Tour of Australia 1907-08                    Captain : Arthur Jones                

(M. C. C.)

England’s 19th Test tour.

 (September 1907- April 1908)

Twelfth Test-playing tour of Australia by an English side

    (previous tour MCC 1903-04)

An M.C.C. tour for 1906-07 was finally called off in September 1906 because an Australian Board of Control was not yet fully agreed and the state associations were not ready to manage tours to or from Australia on a unified basis.  M.C.C. insisted that governance by a single representative body was essential to deal with the  administrative side of fixtures, finances and grounds.

On 23 April 1907 the Marylebone Cricket Club announced they would send a team to Australia. Even at the eleventh hour in August 1907 the tour was not quite certain: “Nothing in Australian cricket is quite assured now except difficulty and dissension.”

A O Jones was M.C.C’s third-choice captain after F S Jackson (England’s 1905 captain) and R E Foster (England captain in 1907) turned it down.

Ted Arnold's invitation to tour was withdrawn. M.C.C. wrote to him twice but he did not reply within the required time.  Speculation that George Gunn was in the original selection was not true but, once it was known that he would be in Australia for his health, he was looked upon as the tour reserve.

The programme of matches virtually ignored the country districts in order to avoid losses at the gates but as the tour progressed even in first-class matches the crowds fell to the lowest since the 1887-88 double tour. The tourists left with a substantial loss.

England won a thrilling victory at Melbourne when the last wicket pair scored 39 runs required for victory. But Australia won all of the other four Test matches.

All England tours

Previous Test tour

South Africa 1905-06

Next Test tour

South Africa 1909-10

Next tour of  Australia

1911-12

Members of the Test tour party (14)

Opening batsmen:   Jack Hobbs, Arthur Jones

Middle-order batsmen Francis Fane, Joe Hardstaff (senior), Ted Hayes, Kenneth Hutchings.

Wicket-keeper:Joe Humphries, Dick Young.

All-rounders:  Len Braund, Jack Crawford, Wilfred Rhodes

Slow bowlers:Colin Blythe

Fast bowlers: Sydney Barnes, Arthur Fielder.

County representation:

Dy – Derbyshire (1)

Ex –  Essex (1)

Kt  -  Kent (3)

La  -  Lancashire (1)

Nt - Nottinghamshire (2)

Sm - Somerset (1)

Sy  -  Surrey (3)

Sx - Sussex (1)

Yo  -  Yorkshire (1)

Average age of team at time of first Test match

(13 December 1907)

  28 years 11 months

Test Appearances made before the tour

Braund 18,  Rhodes 17,  Blythe 14,  Crawford 7,  Fane 5,  Barnes 4,  Hayes 3,  Fielder 2,  Jones 8,  Gunn 0,  Hardstaff 0,  Hobbs 0,  Humphries 0,  Hutchings 0,  Young 0.

Tour Officials

Major Trevor, a cricket writer and member of M.C.C., was appointed in August.

Selectors

Lord Hawke (chairman),    

Selection

Captaincy: Hon F S Jackson turned down an invitation by M.C.C. in June to lead the side. R E Foster (who was captain in the 1907 Tests against South Africa) also declined and P F Warner, J R Mason and even Lord Hawke were all unable to go as captain for private or business reasons.

On 30 July it was announced that A O Jones had accepted the captaincy.

Unavailable:  Peter Perrin; Gilbert Jessop; the professionals Johnny Tyldesley, Dick Lilley, Tom Hayward and George Hirst rejected the terms offered.

(Hirst had also said after the rough sea voyage in 1903-04 that nothing would make him tour abroad again) .

Tour Party Completed :  18 August 1907.

Time between selection and departure from England

   33 days

 (18 August - 20 September)

Travel

Tilbury       T      Fremantle

                 ‘Ophir’

On 20 September 1907 the team left Tilbury on the 'Ophir'. George Gunn and Frank Tarrant were also on board. Mr Young joined the ship at Plymouth. Mr Fane, Mr Hutchings and Rhodes went overland and boarded at Marseilles.

The ship reached Colombo at 9am on 14 October, and the team played a match but only five of the tourists took part.

The 'Ophir' berthed at Fremantle on 24 October. Only eleven of the team landed, Hobbs, Hutchings, Fielder and Gunn going on with the boat to Adelaide.  After the initial match against Western Australia, the M.C.C. party reached Adelaide on the 'Himalaya' one week before their South Australia match.

Time spent in Australia

    144 days

(24 October -  16 March)

On-tour selection panel

Reinforcements

The captain, Mr A O Jones, fell ill with pneumonia and Mr Fane took over as skipper until Jones was fit to resume.

George Gunn who had travelled out on the 'Ophir', reinforced the tour party and played in all five Test matches. It was always understood that he could be used in an emergency.

Fixtures/Results

The Test matches were timeless. Major Philip Trevor, the manager, speculated in “The Sportsman” whether this was to ensure a fight to the finish or to squeeze six days’ gate money out of a match that in England would end in three.

A draft programme of matches was submitted to MCC in April 1907.

† not first-class

Time spent in Australia before First Test:

  50 days

(24 October - 13 December)

Test appearances on tour

     (v Australia 1907-08)

5 -  Barnes,  Braund,  Crawford,  Gunn,  Hardstaff,  Hutchings,  Rhodes.

4 -  Fane,  Fielder,  Hobbs.

3 -  Humphries.

2 -  Jones,  Young.

1 -  Blythe.

0 -  Hayes.  

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

•   The reinforcement George Gunn made 119 and 74 on his debut at Brisbane. He scored another century (122) in the last Test at Sydney.

•   Arthur Fielder took 6-82  and 3-88 in the opening Test.

•   Jack Crawford returned figures of 5-79 in the 2nd Test, which England won, 5-79 in 4th, and 5-141 in 5th Test.

•   Kenneth Hutchings’ innings of 126

•   Joe Hardstaff (61 in the first innings) defied Australia with 72 as England were bowled out for 183 at Adelaide.

•   Sydney Barnes took seven wickets for 60 as Australia collapsed to 137 at Sydney conceding a lead of 144 but Australia fought back to win the match

Tour Summary

Return to England

Fremantle  T    Marseilles

                ‘Ophir

’

Wicket-keeper Joe Humphries, recovered from his operation, sailed from Melbourne on 10 March to rejoin the team in Western Australia. M.C.C. were playing the state for the first time on a full Australian tour but, because the team had to board the 'Ophir' in the evening, the match was left drawn when stumps had to be pulled at tea time.

The 'Ophir' left Fremantle at 7 pm on 16 March.

The ship reached Naples on 10 April. Hardstaff, Hobbs and Gunn travelled from here by train, arriving in London on the evening of 13 April, while the remainder came overland from Marseilles the next day. They arrived at London’s Victoria Station, Blythe and Fielder having left the train at Tonbridge.

Time away from England

  206 days  

(20 September - 13 April)

Finances

M.C.C. asked the new Australian Board for a guarantee of £10,000 against the expenses of the tour. The tour lost £2600 because of low attendances and this had to be made good by Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales.

The professionals’ retainer was £300 with all expenses covered and a £2/week allowance, with further remuneration if the profits allowed.  The professionals did not regard this as sufficient compared with the Australians, as “amateurs”, receiving £600-800.

Accounts of the tour

“Trip to Kangaroo Land"   by Jack Crawford,  illustrated by ‘Rip’  [R P Hill]   (pub Cricket Offices, London, 1909?)

"With the M.C.C. in Australia 1907-08"  by  P C W Trevor  [A Rivers, 1908]   (facsimile reprint published by J W McKenzie, 1999)

Postscript