This summer will mark the centenary of an Ashes series that took place during a significant period in world history and differed significantly from the type of cricket that is played nowadays.

The Great War had ended six years previously, and its effects were still being felt. King George V ruled over a British Empire on which the sun famously never set -and the Great Depression, five short years away, was unforeseeable.

Big cricket matches were rare, highly anticipated, and attended in high numbers. At the time only Australia, England and South Africa played Test cricket, and Australia hosted a series only once every four years.

As New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria were the only sides in the Sheffield Shield competition, each played a mere two home games per season.

Australia held the Ashes after winning 5-0 at home in 1920/21, and then 3-0 away in 1921. However, its victorious captain Warwick Armstrong subsequently retired, while leading paceman Ted McDonald migrated to England to play full-time as a professional. In addition, star batsman Charlie Macartney was unavailable due to ill health.

While English cricket was still recovering from the ravages of WWI, there was cause for optimism. County cricket was returning to its former strength, and new stars were emerging. South Africa had been defeated away 2-1, and then at home 3-0.

The tour

England’s party boasted great experience, with an average age of 34 years, and seven players who had toured Australia in 1920/21.

The side was away from home for more than seven months, including a one-month sea voyage in each direction.

Its five-month program featured 26 games, with the first Test being preceded by a staggering 13 practice matches over the course of 66 days.

The captains

The two sides were led by captains with unique backgrounds. They were as far removed from the modern idea of a Test captain, as one could possibly imagine.

Herbie Collins made his first-class debut for NSW in 1909/10, playing under Victor Trumper the following season.

After serving as a Lance Corporal in WWI, he captained the Australian Imperial Force’s 1919 side which developed future stars Jack Gregory, Hammy Love, Bert Oldfield, Nip Pellew and Johnny Taylor, despite the presence of several senior officers. Collins was Armstrong’s obvious successor, and duly led Australia in South Africa in 1921/22.

Collins was considered a wonderful man-manager who inspired great loyalty from his team-mates and extracted the best possible performances from them. He was also a superb tactician, especially skilled at identifying and exploiting opposing teams’ weaknesses and making successful field and bowling changes.

‘Lucky’ Collins was also a professional gambler and bookmaker, who would bet impulsively on literally anything. His addiction is said to have originated from playing ‘two-up’ in the trenches of Flanders.

In England in both 1919 and 1921, he was known for running late-night card games, even on the eve of matches. During the latter tour, he spent time in the casinos of Monte Carlo. He bet heavily at poker and baccarat, as well as on racehorses.

While Arthur Gilligan was a good enough cricketer to earn selection for the tour, he was arguably only the third-best choice as its captain. However, he was an amateur cricketer from a wealthy family, a fine after-dinner speaker, and had been educated at Dulwich College and Cambridge University. To the MCC, his background made him the ideal leader, on but especially off the field.

Gilligan was also an active member of the British Fascists, as was team manager Frederick Toone. While considered less militaristic than the British Union of Fascists, the movement was still very right-wing and anti-communist, and inspired by Italy’s Benito Mussolini. More generous observers did consider its supporters merely naïve, and effectively Boy Scouts who had never grown up.

The Commonwealth Investigative Branch closely monitored the pair and observed them attempting to recruit members and establish branches in Australia’s capital cities. Enrolment forms, internal memoranda and propaganda were discovered in Sydney. Interestingly, their fascist links subsequently hindered neither their careers nor their reputations.

The debutants

Rowdy Croweaters celebrated the long-awaited selection of two players in particular, among eight who debuted during the series.

Clarrie Grimmett, one of Australia’s greatest leg-spinners, made a triumphant first appearance at the age of 32. Following a first-class debut 13 years earlier in his native New Zealand, his subsequent pathway included Grade cricket in Sydney and the occasional match for Victoria, before he finally settled in Adelaide.

Aggressive South Australian batsman Vic Richardson is better known today for his courage in the Bodyline series, his leadership during Australia’s 1935/36 tour to South Africa, and for being grandfather to the three Chappell brothers.

Victoria’s run-hungry Bill Ponsford also forced his way into the Australian side, by virtue of scoring four first-class centuries in the preceding season. They followed a record innings of 429 against Tasmania in 1922/23.

The successes

Yorkshire’s opening batsman Herbert Sutcliffe, who had made his Test debut only months before, was the series’ most prolific batsman. His return was 734 runs at an average of 81.55, including four centuries.

Surrey veteran Jack Hobbs, arguably the greatest opening batsman of all time, was the second-highest scorer. His tally was 573 runs at 63.66, including three centuries. During the series, his first-wicket partnerships with Sutcliffe yielded 868 runs, for an average stand of 96.44.

They were followed in the batting aggregates by Australia’s Taylor and Ponsford. Their series figures were 541 runs at an average of 54.10, and 468 at 46.80, respectively.

With the ball, the outstanding performer was Sussex medium-pacer Maurice Tate. He, like Sutcliffe, had made his Test debut only months earlier. His series aggregate was 38 wickets at an average of 23.18, from a back-breaking 316 eight-ball overs. It is still a record haul for a visiting bowler.

In a tough series for bowlers, Australian pair Arthur Mailey and Jack Gregory were the next most prolific ones. Leg-spinner Mailey took 24 wickets at an average of 41.62, while paceman Gregory claimed 22 at 37.09.

The series

Australia successfully defended the Ashes by a 4-1 margin, to extend its post-war record against England to 12 wins, two draws and a solitary loss.

