(12 March to 13 November)

Finances

The gross receipts amounted to £38,611, and the: gross expenses to £17,597. . .so the profit of the tour amounted to £20,714.    Players were paid a bonus of £250.

Written accounts of the tour

"Collins Men”   (1926)  by Arthur Gilligan [Arrowsmith, London]

“Those Ashes"   (1927)  by Monty Noble [Cassell,  London, Melbourne]

“The Fight for the Ashes”   (1926)  by Plum Warner [Harrap]

Postscript

The last Australian Test tour for four years until the 1930 visit. However, Oldfield took a side including Bill Woodfull, Charles Macartney, Bert Oldfield, Tommy Andrews, Sam Everett to Malaya in 1927.