Australian cricket team in England in 1956

The Australian cricket team toured England in the 1956 season to play a five-match Test series against England for The Ashes.

Australian cricket team in England in 1956
Date	7 June 1956 – 28 August 1956
Location	England
Result	England won the 5-Test series 2–1
Teams England Australia Captains PBH May IWG Johnson Most runs PBH May (453) PE Richardson (364) JW Burke (271) CC McDonald (243) Most wickets JC Laker (46) GAR Lock (15) KR Miller (21) RG Archer (18)

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, 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". The second line refers to the Australian complaints that the grass had been shaved off the Old Trafford wicket to help the England spinners. Earlier in the summer, Laker had also taken ten wickets in an innings against the Australians in a tour match, playing for Surrey.

Test series

1st Test

7–12 June 1956 scorecard

England	v	Australia
217/8 (dec) (103.4 overs) PE Richardson 81 PBH May 73 KR Miller 4/69		148 (83.1 overs) RN Harvey 64 JC Laker 4/58
188/3 (dec) (61 overs) MC Cowdrey 81 PE Richardson 73 KR Miller 2/58		120/3 (86 overs) JW Burke 58 JC Laker 2/29

Match drawn Trent Bridge Umpires: TS Bartley (ENG) and JS Buller (ENG)

• Peter Richardson (Eng) made his Test debut.

2nd Test

21–26 June 1956 scorecard

Australia	v	England
285 (146.1 overs) CC McDonald 78 JW Burke 65 JC Laker 3/47		171 (82 overs) PBH May 63 KR Miller 5/72
257 (92.5 overs) R Benaud 97 FS Trueman 5/90		186 (99.2 overs) PBH May 53 KR Miller 5/80 RG Archer 4/71

Australia won by 185 runs Lord's Cricket Ground Umpires: DE Davies (ENG) and FS Lee (ENG)

• Pat Crawford and Ken Mackay (Aus) made their Test debuts.

3rd Test

12–17 July 1956 scorecard

England	v	Australia
325 (167.4 overs) PBH May 101 C Washbrook 98 RR Lindwall 3/67 RG Archer 3/68 R Benaud 3/89		143 (71.1 overs) JW Burke 41 KR Miller 41 JC Laker 5/58 GAR Lock 4/41
		140 (follow-on) (99.3 overs) RN Harvey 69 JC Laker 6/55 GAR Lock 3/40

England won by an innings and 42 runs Headingley Umpires: JS Buller (ENG) and DE Davies (ENG)

• Alan Oakman (Eng) made his Test debut.

4th Test

Main article: Laker's Match

26–31 July 1956 scorecard

England	v	Australia
459 (158.3 overs) DS Sheppard 113 PE Richardson 104 MC Cowdrey 80 IW Johnson 4/151		84 (40.4 overs) CC McDonald 32 JC Laker 9/37
		205 (follow-on) (150.2 overs) CC McDonald 89 JC Laker 10/53

England won by an innings and 170 runs Old Trafford Umpires: DE Davies (ENG) and FS Lee (ENG)

5th Test

23–28 August 1956 scorecard

England	v	Australia
247 (109.2 overs) DCS Compton 94 PBH May 83 RG Archer 5/53 KR Miller 4/91		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

Match drawn The Oval Umpires: TJ Bartley (ENG) and DE Davies (ENG)

Annual reviews

• Playfair Cricket Annual 1957
• Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 1957

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

• CricketArchive – tour summaries