Australian cricket team in England in 1985

The Australian cricket team toured England in the 1985 season to play a six-match Test series against England.

England won the series 3-1 with two matches drawn. England therefore regained The Ashes.

Series summary

1st Test at Headingley – England won by 5 wickets
2nd Test at Lord's – Australia won by 4 wickets
3rd Test at Trent Bridge – match drawn
4th Test at Old Trafford – match drawn
5th Test at Edgbaston – England won by an innings and 118 runs
6th Test at The Oval – England won by an innings and 94 runs

Australian Squad

Australia had endured a turbulent summer during the 1984-85 season, which included the resignation of their captain Kim Hughes and consistent defeats at the hands of the West Indian cricket side. However, there were some encouraging signs, such as the consistent form of Kepler Wessels, the re-emergence of Andrew Hilditch as a test batsman, the discovery of an exciting new pace prospect in Craig McDermott and improved spin bowling stocks, led by Bob Holland.

Original squad

The original squad selected were as follows:^[1]

Batsmen - Allan Border (captain), Andrew Hilditch (vice captain), David Boon, Greg Ritchie, Dirk Wellham, Kepler Wessels, Graeme Wood
Fastbowlers - Terry Alderman, Geoff Lawson, Craig McDermott, Rod McCurdy
Spinners - Murray Bennett, Bob Holland, Greg Matthews
Wicketkeepers - Wayne Phillips, Steve Rixon
All-rounders - Simon O'Donnell

South African "Rebels"

However it was revealed prior to leaving for England that several of the cricketers had signed to play cricket in South Africa over the 1985-85 and 1986-87 seasons, including Alderman, Wellham, Wood, McCurdy, Phillips, Bennett and Rixon. Although these contracts did not start until after the Ashes, the Australian Cricket Board were reluctant to allow these players to go on the tour.

Wellham, Phillips and Wood were then all offered inducements by Kerry Packer, who owned TV rights to the game, not to go to South Africa, and Bennett changed his mind. Alderman, McCurdy and Rixon stuck by their original decisions, and were ruled ineligible to tour. They were replaced by Carl Rackemann, John Maguire and Ray Phillips.

Then Rackemann and McGuire revealed they too had signed to tour South Africa and were replaced by David Gilbert and Jeff Thomson.

The remaining Australian team originally elected to not tour with Wellham, Phillips and Wood but eventually changed their mind after a team meeting.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Series

Australia performed reasonably well in the early tour games, the highlight being Allan Border scoring four centuries in consecutive first class games. Jeff Thomson leapt into test consideration after taking eight wickets against Somerset.^[5] David Boon, Greg Ritchie and Wayne Phillips also scored well in early games, and Bob Holland took a number of wickets. Simon O'Donnell's century against the MCC saw him come into consideration as an all rounder.^[6]

Australia won the one day series 2-1. They then drew a game against Leicestershire in which David Gower scored a century, taking heavy toll off Bob Holland's bowling, while Jeff Thomson took five wickets.^[7]

This saw Thomson preferred over Holland in Australia's team for the first test. Simon O'Donnell was picked as the fourth bowler in support of McDermott, Lawson and Thomson, despite a noticeble lack of success with the ball on the tour until that date. The rest of the team consisted of Wood, Hilditch, Wessels, Border, Boon, Ritchie and Phillips. Australia lost the first by five wickets.

Holland then took five wickets in a game against Hampshire^[8] and came into the test side in place of Thomson for the second test. Australia won this by four wickets, due mostly to Allan Border's scores of 196 and 41 not out, and five wicket hauls to McDermott and Holland.

Australia kept the same side for the third test, which ended in a heavy scoring draw. In order to boost the bowling, the injured Graeme Wood was replaced by all rounder Greg Matthews in the fourth test, where Australia managed to escape with a draw due to a second innings century from Allan Border.

For the fifth test Wood returned and Matthews was dropped. However Australia decided to boost the bowling by dropping Boon for Jeff Thomson. Australia lost the game by an innings.

