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An England team toured Australia between November 1920 and March 1921. The tour was organised by the Marylebone Cricket Club and matches outside the Tests were played under the MCC name. The tour itinerary consisted of 13 first-class matches, including a series of 5 Test matches against Australia in which The Ashes were at stake.

Tour review

The tour was the first to have Test status after the First World War.^[1] It followed tours by the Australian Imperial Forces cricket team which played a number of first-class matches in England, South Africa and Australia immediately after the war. The last Ashes series had been the 1912 Triangular Tournament held in England that year.

Although the tourists were relatively successful in their first-class matches against the Australian state teams, losing only one, the Test series "resulted, as everyone knows, in disaster"^[2] and England became the first team ever to lose every match in a five-Test series.^[3]

Wisden commented that the chief cause of England's failure was the bowling, because all of the bowlers used were expensive and recorded high averages.^[2] Much has been made of Australia's ability to recover from the effects of the war more quickly than England and Wisden commented that "English cricket had not had time to regain its pre-war standard".^[2]

Test series summary

First Test

17–22 December 1920
(Timeless Test)
Scorecard

Australia	v	England
267 (114.5 overs) HL Collins 70 JW Hearne 3/77 (34 overs)		190 (59.1 overs) FE Woolley 52 JM Gregory 3/56 (23.1 overs)
581 (192.3 overs) WW Armstrong 158 CH Parkin 3/102 (35.3 overs)		281 (102.5 overs) JB Hobbs 59 C Kelleway 3/45 (15.5 overs)

Australia won by 377 runs
Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
Umpires: RM Crockett and AC Jones

Australia won the toss and elected to bat.
19 December was taken as a rest day
HL Collins, JM Gregory, JM Taylor, CE Pellew, J Ryder, WAS Oldfield and AA Mailey (all AUS), and CAG Russell, EH Hendren, A Waddington and CH Parkin (all ENG) made their Test debuts.

Second Test

31 December 1920 – 4 January 1921
(Timeless Test)
Scorecard

Australia	v	England
499 (137.3 overs) CE Pellew 116 H Howell 3/142 (37 overs)		251 (87.3 overs) JB Hobbs 122 JM Gregory 7/69 (20 overs)
		157 (f/o) (67.2 overs) FE Woolley 50 WW Armstrong 4/26 (15.2 overs)

Australia won by an innings and 91 runs
Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
Umpires: RM Crockett and DA Elder

Australia won the toss and elected to bat.
2 January was taken as a rest day
RL Park (AUS), and JWH Makepeace and H Howell (both ENG) made their Test debuts.

Third Test

14–20 January 1921
(Timeless Test)
Scorecard

Australia	v	England
354 (108 overs) HL Collins 162 CH Parkin 5/60 (20 overs)		447 (132.1 overs) CAG Russell 135* AA Mailey 5/160 (32.1 overs)
582 (185.5 overs) C Kelleway 147 H Howell 4/115 (34 overs)		370 (106.2 overs) JB Hobbs 123 AA Mailey 5/142 (29.2 overs)

Australia won by 119 runs
Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
Umpires: RM Crockett and DA Elder

Australia won the toss and elected to bat.
16 January was taken as a rest day
EA McDonald (AUS), and PGH Fender (ENG) made their Test debuts.
The match aggregate of 1753 runs is the highest where all 40 wickets fell.

Fourth Test

11–16 February 1921
(Timeless Test)
Scorecard

England	v	Australia
284 (99.2 overs) JWH Makepeace 117 AA Mailey 4/115 (29.2 overs)		389 (112.1 overs) WW Armstrong 123* PGH Fender 5/122 (32 overs)
315 (117 overs) W Rhodes 73 AA Mailey 9/121 (47 overs)		211/2 (64.2 overs) JM Gregory 76* CH Parkin 1/46 (12 overs)

Australia won by 8 wickets
Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
Umpires: RM Crockett and DA Elder

England won the toss and elected to bat.
13 February was taken as a rest day.
A Dolphin (ENG) made his Test debut.

Fifth Test

25 February – 1 March 1921
(Timeless Test)
Scorecard

England	v	Australia
204 (70.1 overs) FE Woolley 53 C Kelleway 4/27 (20 overs)		392 (91.3 overs) CG Macartney 170 PGH Fender 5/90 (20 overs)
280 (101.2 overs) JWHT Douglas 68 AA Mailey 5/119 (36.2 overs)		93/1 (34.2 overs) W Bardsley 50* ER Wilson 1/8 (6 overs)

Australia won by 9 wickets
Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
Umpires: RM Crockett and DA Elder

England won the toss and elected to bat.
27 February was taken as a rest day
ER Wilson (ENG) made his Test debut.

Summary of other first-class matches

South Australia (Adelaide Oval) — MCC won by an innings and 55 runs
Victoria (Melbourne Cricket Ground) — MCC won by an innings and 59 runs
New South Wales (Sydney Cricket Ground) — New South Wales won by 6 wickets
Queensland (Brisbane Exhibition Ground) — MCC won by an innings and 41 runs
Australian XI (Brisbane Exhibition Ground) — match drawn
Victoria (Melbourne Cricket Ground) — MCC won by 7 wickets
New South Wales (Sydney Cricket Ground) — match drawn
South Australia (Adelaide Oval) — MCC won by an innings and 63 runs

England touring party

The England touring party consisted of 16 players led by Essex all-rounder Johnny Douglas.

When the party was originally selected, Reggie Spooner was invited to be the team captain but he was obliged to stand down for domestic reasons. Vallance Jupp had been selected too but was unable to travel. Jupp's withdrawal was shortly before departure and meant that his replacement Bill Hitch had to catch a later boat than the main party. There was another withdrawal when Jack Hearne was taken ill during the Second Test and could not play again that season.^[2]

There was a controversy over Rockley Wilson who sent match reports by cable to the Daily Express. As a result, MCC resolved at a meeting the following May to bar players from reporting on matches in which they were involved.^[2]

All-rounders

Batsmen

Bowlers

Bill Hitch, Surrey
Harry Howell, Warwickshire
Cec Parkin, Lancashire
Abe Waddington, Yorkshire

Wicketkeepers

Arthur Dolphin, Yorkshire
Bert Strudwick, Surrey

Australian players in Test series

Australia used 14 players in the Test series. Eight players took part in all five matches including the captain Warwick Armstrong.

All-rounders

Warwick Armstrong, Victoria (captain)
Charles Kelleway, New South Wales
Jack Gregory, New South Wales

Batsmen

Warren Bardsley, New South Wales
Herbie Collins, New South Wales
Charlie Macartney, New South Wales
Roy Park, Victoria
Nip Pellew, South Australia
Jack Ryder, Victoria
Johnny Taylor, New South Wales

Bowlers

Ted McDonald, Victoria
Arthur Mailey, New South Wales

Wicketkeepers

Sammy Carter, New South Wales
Bert Oldfield, New South Wales

Ceylon

The English team had a stopover in Colombo en route to Australia and played a one-day single-innings match there against the Ceylon national team, which at that time did not have Test status.^[4]