Ian Meckiff is a former cricketer who represented Australia in 18 Test matches between 1957 and 1963. A left-arm fast bowler, he is best known for two matters that were unrelated to his skill as a player: he was the batsman run out by Joe Solomon in 1960, causing the first Tied Test in cricket history; and in December 1963, his career was sensationally ended when he was called for throwing in the First Test against South Africa by Australian umpire Col Egar. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, there had been a media frenzy about the perceived prevalence of illegal bowling actions in world cricket. The controversy and speculation that dogged Meckiff in the years preceding his final match caused sections of the cricket community to believe that he had been made a scapegoat by the Australian cricket authorities to prove their intent to stamp out throwing.
The 1961 Australian cricket tour of England began with a three-day match versus Worcestershire at the County Ground, New Road, Worcester on Saturday 29 April, play continuing on Monday 1 May and Tuesday 2 May. This match was rain-affected and ended in a draw. The tour ended at Trinity College Park, Dublin on 19 September when the Australians completed a 282 run victory in a two-day match versus Ireland.
The Australian cricket team toured England in the 1964 season to play a five-match Test series against England for The Ashes. Australia won the series 1–0 with 4 matches drawn and therefore retained The Ashes.
The Australian cricket team toured England in the 1968 season to play a five-match Test series against England for The Ashes. Australia retained The Ashes after the series was drawn 1-1.
The Australian cricket team toured England in the 1972 season to play a five-match Test series against England for the Ashes. The series was drawn 2–2 and England retained the Ashes. This was the last drawn series until 2019. The two sides also played a three-match ODI series, which England won 2–1.
The England cricket team toured Australia in the 1978–79 season to play a six-match Test series against Australia for The Ashes. England won the series 5–1, thereby retaining The Ashes.
The Australia national cricket team toured South Africa from November 1935 to March 1936 and played a five-match Test series against South Africa. Australia won the Test series 4–0. Australia were captained by Vic Richardson; South Africa by Herby Wade.
The Australia national cricket team toured South Africa from October 1949 to March 1950 and played a five-match Test series against the South African team. Australia won the Test series 4–0. Australia were captained by Lindsay Hassett; South Africa by Dudley Nourse.
The Australia national cricket team toured South Africa from October 1966 to March 1967 and played a five-match Test series against the South African team. South Africa won the Test series 3–1. Australia were captained by Bob Simpson; South Africa by Peter van der Merwe.
The New Zealand national cricket team toured Australia in the 1973-74 season and played 3 Test matches. Australia won the series 2-0 with one match drawn.
The West Indies cricket team toured Australia in the 1960–61 season under the captaincy of Frank Worrell. Both Worrell and his opposing captain, Richie Benaud, encouraged their teams to play attacking cricket. The first Test of the five match series ended in a dramatic tie, the first of only two instances in Test cricket. Though West Indies narrowly lost the series 2–1, with one draw in addition to the tie, they might easily have won both the last two matches and taken the series 3–1. They took much credit for contributing to such an exciting series and made themselves extremely popular with the Australian public. Prior to their departure from Australia, the team were paraded through Melbourne in open-top cars on 17 February 1961, and were cheered by enormous crowds.
The West Indies cricket team toured Australia in the 1975–76 season and played six Test matches and 1 ODI against Australia.
The South Africa national cricket team toured Australia in the 1931–32 season and played five Test matches against Australia. Australia won the series 5–0, all of their victories being by a substantial margin, three of them by an innings.
The South Africa national cricket team toured Australia in the 1963–64 season and played 5 Test matches against Australia. The series was drawn 1–1. After the series, the South Africans toured New Zealand, playing a three-Test series, where all three matches were drawn.
The 1958–59 Ashes series consisted of five cricket Test matches, each scheduled for six days with eight ball overs. It formed part of the MCC tour of Australia in 1958–59, and the matches outside the Tests were played in the name of the Marylebone Cricket Club. The England team led by Peter May was labelled the strongest ever to leave England. It had the formidable bowling attack of Fred Trueman, Frank Tyson, Brian Statham, Peter Loader, Jim Laker and Tony Lock; the all-rounder Trevor Bailey; the outstanding wicket-keeper Godfrey Evans; and the batting of Colin Cowdrey, Tom Graveney, Raman Subba Row and Ted Dexter. They had won the last three Ashes series in 1953, 1954–55 and 1956, but lost the series 4–0 to Australia. It was one of the biggest upsets in Test cricket history and the biggest margin of defeat in an Ashes series since the 5–0 "whitewashing" inflicted by Warwick Armstrong's Australians in 1920–21.
The 1958-59 Australians defeated the touring England team 4-0 in the 1958–59 Ashes series. They were seen by the English press as having little chance of winning the series against the powerful England touring team. They had only one recognised great player, Neil Harvey and had lost the fast bowling combination of Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller and the other veterans of Don Bradman's Invincible 1948 team. There were, however, signs of recovery to those who would see them and E.W. Swanton believed that on their home ground Australia would be a shade better than England. The best indication of the forthcoming series was the M.C.C. and Australian tours of South Africa in 1956-57 and 1957-58. South Africa had a strong team in the 1950s, stunning the cricketing world by drawing 2-2 in Australia in 1953-54, losing 3-2 in the closely fought 1955 series in England and fighting back from a 2-0 deficit to draw 2-2 with Peter May's England in 1956-57. In 1957-58 Ian Craig led a team labelled as the weakest to leave Australia to a 3-0 victory over the Springboks with Richie Benaud, Alan Davidson, Wally Grout, Ken Mackay, Colin McDonald, Jim Burke and Lindsay Kline all in fine form. Norm O'Neill was not taken on tour, but struck innings of 175 in three hours and 233 in four hours in successive games against Victoria and was regarded as the "New Bradman".
The English cricket team's tour to Australia in 1903–04 was the first time the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) took over responsibility for sponsoring and arranging an overseas tour representing England. England had not won the Ashes since the 1896 series in England. The MCC appointed Plum Warner to put together and captain a team, which was very much seen as the underdogs against Australia. Warner and his team, however, pulled off the upset the English were looking for and won the five-Test series 3–2. In the first Test at Sydney, R.E. "Tip" Foster scored 287 to set the world record for the highest individual Test innings; the innings remains the highest by a Test debutant.
An Australian national cricket team captained by Ian Craig toured New Zealand between February and April 1957. They played 12 matches, seven of which were first-class, including three matches against New Zealand, but these were not granted Test status. The Australians won one and drew two of the international matches, and won the other four first-class matches.
The Australian cricket team toured the West Indies in the 1964–65 season to play a five-match Test series against the West Indies. The West Indies won the series 2–1, beating Australia for the first time in a series.
John Drennan is a former first-class cricketer for South Australia. He toured New Zealand and South Africa with the Australian team but did not play Test cricket.
