Test Cricket Tours - England to Australia 1994-95

Test Cricket Tours - England to Australia 1994-95

Tour of Australia 1994-95 Captain : Mike Atherton

England’s 75th Test tour.

(October 1990 – February 1995)

36th Test-playing tour of Australia by England

(previous tour 1990-91)

Chief selector Illingworth strongly influenced the team selection. The inclusion of Gatting, as well as Gooch, raised the age profile of the side significantly; while the preference for McCague over Fraser, who was Atherton’s choice, ended with the injury-prone Kent pacer playing in only the Brisbane Test before Fraser was called up to replace him.

McCague was one of six who had injuries serious enough to need covering by replacement players in the four months of the tour. With players going back and forth and plans in disarray, the team never looked competitive against Australia at its strongest in the first two Tests and by then it was too late to regain the Ashes.

England started slowly in the early matches but never picked up. Fraser wrote “We continued our mainly disappointing journey with injuries cropping up here, there and everywhere and people generally feeling sorry for themselves. There was no confidence or commitment.”

The first Test at Brisbane began with England losing the initiative with a long hop and a misfield that set the tone; and in no time were heavily beaten in the first two Test matches. A revival followed at Sydney when Darren Gough struck a famous fifty before bowling Australia out with 6-59, only to be put out of the series with a broken foot, and Gus Fraser was prevented by bad light from finishing Australia off. Then at Adelaide England scored a surpirse win but it was all too late and normality was resumed at Perth

Other England tours

Previous Test tour

West Indies 1993-94

Next Test t

our

South Africa 1995-96

Next tour of Australia

1998-99

Members of the Test tour party (16 + 6)

Opening batsmen: Graham Gooch, Mike Atherton, Alec Stewart

Middle-order batsmen John Crawley, Mike Gatting, Graeme Hick, Graham Thorpe

All-rounder: Craig White

Wicket-keeper: Steven Rhodes.

Slow bowlers: Phil Tufnell, Shaun Udal

Fast bowlers: Joey Benjamin, Phil DeFreitas, Darren Gough, Matthew McCague, Devon Malcolm

M A Atherton	La	26	RHB opener captain

J E Benjamin	Sy	33	RFM

J P Crawley	La	23	RHB

P A J DeFeitas	Dy	28	RFM

M W Gatting	Mx	37	RHB

G A Gooch	Ex	41	RHB opener (RM)

D Gough	Yo	24	RF

G A Hick	Wo	28	RHB (OB)

M J McCague	Kt	25	RFM

D E Malcolm	Dy	31	RF

S J Rhodes	Wo	30	WK

A J Stewart	Sy	31	RHB second WK vice- captain

G P Thorpe	Sy	25	LHB

P C R Tufnell	Mx	28	SLA

S D Udal	Ha	25	OB

C White	Yo	24	RHB RFM

County representation:

Dy – Derbyshire (2)

Ex - Essex (1)

Ha - Hampshire (1)

Kt - Kent (1)

La - Lancashire (2)

Mx - Middlesex (2)

Sy - Surrey (3)

Wo - Worcestershire (2)

Yo - Yorkshire (2)

Average age of team at time of first Test match

(25 November 1994):

29 yrs 3 months.

Test Appearances made before the tour

Gooch 113, Gatting 74, Stewart 43, Atherton 40, Fraser DeFreitas 39, Hick 29, Malcolm 28, Lewis , Tufnell 18, Ramprakash, Thorpe 10, Rhodes 6, Gough 4, White 4, Crawley 3, McCague 2, Benjamin 1, Udal 0.

Tour Officials

Mike Smith	Tour Manager
Keith Fletcher	Cricket manager
Dave Roberts	Physiotherapist
A E Davis	Scorer

Selectors

Ray Illingworth (chairman), Keith Fletcher (cricket manager), Brian Bolus, Fred Titmus, Tim Lamb (of TCCB) and Mike Atherton (captain) met at the Copthorne Hotel, Manchester, where they also picked an England A side to go to India

Selection

Unavailable : Mark Lathwell.

Only six of the previous winter’s touring side (to West Indies 1993-94) were retained.

Tour party announced : on 2 September 1994.

Pre-tour Training : None. The players were asked to rest before flying to Australia only one month after the 1994 season.

Not selected: Angus Fraser, Dominic Cork, Peter Such were the reserves..

Time between selection and departure from England

days

(2 September - 18 October)

Travel

London Q Perth

England flew out of Heathrow Airport on Tuesday 18 October, and arrived in Australia on Wednesday 19 October after a 19-hour flight to Perth.

Mike Atherton was asked at the airport press conference about his comments about Australia's over-aggressive attitude on the field. "I don't see there's any need far sledging in international cricket, but equally we're not going to be walked all over. At times England may have been seen as a bit of a soft touch — but we'll wait and see, won't we."

Time spent in Australia

days

(19 October -

On-tour selection panel

MA Atherton, AJ Stewart, MW Gatting, GA Gooch, MJK Smith, KWR Fletcher.

