Tour of Australia 1901-02                    Captain : Archie MacLaren                 

England’s 16th Test tour.

(September 1901  –April 1902)

Twelfth Test-playing tour of Australia by an English side

      (previous tour 1897-98)

During the Australians’ 1899  tour the manager Ben Wardill, secretary of the Melbourne Cricket Club, had invited its English counterpart, London’s Marylebone Cricket Club (M.C.C), to send out a touring side in 1900-01. When this proved impossible, M.C.C agreed to visit in 1901-02 with Lord Hawke as the skipper and manager. Because the leading amateurs were declining to go, Hawke was finding it difficult to get up a fully representative party. MacLaren who would have led the side in the Tests now made himself unavailable, not wishing to be part of a hopeless project.  M.C.C. announced on 13 May 1901-02 that the tour was abandoned

Learning that the M.C.C. committee had cancelled their tour, the Melbourne club invited MacLaren to bring his own side instead. An opposite situation occurred two years later when MacLaren was unable to put together a touring team and M.C.C. took over the arrangements for the 1903-04 team.

Lord Hawke was displeased that Maclaren was now willing to tour (on much better terms) and withdrew his two Yorkshire stars, Hirst and Rhodes, from the party, saying they needed to rest for the winter. The real reason was doubtless his ill-feeling towards Maclaren who was by now finding it as difficult as M.C.C. had done to recruit participants from among the leading players of the day because of the low remuneration he was able to offer.

As had Stoddart's side four years previously, MacLaren's XI won the First Test but lost all of the next four matches against an Australian side nearing its peak. Sydney Barnes was drafted into the side on the strength of his bowling in the last match of the season at Old Trafford. Unfortunately, having taken 19 wickets in the first two matches, he twisted his knee and was unable to bowl again on the tour. Too heavy a load then fell upon Braund and Blythe.

There was no match in Ceylon to break the voyage down under, nor any in New Zealand because Lord Hawke would be touring there next year.

 Next Test tour

 Australia 1903-04(MCC team)

 Next tour of  Australia

 1903-04

Members of the Test tour party (14)

Opening batsmen:   Tom Hayward, Archie MacLaren.

Middle-order batsmen Willie Quaife, Johnny Tyldesley, Harold Garnett, Arthur Jones, Charlie McGahey.

Wicket-keepers: Dick Lilley, Charles Robson.

Slow bowlers: Colin Blythe, Len Braund.

Faster bowlers: Sydney Barnes, Gilbert Jessop,  John Gunn.

County representation:

Ex –  Essex (1)

Gs -  Gloucestershire (1)

Ha - Hampshire (1)

Kt  -  Kent (1)

La  -  Lancashire (4)

Nt - Nottinghamshire (2)

Sm - Somerset (1)

Sy  -  Surrey (1)

Wk - Warwickshire (2)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(13 December 1901)

 29 years 3 months

Test Appearances made before the tour

Mr MacLaren 16,  Hayward 15,  Lilley 7,  Tyldesley 4,  Quaife 2,  Mr Jessop 1,  Mr Jones 1,  Barnes 0,  Blythe 0,  Braund 0,  Mr Garnett 0,  Gunn 0,  Mr McGahey 0,  Mr Robson 0,

Tour Officials

Selectors

On 13 May 1901 the M.C.C. committee said it had found it impossible to raise a representative side and withdrew from the tour.  On 12 June A.C.MacLaren confirmed he would take over the arrangements, and he alone was responsible for choosing his team.

Melbourne Club vice-president John McLaughlin was in England while MacLaren recruited his players, to be a contact and ensure a sufficiently strong team would tour.

Selection

Jessop, Lilley and Hayward were the first names announced of the touring party. Then Tyldesley, Blythe, Garnett, Jones and Quaife.  Fry and Foster were named but were their availability was in doubt.

Unavailable  :  C B Fry,  F S Jackson,  R E Foster,  J R Mason, L C H Palairet,  K S Ranjitsinhji; and the professionals Bill Lockwood,  Bobby Abel  and Tom Richardson.

MacLaren said  “I would like to have brought Ranjitsinhji, Fry and Foster with me but the former two failed me after practically promising to join, and Foster was from the first a doubtful starter”. 

