1940s In 1944, an England XI played at Lord's against XIs of the West Indies and Australia, the England XI winning both one-day matches (these were not limited-overs matches). The following year, after the Second World War in Europe had finished in early May, five so-called "Victory Tests" were arranged, against an Australian Services XI which included Keith Miller and Lindsay Hassett. England also played a Dominion team at Lord's.
Test cricket resumed in England after the Second World War with the visit of India in 1946. England won the series 1–0 with a 10-wicket victory in the first Test at Lord's in which Hardstaff scored 205* and Alec Bedser took 11 wickets on debut. Bedser took another 11 in the next test at Old Trafford. This proved to be a false dawn as England, under the aging Wally Hammond, were roundly beaten 3–0 on the 1946–47 Ashes tour as Lindwall and Miller came to the fore. A deluge left England beaten on an unplayable Gabba pitch after Australia had scored 645. England claimed that Bradman had been caught by Ikin off Voce for 28, but the umpire did not agree, and 'The Don' made 187. Hammond batted masterfully for his 32, but Miller took 7 for 60 and then Toshack 6 for 82. Australia won by an innings at Sydney with Bradman and Barnes both scoring 234. England drew at Melbourne, having been set 551 to win, and again at Adelaide, with Compton scoring a century in each innings, as did Morris for Australia. Australia took the final test at Sydney despite Hutton's 122 and Doug Wright's 7 for 105.
England's fortunes recovered with the visit of the South Africans in 1947, a 3–0 series win restoring spirits in a high-scoring rubber. Ken Cranston took four wickets in an over to complete England's victory at Headingley, but the series was dominated by the batting of Denis Compton and Bill Edrich, who put on 370 together at the Oval and 228 at Old Trafford. Compton scored an incredible 1,187 runs in the five tests, and Edrich 869. Alan Melville scored 3 tons for South Africa and Bruce Mitchell two in the Oval test. Set 451 to win by Norman Yarley, the visitors secured the draw, and almost won, with a valiant 423 for 7.
The 1947–48 tour of the West Indies, was a humiliation: an injury-plagued England team were beaten 2–0. Ken Cranston captained England, in the absence of the injured Gubby Allen and George Headley became the first black man to captain the West Indies. England had left Compton, Edrich, Bedser, Wright, Yardley at home; Hutton only joined them in time for the 7th match of the tour. Andy Ganteaume scored 117 in his only test innings at Port of Spain.
Worse was to come as Bradman's 'Invincibles' swept all before them in 1948, dismissing England 4–0 and winning 25, and losing none, of their 34 tour games. England did not help themselves by dropping Len Hutton for the 3rd test. Denis Compton made a stirring 184 at Trent Bridge, withstanding the high pace of Lindwall and Miller in dreadful light. He also scored a brave 145* at Old Trafford after being hit on the forehead by a bouncer and forced to retire hurt. Sid Barnes was also hurt at short leg and taken to hospital. England were bowled out for 52 at the Oval, with the restored Hutton making 32, before Hollies famously bowled Bradman second ball in his final test innings.
George Mann captained England in his first series, just as his father had done, when England beat South Africa 2–0 in 1948–49. England won an exciting opening contest at Durban by two wickets, thanks to Cliff Gladwin's famous scurried leg bye. Denis Compton took his only five wicket haul in tests at Cape Town while Hutton and Washbrook posted a record opening stand of 359 at Johannesburg. Jack Crapp hit 49 to win the last test just before the scheduled close.
New Zealand secured draws in every test of the 1949 series in England with Martin Donnelly, who also played rugby for England, scoring 206 in the Lord's Test and Bert Sutcliffe posting a ton at the Oval.
1950s
The West Indian tourists of 1950 shocked England with a 3–1 series victory. The strong side, built around the batting of the 3 W's, who scored 20 centuries and 6,000 runs between them on tour, and spin twins Sonny Ramadhin and Alf Valentine, showed the old order of Australian and English dominance was over. Frank Worrell scored 261 at Trent Bridge and 138 at the Oval, Walcott hit 168* at Lords and Everton Weekes made a ton at Trent Bridge. 'Ram' took 26 wickets in the tests, and 135 on tour, with his right-arm mystery bowling and 11 in the historic win at Lords while Valentine's slow left arm accounted for 33 in the tests, and 123 on tour, including 8 for 104 on debut at Old Trafford.
England received another thrashing at the hands of Australia on the 1950-51 tour. Hutton scored a masterful 62* in vain on a Brisbane 'sticky' – England declared at 67 – 7 and reduced Australia to 32 – 7 at one point in return – while Denis Compton had a dreadful time, averaging 7.57 in four matches. Australia won by just 28 runs at Melbourne, and mystery spinner Jack Iverson took 6 for 27 at Sydney where Australia won by an innings. Len Hutton carried his bat for 156 in a losing cause in Adelaide, and England's consolation victory came at Melbourne thanks to Reg Simpson's 156*. Bedser took 30 wickets and Hutton averaged 88.83, but Australia retained the Ashes 4–1. England beat New Zealand 1–0 in the two-test series played on the way home. In a notable display of sportsmanship, Walter Hadlee recalled Cyril Washbrook after he was given out LBW as he had hit the ball.
England beat the 1951 South Africans 3–1 in a series notable for Len Hutton's dismissal 'obstructing the field' in his 100th test innings at the Oval. Eric Rowan scored 236, at the age of 42, for South Africa at Headingley.
England were beaten by India for the first time in a test match at Madras on the 1951/52 tour where Roy and Umrigar scored hundreds and Vinoo Mankad took 12 for 108. England drew the five test series 1–1.
