I C Quest for the Ashes 1975

Australia took the field at Edgbaston just seven months after the final test in Melbourne. They were without Ian Redpath but had a fully fit Jeff Thomson and a left arm quick in Gary Gilmour. The tour was timed to fit around the inaugural ODI World Cup in which Australia had only three weeks earlier played an epic final against the West Indies.

England started off where they left off, presumably buoyed by the big win in Melbourne and the subsequent domination of New Zealand. However, when play resumed it was more of the same with Lillee, Thomson and Walker ensuring a comprehensive victory.

England then made drastic changes - Denness was gone and Greig was given the captaincy. Barry Wood was recalled and a grey haired bank clerk lookalike in David Steele was selected. At 4/49 in the second it looked as it it was all for naught but Steele proved he had steel by nature as well as name. He failed to reach 50 in just two of his six innings and those scores were 39 and 45. Edrich flourished at the top of the order.

All the England debutants were successful and Greig proved a more dynamic skipper than his predecessor. The three tests were much more ones of attrition with just two centuries each (Australia’s only coming in their final innings) but there were 5 scores in the 90’s. At Lords it was Australia who were on the backfoot and had to fight to save the game. Headingly again saw England on top and setting a big target but with a gripping final day in store the pitch was sabotaged by supporters of George Davis and the game was drawn. The final test was extended to six days and saw Australia again enforce the follow-on but then saw England bat for over 230 overs to save the game. Edrich, Steele, Greig and Knott formed the backbone while for Australia Ian Chappell, McCosker and Edwards scored heavily.

Only Snow took more than 10 wickets for England —11 in fact, while Lillee was the stand out bowler with 21 wickets and bowled more overs that any other bowler. Thomson (16) and Walker (14) filled out, once again, one of the most potent bowling combinations ever. Gilmour took 9 wickets in the one test he played.

Apart from David Steele the series was notable for the first streaker (players are less amused than Alan Turner and Alan Knott these days) and the first (and to date only) abandoned test match due to vandalism. 

Mike Denness was captain of England for the first test and then Tony Greig took over for the remainder of the series.