Test Cricket Tours - Australia to England 1997

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Tour of England 1997 Captain: Mark Taylor

64th Test tour

33rd Test tour of England by Australia

(May - August 1997)

Mark Taylor came to England having led Australia to fifteen wins in 27 Tests but as an opening batsman having failed to score a half-century in his last 20 Test innings. Taylor promised he would drop himself from the Test side against England unless he rediscovered his batting form soon. The selectors had already appointed Steve Waugh vice-captain in preference to Ian Healy, who had been involved in several disciplinary issues, in case he needed to take over but Taylor saved his career with a century in the first Test at Edgbaston.

Although Australia lost that match, they showed how strong a bowling side they had in the next Test at Lord’s (dismissing England for 77 before rain caused the match to be drawn). The tourists then went on to win the next three Test matches by large margins.

England won the final Test, which was a small compensation for having failed to regain the Ashes, but gave hope for the future. England had earlier won the Texaco Trophy with three straight six-wicket wins in a row.

Other Australian Tours

Previous tour

South Africa 1996-97

Next tour

India 1997-98

Next tour of England

2001

Members of the Test tour party (17 + 4)

Opening batsmen Michael Slater, Matthew Elliott, Mark Taylor.

Middle-order batsmen: Greg Blewett, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting, Michael Bevan, Mark Waugh, Stephen Waugh.

Wicket-keepers Ian Healy, Adam Gilchrist (replaced by Darren Berry)

Spin bowlers Shane Warne.

Fast bowlers : Andy Bichel, Jason Gillespie (replaced by Paul Reiffel), Glenn McGrath, Mike Kasprowicz, Brendon Julian.

M G Bevan	N	27	LHB SLA unorthodox	ODI
A Bichel	Q	26	RFM
G S Blewett	S	31	RHB RM	ODI
M G Elliott	V	25	LHB opener	ODI
A C Gilchrist	W	28	LHB reserve WK	ODI
J N Gillespie	S	22	RFM	ODI
I A Healy	Q	33	WK	ODI
B P Julian	W	26	RFM
M S Kasprowicz	Q	25	RFM	ODI
J L Langer	W	26	LHB	ODI
G D McGrath	N	27	RFM	ODI
R T Ponting	T	22	RHB
M J Slater	N	27	RHB opener	ODI
M A Taylor	N	27	LHB opener captain	ODI
S K Warne	V	27	LBG	ODI
M E Waugh	N	32	RHB RM/OB	ODI
S R Waugh	N	32	RHB vice-captain	ODI

State representation

Sheffield Shield teams

N New South Wales (6)

Q Queensland (3)

S South Australia (2)

T Tasmania (1)

V Victoria (2)

W Western Australia (3)

Average age of team at time of first Test match

(5 June 1997) :

27 yrs 8 months.

ODI - Played in the Texaco Trophy one-day matches.

Test Appearances made before the tour

SR Waugh 89, Healy 88, Taylor 81, M E Waugh 63, Warne 52, Slater 34, McGrath 28, Reiffel 25, Blewett 16, Bevan 14, Langer 8, Julian 7, Ponting 6, Elliott 5, Gillespie 5, Bichel 2, Kasprowicz 2, Gilchrist 0

[Berry 0, Lee 0, Young 0]

Tour Officials

Alan Crompton	Tour manager
Geoff Marsh	Coach
Errol Alcott	Physiotherapist
Steve A Smith	Fitness advisor
Mike Walsh	Scorer

Selectors

Trevor Hohns (chairman), Andrew Hilditch, Steve Bernard, Geoff Marsh (coach).

Selection

Unavailable:

Steve Waugh took over from Ian Healy as vice-captain.

Tour Party Announced : 18 April 1997.

Not selected : Paul Reiffel, Matthew Hayden, Adam Dale, Michael DiVenuto.

Time between selection and departure from Australia

22 days

(18 April - 10 May)

Travel

Sydney Q Hong Kong Q London Heathrow

On Saturday 10 May 1997 the team flew from Sydney by way of a short stopover in Hong Kong to play a match.

They flew from Hong Kong's Kai Tek airport to London, touching down at Heathrow Airport on 12 May.

Time spent in England

108 days

(12 May - 28 August)

On-tour selection

Mark Taylor (captain), Geoff Marsh (coach), Steve Waugh (vice-captain).

Reinforcements

P R Reiffel

V

31

RFM

Paul Reiffel arrived to replace Andy Bichel, forced out of the tour by a back injury, as well as to cover for Jason Gillespie who sustained a hamstring injury in the first Test.