After David Sheppard captained the first two tests in his absence through injury, Len Hutton became the first professional captain of England in 1952, leading his team to a 3–0 thrashing of India, whose batsmen were decidedly less confident against the pace of the debutant Fred Trueman than they had been at home. Trueman took 7 wickets at Headingley, reducing India to 0–4 at the start of their second innings and followed it up with 8 for 31 at Old Trafford. Hutton scored 150 at Lords where Godfrey Evans hit 98 before lunch.
England won back the Ashes 1–0 in 1953, amid scenes of great jubilation at the Oval, where Fred Trueman played his only match in the series. Willie Watson had blocked out Australia at Lord's, and Trevor Bailey everywhere else, and the pair came together in one of the great rearguard actions in England cricket, scoring 109 and 71 respectively. Denis Compton's pull saw England home after Laker (4–75) and Lock (5–45) had bowled Australia out for 162 in their second innings. The side which England fielded in that match – Bailey, May, Graveney, Laker, Lock, Trueman, Edrich, Bedser, Hutton, Compton and Evans with Wardle as 12th man – ranks with any England have ever put on the field of play.
Tony Lock was called for throwing, not without reason, against Barbados on England's 1953/54 tour, which ended honours even at 2 all. The 17-year-old Garry Sobers was facing at the time. More trouble followed as England lost the first two tests and there was more controversy at Georgetown when the crowd rioted after England took a wicket. Hutton, who scored 169 in the game, refused to take his team off the field and England went on to win by 9 wickets. West Indies amassed 681 at Port of Spain, with the three Ws rampant, but England secured a draw and won at Kingston thanks to Hutton's epic 205 and Bailey's 7 for 34.
Denis Compton went on the rampage against Pakistan at Trent Bridge in 1954, making 278 before falling to 16-year-old Khalid Hasan. Nineteen-year-old, 5 foot 3 and a half inch, Hanif Mohammed, scored 1600 runs on the tour. Fazal Mahmood bowled Pakistan to a stunning 24 win at the Oval, with 6 wickets in each innings. Bedser and Bailey had been unwisely rested by England and the series was drawn 1–1.
The Ashes tour of 1954–1955 remains one of the most famous. The situation looked bleak when Australia piled up 601 – 8 at Sydney and won by an innings with Frank Tyson taking 1 for 160 (and Fred Trueman left at home). England won a narrow victory in the second test at Sydney with Johnny Wardle scoring a vital 35 to top score in England's first innings. May and Cowdrey added 116 in the second dig to set Australia 223 and Tyson (6 for 85) and Brian Statham (3 for 45 into the breeze) bowled them out for 184. Hutton's faith in fast bowling was repaid as England went on to win the series 3–1.
England bowled New Zealand out for just 26 at Auckland in March 1955 and won by an innings. Tyson took 2 for 10, Statham 3 for 9, Bob Appleyard 4 for 7 and Wardle 1 for 0. Len Hutton scored 53 at number 5 in what turned out to be his last test.
The score stood at 2 all in the 1955 series against South Africa before England won the fifth test by 92 runs, thanks to Peter May's 85* and Laker and Lock taking 15 wickets between them. Heine took 21 wickets in 4 tests for the tourists.
England defeated Australia 2–1 under new captain Peter May in 1956. The series is remembered for Jim Laker's 9 for 37 and 10 for 53 at Old Trafford. This innings victory secured the series for his team. He took 46 wickets at an average of 9.61.
A tight 2 all series followed on the 1956/57 tour of South Africa. Johnny Wardle, bowling wrist spin as well as orthodox slow left arm, took 12 for 89 to win the Cape Town game where South Africa were dismissed for 72. Russell Endean became the first batsman out 'handled the ball' in Test cricket when he pushed a Jim Laker delivery away from his stumps after padding it away. Captain Peter May scored 1270 runs on the tour – and just 152 in the tests in which Hugh Tayfield took 37 wickets. Peter Richardson scored the slowest test century in 488 minutes in the first match at Johannesburg.
England continued their run with a crushing 3–0 win over the 1957 West Indies, each victory coming in three days. May (285*) and Cowdrey (154) put on a famous 411 at Edgbaston after Ramadhin had taken 7 for 49 in England's first innings. Peter Loader took England's first home hat-trick since 1899 at Headingley. Tom Graveney scored 164 at Trent Bridge after being recalled. Tony Lock took 11 for 48 at the Oval where West Indies were spun out for 89 and 86 on an underprepared pitch.
The 1958 New Zealanders were dispatched 4–0 but Australia finally regained the Ashes with a crushing 4–0 victory on England's ill starred 1958–1959 Ashes tour. The team had been hailed as the strongest ever to leave on an Ashes tour but Richie Benaud's revitalised Australians were too strong. Laker took 15 wickets at 21.2 but Trueman managed 9 in his three appearances and Tony Lock a mere 5 at 75 while the Australians 'bowlers' Meckiff, Rorke, Slater and Burke escaped penalty, if not scrutiny, for their questionable actions. Lindwall, 'last of the straight arm bowlers' passed Grimmet's 216 wickets in his 57th test. A 1–0 in New Zealand was scant consolation.
England thrashed India once again at home in 1959, winning all five tests but were tested against the talented West Indies on the 1959–1960 tour. Sobers made 226 and Frank Worrell 197* at Bridgetown in the first test, the pair batting together for nine and a half hours in all. The second test, at Trinidad, was won by England after rioting in the wake of Charran Singh's run out. Cowdrey made 114 and 97 in Jamaica but the fast bowling of Wes Hall was fearsome in its intensity. Cowdrey took over the captaincy for the last two tests after May was forced home with an abscess.
1960s