During the 1902 English cricket season, the Australian cricket team visited England. The five-Test series between the two countries is widely remembered; A. A. Thomson, a cricket writer, characterized it in 1967 as "a rubber more fascinating than any in history bar the Australia v West Indies series in 1960–61." It was also the first time that Australia had won a Test match away from home.
The Australians went into the series with some confidence after winning the First Test by an innings and 38 runs at Lord's. But they were badly beaten in the remaining four matches - three of them lost - including the infamous 'Bodyline' series. This made it four consecutive victories for England and put an end to any hope the Australians may have had of winning the series.
It was during this series that Charles Bannerman made his famous remark about Sir Donald Bradman: "There's a man who ought to be shot". The comment was seen as derogatory by many people at the time because Bradman was still alive then. However, with the birth of modern medicine, he now lives in the public eye as one of the greatest batsmen of all time.
Charles Bannerman was referring to an incident where an English bowler aimed at Bradman with a ball that was painted with red tape on its surface.
From August 10 to 13, 1992, the Australian cricket team toured Sri Lanka, playing three Test matches and three One-Day Internationals (ODIs). This was a historic test series for Sri Lanka because it was the country's first home series since 1987. The debut of Shane Warne was one of the series' high points. Australia won the first two tests by an innings and 63 runs and then drew the third game before winning the series 3-0.
The Australians arrived in Colombo on August 10, 1992, for what was then known as the Sinhalese New Year - a public holiday in Sri Lanka. They stayed at the Shangri-La Hotel in central Colombo. The tourists were given a rousing welcome by a crowd of 50,000 people at the Ratmalana Jayawardanam Garden Festival.
Australia began their tour with a 100% record after two matches. However, they lost their first match against Sri Lanka by seven wickets at Pallekele Stadium. It was the first time that Australia had been defeated in its opening match since 1978. The match was drawn due to rain delays. In the second match, which was played at Kalutara District Cricket Ground, Sri Lanka beat Australia by six wickets. This is where we see the start of Australia's decline during their 1992-93 series against Sri Lanka. After this match, Australia never again finished on top of the test rankings.
Author Stephen Walters revisits the tardy birth of Antipodean test cricket in an exclusive excerpt from A Forgotten Adventure: Australia's Elite Cricketers in New Zealand 1946. Australia's brief but historic cricket trip of New Zealand in March 1946 often underappreciated.
Following the rising risk of the pandemic, New Zealand's three-match ODI series in Australia last March was postponed after just one match, before Australia's white-ball tour across the Tasman and a mid-year Test tour of Bangladesh were both canceled.
Australia won the series and reclaimed the Ashes, which England had won in 2005. The series' five Tests were held in Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne, and Sydney. With the victory, Australia achieved a 5-0 "whitewash," the first time this had occurred in an Ashes series since 1920-21.
England won the First Test by an innings and 157 runs but after that was defeated in the remaining four matches by an average of more than 200 runs. This is the first time since 1972-73 that England has been defeated in its home country by both a Test match and one-day international team. The last time they were beaten on their home soil was in 1999 when they were beaten by 1-4 by New Zealand.
This was also the first time since 1971 that England had lost three consecutive tests. They had been undefeated in eight attempts before then. Overall, England played extremely poorly - it was the third lowest score they have ever made - and seemed to lack any sort of plan or direction at all. After winning the First Test by an innings and 157 runs, they went on to lose the rest of the series 4-1.
Australia began its campaign by defeating England by seven wickets inside three days at the Gabba. Michael Clarke scored a brilliant century and David Warner took five wickets as Australia beat England by seven wickets. This is the first time that has happened in a Test match.
The 2006-07 Ashes cricket series between Australia and England was held in Australia from November 23rd to January 5th, 2007. The first Test was drawn, but Australia won the remaining four games to reclaim the title.
In addition to the five Test matches, there was one Twenty20 match played during the series. This game was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on December 3rd, 2006 - a day after the fourth Test ended in a draw. Australia won this game too, so they retained the Ashes.
Australia won the series 4-1. They beat England in all five tests to regain the Ashes. The first test was a draw, but Australia went on to win the other four matches to reclaim the title. Steve Waugh was the leader of the team, having been appointed as captain after Ricky Ponting retired hurt. Waugh later said he didn't feel like a captain because Michael Clarke was such a good player. David Warner replaced Clarke as his deputy and is now the new captain for Australia.
England won the 2005 series 3-2. They lost only one test match - the first one - but it was canceled due to security concerns following the London bombings.
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