The England cricket team toured Australia in 1994–95 to compete in the Ashes series against their hosts. The series consisted of five Test matches, Australia winning three, England one, and the other match was drawn. Australia retained the Ashes a third consecutive time.
Overview The experienced Mike Gatting was added to the England squads that had toured the West Indies and enjoyed success in home series against New Zealand and South Africa. Joey Benjamin and Martin McCague were recalled to the bowling after successful county seasons, although the omission of Angus Fraser surprised some, and when McCague was later incapacitated by injury and Fraser sent out as a replacement, he was preferred to Benjamin in the test side, as also was a later replacement Chris Lewis. Mike Atherton again captained the team, rallying after the summer indiscretions at Lord's though it appeared he was less than happy at the selections that had been made.
The tourists' problems began almost immediately on arriving in Australia, as opening batsman Alec Stewart fractured a finger in a practice match and Shaun Udal broke his thumb in the official tour opener at Lilac Hill. This was followed by Devon Malcolm and Benjamin succumbing to chickenpox prior to the First Test. Malcolm's absence was a huge blow to England, whose coach Keith Fletcher had built up as a focal point of the pace attack, comparing the England seamers to the legendary Lillee and Thomson and claiming that the Australians were scared of his pace, while describing Darren Gough as "Yorkshire's fastest since Freddie Trueman". comments by Keith Fletcher in report dated 21 October 1994, accessed from Cricinfo.com on 17 May 2007. Lillie and former Aussie skipper Greg Chappell poured scorn on such claims. AFP report dated 24 October 1994, accessed from Cricinfo.com on 17 May 2007. Meanwhile, both David Hopps of The Guardian and Simon O'Hagan in The Independent identified Graham Thorpe as England's key batsman, and the most likely to counter the leg-spin of Shane Warne. article by David Hopps in The Guardian, dated 17 October 1994, accessed from Cricinfo.com on 17 May 2007. article by Simon O'Hagan in The Independent, dated 17 October 1994, accessed from Cricinfo.com on 17 May 2007.
As England arrived for the series, the Australian side were still in the midst of their tour of Pakistan, their first under new captain Mark Taylor, where they lost a close series 1–0 with batsmen taking most of the plaudits. Michael Bevan, Michael Slater, Mark Waugh and Steve Waugh had provided most of the Australian runs, while Warne was the principal bowling threat, picking up 18 wickets in the series. Injuries to Steve Waugh and wicketkeeper Ian Healy stymied their approach somewhat, but they were unlucky to lose the series which effectively turned in Pakistan's favour with a last wicket partnership of 57 between Inzamam ul-Haq and Mushtaq Ahmed that sealed victory for the hosts in the First Test,Scorecard of 1st Test, Pakistan v Australia, 28 September – 2 October 1994, accessed from Cricinfo.com on 17 May 2007. The Australians identified Warne as the prime challenge for the visitors, with Australia's seamers on the decline. article by Peter Roebuck in The Sunday Times on 23 October 1994, accessed from Cricinfo.com on 17 May 2007.
England were also involved in a One Day International tournament with Zimbabwe, Australia and an Australia 'A' side, which was won by Australia.
Squads England Australia Mike Atherton (c) Steve Rhodes (wk) Joey Benjamin John Crawley Phillip DeFreitas Neil Fairbrother Angus Fraser Mike Gatting Graham Gooch Darren Gough Graeme Hick Chris Lewis Devon Malcolm Martin McCague Mark Ramprakash Alec Stewart Graham Thorpe Phil Tufnell Shaun Udal Craig White Mark Taylor (c) Ian Healy (wk) Jo Angel Michael Bevan Greg Blewett David Boon Damien Fleming Tim May Craig McDermott Glenn McGrath Peter McIntyre Michael Slater Shane Warne Mark Waugh Steve Waugh
Test Series
First Test
The build-up to the First Test was chaotic from the England perspective. The first choice bowling attack was compromised when Devon Malcolm was struck down by chickenpox, which team manager Mike Smith described as "a major loss to the side". Malcolm was replaced by left arm spinner Phil Tufnell, while Angus Fraser was called up to the tour as cover from his club cricket in Sydney. Mike Gatting was preferred over John Crawley for the final batting spot, despite his indifferent form in the early part of the tour Article in The Independent by James Alexander, 3 November 1994, accessed from Cricinfo.com on 18 May 2007 and questions over whether he was actually part of captain Mike Atherton's plans. Indeed, the skipper and tour managers had already come under some criticism from Chairman of Selectors Ray Illingworth back in London, which did not help team morale. AFP report, 22 November 1994, accessed from Cricinfo.com on 18 May 2007 Article by Donald Trelford in The Daily Telegraph, 24 November 1994, accessed from Cricinfo.com on 18 May 2007
By contrast, the hosts were able to pick from a full strength squad, with Ian Healy recovered from his broken finger. Curator Keith Mitchell promised that the pitch would be conducive to spin, and Australia included both Shane Warne and Tim May to take advantage of the conditions at the expense of seamer Damien Fleming. Coach Bobby Simpson described the pitch as "a great batting strip", and Atherton called it "a belter".