D S Berry

V

27

WK

Darren Berry, who was already in England (playing in the Cheshire League for Macclesfield), was called in to replace Adam Gilchrist when he was injured playing football during training (torn medial ligaments on his left knee).

S Young	T	26	LHB RFM
S Lee	N	23	RHB RM

Shaun Young, playing county cricket for Gloucestershire, and Shane Lee, who was playing in the Lancashire League with Enfield, joined the tour party from the match against Kent onwards when three players returned home early: Paul Reiffel (to be present for the birth of his child) Jason Gillespie (who now had a back injury) and Brendon Julian (broken hand).

Fixtures/Results

a	ϯ Kowloon CC	Rest of the World XI (40 overs)	Won 4 w
b	ϯ Arundel	Duke of Norfolk’s XI (50 overs)	Won 113 r
c	ϯ Northampton	Northamptonshire (50 overs)	Won 17 r
d	ϯ Worcester	Worcestershire (50 overs)	Lost 5 w
e	ϯ Chester-le-Street	Durham (50 overs)	Abandoned
f	§ Headingley	England (1st ODI)	Lost 6 w
g	§ Kennington Oval	England (2nd ODI)	Lost 6 w
h	§ Lord’s	England (3rd ODI)	Lost 6 w
i	Bristol	Gloucestershire	Drawn
j	Derby	Derbyshire	Lost 1 w
k	EDGBASTON	ENGLAND First Test	LOST 9 w
l	Trent Bridge	Nottinghamshire	Drawn
m	Leicester	Leicestershire	Won 84 r
n	LORD’S	ENGLAND Second Test	DRAWN
o	Oxford	British Universities	Abandoned
p	Southampton	Hampshire	Won inns 133 r
q	OLD TRAFFORD	ENGLAND Third Test	WON 268 r
r	ϯ Jesmond	Minor Counties (50 overs)	Won 9 r
s	ϯ Edinburgh	Scotland (50 overs)	No result
t	ϯ Wormsley	J Paul Getty’s XI (1-day match)	Drawn
u	Cardiff	Glamorgan	Drawn
v	Lord’s	Middlesex	Drawn
w	HEADINGLEY	ENGLAND Fourth Test	WON inns 61 r
x	Taunton	Somerset	Drawn
y	TRENT BRIDGE	ENGLAND Fifth Test	WON 264 r
z	ϯ Eglinton, Londonderry	Ireland (50 overs)	Won 139 r
a’	Canterbury	Kent	Won 6 w
b’	KENNINGTON OVAL	ENGLAND Sixth Test	LOST 19 r

ϯ not first-class

§ one-day internationals (Texaco Trophy)

Time spent in England before First Test:

24 days

(12 May - 5 June)

Test appearances on tour

6 - Blewett, Elliott, Healy, McGrath, Taylor, Warne, M Waugh, S Waugh.

4 - Gillespie, Reiffel.

3 - Bevan, Kasprowicz, Ponting.

1 - Young.

0 - Bichel, Gilchrist, Julian, Langer, Lee, Slater.

Highlights

- N

-

-

Tour Summary

	P	W	L	D	Aban
Test Matches	6	3	2	1	-
Other first-class matches	10	3	1	5	1
ϯ Minor matches	9	5	1	2	1
§ One-day internationals	3	0	3	0	-
All Matches	28	11	7	8	2

Return to Australia

London Q Sydney

Shane Warne flew back to Melbourne after the third Test for ten days to see his newly-born baby daughter Brooke and wife Simone. Adam Gilchrist returned home injured in the middle of July.

Some of the team were involved in a six-a-side corporate tournament on 27 August.

The next day the team departed from London’s Heathrow Airport

Time away from Australia x days

(10 May to x August)

Finances

Written accounts of the tour

‘An Ashes Summer’ by Nasser Hussain and Steve Waugh [and Paul Newman] (Collins Willow, 1997)

‘Poms and Cobbers - The Ashes 1997â€? by Rob Steen, with Robert Croft and Matthew Elliott (Andre Deutsch, 1997)

‘Ashes 97: Two Views from the Boundary ‘ by Norman Geras and Ian Holliday (Baseline Books, 1997)

‘Steve Waugh's 1997 Ashes Diary’ by Steve Waugh (Harper Sports, 1997)

‘We’re Right Behind you, Captain?’ by David Hopps (Robson Books, 1997)

chapter in ‘Keeping It Real: The Darren "Chuck" Berry Story’ by Darren Berry (Bas Publishing, 2004)

Postscript

At the end of August the Australian Cricket Board advised the national selectors that Test and one-day matches were now to be seen as entirely separate types of game, and that the panel should pick the best team to win each match. This spelt the end of Mark Taylor’s captaincy in one-day matches.