Tour of  Australia 1978-79              Captain : Mike Brearley           

England’s 59th Test tour.

(October 1978 - February 1979)

30th Test-playing tour of Australia by England

    (previous tour 1976-77)

Mike Brearley maintained England’s winning ways by leading his side to victory in five Tests, the first time this had been achieved in a Test series in Australia (there were six Tests and Australia won the other one). The home side was gravely weakened by the absence of her ‘Packer players’. Of the newcomers, only Hogg presented England’s batsmen with much of a problem, while only Border matched the application shown by Boycott at Perth or Randall at Sydney.

The attraction of watching World Series Cricket stole many potential spectators, both at the grounds and in front of television, away from the official Test matches. W.S.C. challenged England to a winner-takes-all, five-day match for $50,000 but the commitments of the tour programme prevented England from even considering it.

Other England tours

Previous Test tour

New Zealand 1977-78

Next Test tour

Australia 1979-80

Next tour of  Australia

1979-80

Members of the Test tour party (16)

Opening batsmen:  Geoff Boycott, Graham Gooch, Mike Brearley.

Middle-order batsmen David Gower, Clive Radley, Derek Randall

Wicket-keeper: Bob Taylor, Roger Tolchard

All-rounder:  Ian Botham

Slow bowlers: Phil Edmonds, John Emburey, Geoff Miller

Fast bowlers: Chris Old, John Lever, Mike Hendrick, Bob Willis.

County representation:

Dy – Derbyshire (3)

Ex  -  Essex (2)

Le - Leicestershire (2)

Mx - Middlesex (4)

Nt - Nottinghamshire (1)

Sm - Somerset (1)

Wk - Warwickshire (1)

Yo - Yorkshire (2)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(1 December 1978) :

     29 yrs 9 months

Test Appearances made before the tour

Boycott 76, Willis 41, Old 40, Brearley 21, Hendrick 16, Randall 16, Miller 14, Edmonds 13, Lever 13, Taylor 13, Botham 11, Radley 8, Gooch 7, Gower 6, Tolchard 4, Emburey 1, Bairstow 0.

Tour Officials

The manager was appointed on 19 July and his assistant on 16 August. 

Selectors

Alec Bedser (chairman),  Ken Barrington,  Peter May,  Charlie Elliott,  Mike Brearley and  John Murray who later resigned from the panel.

Selection

Brearley was appointed captain on 28 August.

Unavailable  None of the  WSC players (Dennis Amiss,  Derek Anderwood,  Tony Greig,  Alan Knott,  John Snow and Bob Woolmer) came under consideration.

Tour Party Announced  : 4 September 1978.

Not selected:  The names of two paid reserves were also given out: David Bairstow and Chris Tavare, who would have been 17th player had it been possible.

Time between selection and departure from England

   49 days

 (4 September - 24 October)

Travel

London  Q   Sydney

The tour group assembled at Lord’s before flying from London on 24 October 1978. 

Botham's arm was in a sling because he had injured it when a glass door broke, so he missed the early matches.

After a short stopover at Sydney Airport the team arrived at Adelaide on 26 October

Time spent in Australia

    142 days

(25 October -  16 February)

On-tour selection panel

Mike Brearley (captain),  Bob Willis (vice-captain), Geoffrey Boycott,  Doug Insole (manager),  Ken Barrington (assistant manager)

Reinforcements

Ian Botham did not play until the sixth match because of damage to tendons on his cut hand.

David Bairstow for Roger Tolchard who went home, having fractured his cheek at net practice. The committee sent for Bairstow on 15 January.

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

Time spent in Australia before First Test:   37 days

(25 October - 1 December)

Test appearances on tour

(v Australia 1978-79)

6 -  Botham, Boycott, Brearley, Gooch, Gower, Miller, Randall, Taylor, Willis.

5 -  Hendrick.

4 -  Emburey.

3 - 

2 - 

1 -  Edmonds, Lever, Old.

0 -  Bairstow, Radley, Tolchard.

Match appearances

T  Test match

o  one-day international 

x other match 

W won  L lost  D drawn

N no result   A abandoned

u unknown result

England’s six previous Test tour results

Highlights

•  T

• 

• 

•            

Tour Summary

F  Fixtures   W  Won   L  Lost   D Drawn   T  Tied  Canc  Cancelled  Aban  abandoned

Return to England

Colombo  Q Singapore Q Bombay Q  London

The team flew via Singapore (where Gower alighted), Bombay (where half of the members of the team disembarked) and Bahrain. 

Nine members of the team (Bairstow, Botham, Hendrick, Lever, Old, Miller, Randall, the manager and assistant) arrived at Heathrow Airport, London, on 18 February.

The other players arrived back in England a week later.

Time away from England

  117 days  

(24 October - 18 February)

Finances

Rain washed out the inaugural Benson & Hedges Cup one-day international at Melbourne on Boxing Day, costing the Australian Board approximately $150,000.

Accounts of the Tour

"Put To The Test"  by Geoffrey Boycott (Littlehampton, 1979)

"The Ashes Retained"  by Mike Brearley & Dudley Doust (Hodder & Stoughton, 1979)

"A Pitch in Both Camps"   by Alan Lee  (Stanley Paul, 1979)

"Lambs to the Slaughter" by Graham Yallop  (Outback Press, 1979)

"A Testing Time"  by Peter MacFarline (Hutchinson, 1979)

"The Ashes 79" by David Frith (Angus & Robertson, 1979)

"In Defence of The Ashes" by Christopher Martin-Jenkins (Macdonald and Jane's, London, 1979)

“Frindall's Scorebook: Australia Versus England 1978 - 79" by Bill Frindall (The Book Service, Ltd, 1979)

“Anyone for Cricket?” by David Gower and Bob Taylor (Pelham Books, 1979)

“From the Outer : A view of the Ashes series 1978-79”  by John Meyer (the author, Wembley W.A., 1979)

Postscript

Other Test tours in 1978-79

Acknowledgements

To general reading of The Times newspaper digital archive (Gale Group);  Jamaica Gleanor archive;  National Library of Australia Trove; Papers Past NZ.

From former British Newspaper Library, Colindale and online:  The Age, Melbourne Argus, Bangladesh Daily Star, Barbados Advocate, Canberra Times, Daily Telegraph, Dawn, Eastern Daily Press, The Hindu, The Independent (Dhaka), Indian Express, The Island (Lanka), Lahore Times, New Nation, New Zealand Auckland Herald, Sri Lanka Daily News, Stabroek News, Straits Times, Sydney Morning Herald, The Telegraph (Calcutta), Times of India , The Tribune Chandigarh, Trinidad Guardian, The West Australian.

cricketweb.net;  ESPN cricinfo;  cricket archive; www.cricketcountry; www.coverpoint

Magazines/periodicals including Australian Cricket, B & H West Indies Annual, The Cricketer International, Cricketer Quarterly, Indian Cricket, Indian Cricket Field Annual, Playfair Cricket Monthly, Shell Cricket Almanack of New Zealand, Wisden Cricket Monthly, Wisden Book of Test Cricket, Wisden’s Cricketers’ Almanack.

Men In White, A History of Australian Cricket (Harte), A History of Indian Cricket (Bose), A History of West Indies Cricket (Manley)

Biography and tour books (own collection and at the M.C.C. Library at Lord’s Ground)                     ALL CONTENTS OF THE TEST-CRICKET-TOURS.CO.UK WEBSITE  ARE COPYRIGHT