On the first morning, openers Michael Slater and captain Mark Taylor made the most of winning the toss, advancing to 87/0 at lunch untroubled by the England bowlers, with Taylor making a fluent half-century. A mix-up saw both batsmen at one end soon after lunch, and Taylor departed run out for 59. David Boon followed soon after, when he played on to Darren Gough, but this only brought Mark Waugh to the crease, and he and Slater saw through most of the rest of the day at a run a ball, Slater moving to a century (173 balls). His 150 came in just another 51 deliveries, before eventually being dismissed by the part-time seam of Graham Gooch, lifting him to Gatting at mid-off for 176 (25 fours). Michael Bevan was Gough's third wicket of the day shortly before the close, but Waugh and nightwatchman Warne saw the home side safely through to 329/4 at the end of the day.
On the second morning, Waugh proceeded to his century (his third against England) off 166 deliveries, and he was the ninth man out for 140 caught by Alec Stewart at short cover off Gough. In their reply, England struggled against the imposing Craig McDermott, who was motivated by press speculation about his form, insisting that "it was a shock to me...I don't know where it's come from or what it's about, but I have to silence it." He picked up the early wickets of Stewart and Graeme Hick and returning later in the day to trap Gatting in front. At the other end, Atherton batted well before he became a fifth victim of McDermott (6–53), edging an attempted hook to Healy for 54 early on the third morning, and the tourists subsided to a total of 167.
Taylor opted not to enforce the follow-on, and he and Slater put on 109 in even time before Gough made the breakthrough, followed by two strikes from Tufnell, removing Boon, as the England bowlers fought back. Phillip DeFreitas also chipped in with a couple of wickets, but Healy (45 not out) helped the Australians set a target of 508 for England to chase. Warne struck either side of lunch to dismiss Stewart and Atherton, but Hick (80) and Graham Thorpe (67) gave the England fans some hope, adding 152 in four hours together before the close, playing Warne and May with relative ease.
Half an hour into the final day, Warne finally turned the tide back in favour of the Australians and effectively sealed the victory. Thorpe pushed forward to a fuller delivery and missed it, then Hick was caught off the back of his bat after the ball ricocheted off his arm. Gooch added 30 with Gatting and another 30 with wicketkeeper Steve Rhodes, but both managed to nick the new ball to Healy off McDermott's bowling. Warne cleaned up the tail to finish with match figures of 11–108 and pick up the man-of-the-match award, and the game was over before tea on the final day, England mustering 323.
At the post-match press conference, losing captain Atherton said that "It's a devastating defeat for me. I stressed before the Test the importance of not losing the first game... It can set the tone for the series", but emphasised his team's stomach for a fight, noting their recovery in the West Indies, saying: "...we came back towards the end of the tour and won in Bridgetown. I hope we come back quicker this time."
Second Test
Between the first two Tests, England lost two of their three World Series Cup matches, and two fifty over matches against the Australian Cricket Academy, but won a four-day match against Queensland with Gatting scoring a double-hundred to secure his Test place. The break also saw Dennis Lillee commenting critically about the state of the pitches, concerned that they were deliberately being produced to favour spin. AFP report of 16 December 1994, accessed from Cricinfo.com on 18 May 2007.
Australia made one change to their Brisbane line-up, bringing Fleming in for Glenn McGrath, while England's only change saw the recovered Devon Malcolm replacing Martin McCague. Atherton won the toss and elected to field, but despite picking up the wickets of Slater (run out) and Taylor, the England bowlers generally bowled far too short and wide, and did not make best use of the damp conditions. Boon and Mark Waugh added 52 before Tufnell struck, and Bevan followed soon after, popping a Gough delivery up to the skipper at gully to leave the hosts 100/4. The Waughs added another 71, but Mark (71) was picked up by DeFreitas, and Healy and Warne were dismissed quickly by Tufnell and Gough (4–60) respectively to leave the Australians 220/7 by the close.
Steve Waugh (94 not out) continued his good work the next morning, adding another 59 with the tail, but were a little disappointed not to post a bigger total. The England innings got off to an inauspicious start with Stewart forced to retired hurt after he received a blow to the hand from McDermott. Atherton (44) was again the early linchpin, adding 30 with Hick and another 79 with Thorpe (51), before the former was given out caught behind decision by Steve Randell, Atherton was adjudged leg before to Warne, and Thorpe was given out caught at silly point off the same bowler. England collapsed from 119/1 to 151/6 in short order, and then from 185/6 to 212 all out, with McDermott (3–72) and Warne (6–64) the main wicket-takers.
The second innings saw a solid start from the Australian openers, followed up by Mark Waugh, but the main thrust of the innings came from Boon, who added 112 with Bevan on the third morning in his total of 131 that spanned over six hours. Once these two were parted, the run rate dropped, and Taylor declared the innings on 320/7, leaving England 388 to win in four sessions of play. McDermott picked up his 250th Test wicket when Thorpe became the third England wicket to fall in the first of those sessions, having already seen Fleming dispose of Gooch and Hick, and Atherton also fell before the close on the fourth day.
The final day saw little resistance from England. McDermott had Gatting and Rhodes both caught in the slips before Warne, utilised from the start of the day, became the third Australian to take an Ashes hat-trick, removing DeFreitas (lbw), Gough (caught behind) and Malcolm (caught at short leg). McDermott completed had Tufnell edged to give Healy his fifth catch of the innings, leaving the tourists all out for 92 in less than two sessions.