Australia dropped O'Donnell for the sixth and final test, bringing in Dirk Wellham instead, and replacing Holland with Murray Bennett and Jeff Thomson with Gilbert. Australia lost this game by an innings as well.

References

↑ "Smith and 'the Motivator' to miss Ashes tour.". The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995) (ACT: National Library of Australia). 21 March 1985. p. 28. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
↑ Doug Ackerly, 'It was 20 years ago today', The Age, 22 November 2005
↑ 'The Australians in England, 1985' Wisden
↑ http://www.theage.com.au/news/cricket/rebels--the-85-south-africa-tour/2005/12/09/1134086816276.html
↑ "Somerset v Australians Australia in British Isles 1985 County Ground, Taunton on 8th, 9th, 10th May 1985" accessed 18 February 2014
↑ "Marylebone Cricket Club v Australians Australia in British Isles 1985 Venue Lord's Cricket Ground, St John's Wood on 22nd, 23rd, 24th May 1985" accessed 18 February 2014
↑ "Leicestershire v Australians Australia in British Isles 1985 Venue Grace Road, Leicester on 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th June 1985" accessed 18 February 2014
↑ "Hampshire v Australians Australia in British Isles 1985 Venue County Ground, Southampton on 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th June 1985" accessed 18 February 2014

External sources

Annual reviews

Playfair Cricket Annual 1986
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 1986

The Ashes

List of Ashes series (white – in England, yellow – in Australia)

1850

													1884		1886				1888		1890		1893		1896		1899
												1882–83		1884–85		1886–87		1887–88				1891–92		1894–95		1897–98

1900

	1902		1905		1909		1912		World War I			1921		1926		1930		1934		1938		World War II			1948
1901–02		1903–04		1907–08		1911–12					1920–21		1924–25		1928–29		1932–33		1936–37					1946–47

1950

	1953		1956		1961		1964		1968		1972		1975		1977		1981		1985		1989		1993		1997
1950–51		1954–55		1958–59		1962–63		1965–66		1970–71		1974–75				1978–79		1982–83		1986–87		1990–91		1994–95		1998–99

2000

	2001		2005		2009		2013		2015
		2002–03		2006–07		2010–11		2013–14		2017–18

Non-Ashes Australia v England Test series

1876–77 1878–79 1880 1881–82 1882 1945 1976–77 1979–80 1980 1987–88

International cricket tours of England

Test and LOI tours

Australia	1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1893 1896 1899 1902 1905 1909 1912 1921 1926 1930 1934 1938 1948 1953 1956 1961 1964 1968 1972 1975 1977 1980 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2010 2012 2013 2015 2019

Bangladesh	2005 2010

India	1932 1936 1946 1952 1959 1967 1971 1974 1979 1982 1986 1990 1996 2002 2004 2007 2011 2014 2018

New Zealand	1931 1937 1949 1958 1965 1969 1973 1978 1983 1986 1990 1994 1999 2004 2008 2013 2015

Pakistan	1954 1962 1967 1971 1974 1978 1982 1987 1992 1996 2001 2006 2010 2016 2018

South Africa	1894 1901 1904 1907 1912 1924 1929 1935 1947 1951 1955 1960 1965 1994 1998 2003 2008 2012 2017

Sri Lanka	1984 1988 1990 1991 1998 2002 2006 2011 2014 2016

West Indies	1928 1933 1939 1950 1957 1963 1966 1969 1973 1976 1980 1984 1988 1991 1995 2000 2004 2007 2009 2011 2012 2017

Zimbabwe	2000 2003

Tournaments hosted

Multiple teams	1912 1975 1979 1983 1999 2004 2009 2013

Other tours

Australian	1868 1878 1919 1945

Bangladeshi	1979 1982 1986 1998

Canadian	1880 1887 1922 1936 1954 1974 1979 1982 1986 2005 2012

Indian	1886 1888 1911

Kenyan	1982 1984 1986 2008

Multi-national	1932 1970 1972 1987

New Zealand	1927 1945

Philadelphian	1884 1889 1897 1903 1908

Sri Lankan	1975 1979 1981

West Indian	1900 1906 1923 1964

Zimbabwean	1982 1985 1986 1990 1993

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