Reinforcements

A R C Fraser

RFM

Angus Fraser was in Sydney playing grade cricket with Western Suburbs and was summoned to stand by at Brisbane when Devon Malcolm had chicken pox. Fraser then joined the tour party when Matthew McCague went home with a stress fracture of the right shin.

R C Russell

Jack Russell was brought in as cover for Alex Stewart (broken finger). He did not play any matches.

M C Ilott

RFM

Mark Ilott (Ex) for Joey Benjamin (suspected chicken pox). Ilott was then released to join the England ‘A’ tour, having appeared in no matches.

N H Fairbother

LHB

Neil Fairbrother who was playing in Transvaal to take the place of Craig White who returned home (rib muscle injury).

C C Lewis

RFM

Chris Lewis, from club cricket in Melbourne, for Darren Gough who returned home on 6 January with a fractured foot.

M R Ramprakash

RHB

Mark Ramprakash from the ‘A’ tour of India for Graeme Hick (slipped disc). He arrived too late to play in the 4th Test.

Shaun Udal was sent home with a side muscle injury and not replaced.

Fixtures/Results

Australia A also competed for the Benson & Hedges World Series Cup but these matches (o and u) were not one-day internationals.

a	ϯ Lilac Hill	ACB Chairman’s XI (50 overs)	Won 7 w
b	† Perth	Western Australia(50 overs)	Lost 51 r
c	Perth	Western Australia	Drawn
d	Adelaide	South Australia	Won 4 w
e	† Canberra	Prime Minister’s XI (50 overs)	Lost 2 w
f	Newcastle	New South Wales	Lost 4 w
g	Hobart	Australian XI	Drawn
h	BRISBANE	AUSTRALIA First Test	LOST 184 r
i	† Bowral	Bradman XI (50 overs)	Won 4 w
j	† Canberra	Australian Capital Territory(50 overs)	Won 100 r
k	§ Sydney	Australia (1st of B & H series)	Lost 28 r
l	† North Sydney	Australian Academy(3-day)	Abandoned
m	† North Sydney	Australian Academy(50 overs)	Lost 5 w
n	† North Sydney	Australian Academy(50 overs)	Lost 6 w
o	† Melbourne	Australia ‘A’ (2nd of B & H series)	Won 31 r
p	§ Sydney	Zimbabwe (3rd of B & H series)	Lost 13 r
q	Toowomba	Queensland	Won 37 r
r	MELBOURNE	AUSTRALIA Second Test	LOST 295 r
s	SYDNEY	AUSTRALIA Third Test	DRAWN
t	§ Brisbane	Zimbabwe (4th of B & H series)	Won 26 r
u	§ Melbourne	Australia (5th of B & H series)	Won 37 r
v	ϯ Sydney	Australia ‘A’ (6th of B & H series)	Lost 29 r
w	Bendigo	Victoria	Drawn
x	ADELAIDE	AUSTRALIA Fourth Test	WON 106 r
y	PERTH	AUSTRALIA Fifth Test	LOST 329 r

† not first-class

§ one-day internationals (Benson & Hedges World Series Cup)

Time spent in Australia before First Test:

37 days

(19 October - 25 November)

Test appearances on tour

5 - Atherton, Gatting, Gooch, Rhodes, Thorpe

4 - DeFreitas, Malcolm, Tufnell

3 - Crawley, Fraser, Gough, Hick.

2 - Lewis, Stewart,

1 - McCague, Ramprakash.

0 - Benjamin, Fairbrother, Ilott, Russell, Udal, White.

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

M A Atherton

J E Benjamin

J P Crawley

P A J DeFeitas

N H Fairbrother

A R C Fraser

M W Gatting

G A Gooch

D Gough

G A Hick

M C Ilott

C C Lewis

M J McCague

D E Malcolm

M Ramprakash

S J Rhodes

R C Russell

A J Stewart

G P Thorpe

P C R Tufnell

S D Udal

C White

R E S U L T S

England’s six previous Test tour results

Highlights

• T

•

Tour Summary

	F	W	L	D	Aban
Test Matches	5	1	3	1	-
Other first-class matches	6	2	1	3	-
†Minor matches	10	4	5	0	1
§ One-day internationals	4	2	2	0	-
All Matches	25	9	11	4	1

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

Return to England

Sydney Q London

McCague, Gough, Hick, White and Udal returned home early.

9 February

The team flew back to Heathrow Airport

Time away from England

x days

(18 October -

Finances

A cash bonus of £30 000 was put up by Tetley's for winning the Ashes.

Accounts of the Tour

“One Summer, Every Summer: An Ashes Journal” by Gideon Haigh (Text Publishing, 1995)

Postscript

Illingworth thought Fletcher had been at fault for many of the things that went wrong

Other tours in 1994-95

Australia to Pakistan 1994-95

New Zealand to South Africa 1994-95

Pakistan to South Africa and Zimbabwe 1994-95

South Africa to New Zealand 1994-95

Sri Lanka to New Zealand 1994-95

West Indies to India 1994-95

West Indies to New Zealand 1994-95