The Yorkshire committee insisted that George Hirst and Wilfred Rhodes stay at home and rest during the winter.

Tour party announced :  by beginning of September 1901. 

The Melbourne Club said “Mr MacLaren has succeeded in getting a very powerful side which, with the exception of himself and Hayward, is composed of new men on Australian wickets… members may be assured that the best available team will represent England.”

Time between selection and departure from England

   days

 ( ?  - 27 September)

Travel

Tilbury   T    Marseilles

              ‘Omrah’

Departure from England was on 27 September 1901.

The team took the 11o'clock train from London’s St Pancras Station to Tilbury, where they boarded the RMS 'Omrah',

Sydney Barnes was among the tour party. "When the ship was being tossed around in a storm, the skipper (Archie MacLaren) was able to comfort his men with the words ' if we go down, at least that bugger Barnes will go down with us!' "

Gilbert Jessop travelled overland through France and joined the ship at Marseilles.  Sailing via Plymouth, Marsellles and Naples, the ship left Colombo (on Sunday 20 October) without playing a match.  MacLaren ordered exercises on deck to ensure fitness in Australia. 

The ‘Omrah’ arrived at Fremantle on 31 October, and went on to Perth. Here MacLaren said it was nonsense to suggest that the team was not a fully representative one.  Finally, they reached Port Adelaide on 4 November.

Time spent in Australia

    140 days

(31 October -  20 March)

Reinforcements

Sammy Woods played in three minor matches.  Colin Blythe damaged his spinning finger at the socket and MacLaren was also indisposed so  S V Green, a cousin of Essex amateur C E Green and an Australian player, appeared at Bendigo.  When Barnes injured his knee in the Third Test, he was unable to play again on tour.

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

Time spent in Australia before First Test:

  2 days

(4 Novemberr - 13 December)

Test appearances on tour

(v Australia 1901-02)

5 -   Blythe,  Braund,  Gunn,  Hayward,  Jessop,  Jones,  Lilley,  MacLaren,  Quaife,  Tyldesley.

3 -   Barnes.

2 -   McGahey.

0 -   Garnett,  Robson.

Match appearances

T  Test match

x other match 

∙  played for opposition

W won  L lost  D drawn  

N no result   A abandoned  

u unknown result

Highlights

•  Skipper Archie MacLaren scorred 116 in the opening Test match; with Hayward he put on 154 for the first wicket

•  Barnes, Braund and Blythe, each man on Test debut, ran through the Australian batting in the first Test at Sydney.

•  Barnes took 19 wickets in his first two Test appearances, and bowled 42 consecutive overs at Melbourne.

•  Tom Hayward and MacLaren shared another opening stand of 149 at Adelaide before Len Braund’s century (103*)

•  The team scored the record total by a visiting team to Australia - 769 - v New South Wales at Sydney.

Tour Summary

Return to England

Adelaide T    Marseilles

                ‘Omrah’

Marseille    t     London

On 20March 1902 the cricketers left Adelaide on the 'Omrah', together with the 1902 Australian touring party

On arrival at Fremantle they were taken into the city of Perth for an hour before returning to the ship

Sailing via Colombo, they berthed at Naples at noon on 17 April and reached Marseilles next day , where all of the cricketers, except MacLaren himself who was feeling “seedy” after a vaccination and A O Jones, took a train across France and reached London on Sunday 20 April 1902.

The ‘Omrah’ went on to Plymouth on 25 April, where Maclaren, his wife, Jones and four ot the Australian tour party went ashore.  The remaining Australian tourists sailed on, landing at Tilbury two days later.

Time away from England

  205 days  

(27 September - 20 April)

Finances

The tour was financed by the Melbourne Cricket Club which offered generous terms: all expenses would be paid and the professionals would receive £300 per man but when Lord Hawke learned the amount would be greater for some players (Tom Richardson was offered £500), the Yorkshire committee refused permission for Rhodes and Hirst to tour.

Profit  £2000.

Accounts of the tour

None except briefly in sources like  “Archie: a Biography of A C MacLaren”  by Michael Down (Allen & Unwin, 1981)

Postscript