Notwithstanding the individual successes of Sutcliffe, Hobbs and Tate, the home side was stronger overall. It had more depth in batting and bowling, and Collins clearly out-captained Gilligan.

However, the series’ result belied how closely fought the series was at times. The visitors were weakened by injuries and also fell just 13 runs short of victory in the third game. Otherwise, they could have gone into its last one with the series locked at 2-all.

First Test, SCG

The home side drew first blood, with an emphatic 193-run win. The match paused after five days to celebrate Christmas Day, and took seven days (and the eight-ball over equivalent of more than 600 six-ball ones) to achieve a result. A total of 47,152 spectators attended its second day, while a game-high 369 runs were scored on its penultimate one.

Australia’s totals of 450 and 452 were built on centuries to skipper Collins (114 and 60), debutant Ponsford (110) and Taylor (108). Tate (6/130 and 5/98) toiled manfully for 89 overs.

England’s first innings of 298 left it with an impossible 605-run victory target, and it reached 411. Sutcliffe (59 and 115) and Hobbs (115 and 57) shared opening stands of 157 and 110, and with Woolley (123) provided the most resistance. Gregory (5/111 and 2/115) and Mailey (4/129 and 3/179) took 14 wickets between them.

Second Test, MCG

Australia won a hard-fought match by 81 runs to extend its lead to 2-0. The match began on New Year’s Day in front of 48,321 spectators, and again lasted for seven days (and enough overs were delivered to send any modern match into an eighth day).

The home side batted first again and recorded totals of 600 and 250. Its highest scorers were second-gamer Ponsford (128) and debutant Vic Richardson (138). The tireless Tate (3/142 and 6/99) impressed once more.

The visitors’ first innings of 479 was highlighted by a 283-run opening stand between Sutcliffe (176) and Hobbs (154), while Sutcliffe (127) completed a pair of tons as his team pursued a 372-run target.

At one point England was 6/280 in its second innings, only 92 runs short of victory, before losing its final four wickets for 10 runs. Gregory (3/124 and 4/87) and Mailey (2/141 and 5/92) again delivered a win for their side.

Third Test, Adelaide Oval

Australia retained the Ashes following a nail-biting 12-run win. The match was yet another seven-day contest, and a crowd of 34,851 attended its second day.

After Collins won his third consecutive toss, Australia again scored heavily with totals of 489 and 250. Jack Ryder (201* and 88) single-handedly kept his side in the match, rescuing it from 6/119 in its first innings.

The visitors’ leading bowler was Yorkshire’s slow left-armer Roy Kilner (4/127 and 4/51).

After amassing 365 in its first innings, England then chased 375 for victory and was dismissed for 363. Hobbs (with a first-innings of 119) was its only centurion. For the home side, Gregory (3/111 and 2/71) and Mailey (3/133 and 3/126) yet again proved the difference.

Fourth Test, MCG

An improving England finally won first a toss, and ultimately the Test by an innings and 29 runs. The game was completed within five days, for a change.

Yet another century by Sutcliffe (143), and his 126-run opening partnership with Hobbs (66), laid the foundations for an England total of 548. Mailey (4/186 from 43.6 overs) carried the home side’s bowling.

In reply, Australia could total only 269 and 250. The consistent Taylor (86 and 68) was the only batsman to reach a half-century in either innings. Tate (2/70 and 5/75) was his side’s most successful bowler, and he received good support from Kilner (3/29 and 2/41).

Fifth Test, SCG

Normal service resumed, with Australia winning a low-scoring match by 307 runs. After ‘Lucky’ Collins won his fourth toss of the series, half-centuries to Ponsford, Tommy Andrews, Charlie Kelleway and Bert Oldfield enabled team totals of 295 and 325. The reliable Tate (4/92 and 5/115 from 79 overs) and Kilner kept the home side in check.

England could make only 167 and 146 in reply, with not a single batsman registering a half-century. Its tormentor was Grimmett (5/45 and 6/37), who bowled magnificently on debut. In support, Gregory crucially dismissed Hobbs for a first-innings duck, and Sutcliffe for a second-innings one.

The legacy

Australia’s dominance would end in 1926, when it conceded the Ashes by a 1-0 margin in a rain-marred series. Collins’ tactics during his side’s only loss were queried, as Hobbs and Sutcliffe fashioned a match-winning 172-run partnership on a wet pitch against a part-time bowler and unusual field placings. Some of Collins’ harshest critics, noting his background, went so far as to imply that the gambling addict had been bought off.

That series marked the end of Collins’ Test career, along with those of Mailey, Taylor, Andrews and Arthur Richardson, as well as Macartney and Warren Bardsley. However, Ponsford, Grimmett and Vic Richardson continued to perform well into the 1930s. And Don Bradman would debut four years later.

England skipper Gilligan returned home to a hero’s welcome for having strengthened the bonds of Empire. Sir Pelham Warner wrote in ‘The Cricketer’ that “No more popular cricketer ever visited Australia.”

While Gilligan never played again for his country, he continued to actively support the British Fascists until at least 1927, including writing an article titled ‘The Spirit of Fascism and Cricket Tours.’

English cricket continued to recover. Having regained the Ashes in 1926, it retained them in 1928/29. Hobbs, Sutcliffe and Tate cemented their places as cricketing greats.

Before the decade was over, Walter Hammond, Douglas Jardine and Harold Larwood had earned Test caps.

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