Australian cricket team in England in 1956
Australian cricket team in England in 1956 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Date | 7 June 1956 – 28 August 1956 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Location | England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Result | England won the 5-Test series 2–1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Australian cricket team toured England in the 1956 season to play a five-match Test series against England for The Ashes.
England won the series 2-1 with 2 matches drawn and therefore retained The Ashes.
The series is most notable for off-spinner Jim Laker's 46 wickets (a record for a 5-Test series) at an average of 9.60,[1] including all ten wickets in the second innings of the fourth Test at Old Trafford, the first time this had been achieved in Test cricket. In that Test, known as Laker's Match, Laker took 19 wickets for 90 runs, still the best match bowling analysis achieved in both Test and all first-class cricket. The cartoonist Roy Ullyett summed up the summer with the picture of a dazed kangaroo in Australian strip and the ditty: Here lie the Ashes of '56, skittled by Laker for next to nix. Never forgotten, sorry you thought our wicket rotten, signed "Love from the groundstaff".[2] The second line refers to the Australian complaints that the grass had been shaved off the Old Trafford wicket to help the England spinners.[3]
Test series[]
1st Test[]
7–12 June 1956
scorecard |
England
|
v
|
Australia
|
148 (83.1 overs)
RN Harvey 64 JC Laker 4/58 | ||
120/3 (86 overs)
JW Burke 58 JC Laker 2/29 |
- Peter Richardson (Eng) made his Test debut.
2nd Test[]
21–26 June 1956
scorecard |
Australia
|
v
|
England
|
171 (82 overs)
PBH May 63 KR Miller 5/72 | ||
257 (92.5 overs)
R Benaud 97 FS Trueman 5/90 |
- Pat Crawford and Ken Mackay (Aus) made their Test debuts.
3rd Test[]
12–17 July 1956
scorecard |
England
|
v
|
Australia
|
143 (71.1 overs)
JW Burke 41 KR Miller 41 JC Laker 5/58 GAR Lock 4/41 | ||
- Alan Oakman (Eng) made his Test debut.
4th Test[]
26–31 July 1956
scorecard |
England
|
v
|
Australia
|
5th Test[]
23–28 August 1956
scorecard |
England
|
v
|
Australia
|
202 (92 overs)
KR Miller 61 JC Laker 4/80 | ||
182/3 (dec) (61 overs)
DS Sheppard 62 RR Lindwall 1/29 |
27/5 (38.1 overs)
IWG Johnson 10 JC Laker 3/8 |
References[]
- ^ Test Bowling Figures for England, 1956 Ashes
- ^ Peter Arnold, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Cricket, p75, W.H. Smith, 1986
- ^ E.W. Swanton (ed), The Barclays World of Cricket, p296, Collins, 1986
Annual reviews[]
Further reading[]
- Bill Frindall, The Wisden Book of Test Cricket 1877-1978, Wisden, 1979
- Chris Harte, A History of Australian Cricket, Andre Deutsch, 1993
- Ray Robinson, On Top Down Under, Cassell, 1975
External links[]
- 1956 in Australian cricket
- 1956 in English cricket
- Australian cricket tours of England
- International cricket competitions from 1945–46 to 1960
- The Ashes