The England cricket team toured Australia during the 1990–91 cricket season to compete in a five-match Test series against Australia for the Ashes. While in Australia, England also played a number of tour matches against state and representative teams, and competed in the one-day international (ODI) World Series Cup against Australia and New Zealand. At the conclusion of the tour, England flew to New Zealand to participate in a three-game ODI series.

Quick Facts England in Australia in 1990/91, Dates ...
England in Australia in 1990/91
 
  Australia England
Dates 25 October 1990 – 5 February 1991
Captains Allan Border Graham Gooch
Test series
Result Australia won the 5-match series 3–0
Most runs David Boon (530) Graham Gooch (426)
Most wickets Bruce Reid (27) Devon Malcolm (16)
Close

Under the captaincy of Graham Gooch, England were unable to regain the Ashes, losing the series 3–0.

Touring squad

The England squad flew out to Australia on 18 October 1990.[1] The personnel was vastly different due to the turbulent years that had followed the previous tour to Australia, which had been won 2–1 under Mike Gatting, who had chosen to captain an England XI on a rebel tour of South Africa and subsequently had been banned from Test cricket for three years. Following the humiliation of the 1989 Ashes series defeat, Graham Gooch replaced David Gower as captain and although England continued their streak of series defeats against West Indies (going down 2–1 after winning the First Test), they won back much respect, and then followed up with series wins against India and New Zealand during the home summer.

As a result, although the initial squad contained a number of inexperienced Test players (only five squad members – Gooch, Gower, Allan Lamb, Gladstone Small and Eddie Hemmings – had been on earlier tours of Australia), journalists such as former Test cricketer Mike Selvey (writing for The Guardian at the time) felt somewhat confident that England could match it with the Australians.[1]

Phillip DeFreitas (Lancashire) Hugh Morris (Glamorgan) and Phil Newport (Worcestershire) received subsequent call-ups to cover or replace injured players.[2]

As on the previous Australian series, the tour was managed by Peter Lush, while Micky Stewart was team manager.[2]

Test series summary

1st Test

23–25 November 1990
Scorecard
England 
194 (78 overs)
&
114 (53.1 overs)
v
 Australia
152 (63 overs)
&
0/157 (46 overs)

2nd Test

26–30 December 1990
Scorecard
England 
352 (131.4 overs)
&
150 (73 overs)
v
 Australia
306 (112.5 overs)
&
2/197 (86 overs)

3rd Test

4–8 January 1991
Scorecard
Australia 
518 (157 overs)
&
205 (89 overs)
v
 England
8/469d (172.1 overs)
&
4/113 (25 overs)

4th Test

25–29 January 1991
Scorecard
Australia 
386 (135.2 overs)
&
6/314d (104 overs)
v
 England
229 (81.3 overs)
&
5/335 (96 overs)

5th Test

1–5 February 1991
Scorecard
England 
244 (66.4 overs)
&
182 (61.3 overs)
v
 Australia
307 (90.5 overs)
&
1/120 (31.2 overs)

Tour matches

2–5 November 1990
Scorecard
v
289 (85.1 overs)
Graeme Wood 108 (218)
Michael Atherton 3/27 (4.1 overs)
246 (78.4 overs)
Allan Lamb 84 (111)
Chris Matthews 5/66 (16 overs)
4/329d (104 overs)
Geoff Marsh 151 (250)
Devon Malcolm 1/54 (22 overs)
9/222 (83 overs)
Robin Smith 98* (231)
Terry Alderman 3/49 (17 overs)
Match drawn
WACA Ground, Perth
Umpires: Peter McConnell and Ric Evans
  • England XI won the toss and elected to field.

October

  • 25 - WACA President's XI - Lilac Hill, Perth, Western Australia - England won by 6 wickets
  • 30 - Western Australia Combined XI - Perth, Australia - WAC XI won by 3 wickets

November

  • 2-5 - Western Australia - Perth, Western Australia - match drawn
  • 9-12 - South Australia - Adelaide, South Australia - South Australia won by 6 wickets
  • 14 - Tasmania - Hobart, Tasmania - England won by 8 wickets
  • 16-19 - An Australian XI - Hobart, Australia - match drawn

December

  • 4 - Prime Minister's XI - Canberra, Australian Capital Territory - PM's XI won by 31 runs
  • 20-23 - Victoria - Ballarat, Victoria - match drawn

January

  • 13-16 - New South Wales - Albury, New South Wales - NSW won by 6 wickets
  • 19-22 - Queensland - Carrarra, Queensland - England won by 10 wickets

World Series Cup

England also played in the World Series Cup triangular tournament with Australia and New Zealand. England finished third in the table not qualifying for the finals.

December

  • 1 v New Zealand, Adelaide Oval - New Zealand by 7 runs
  • 7 v New Zealand, WACA, Perth - England by 4 wickets
  • 9 v Australia, WACA, Perth - Australia by 6 wickets
  • 13 v New Zealand, Sydney Cricket Ground - England by 33 runs
  • 15 v New Zealand, Gabba, Brisbane - New Zealand by 8 wickets
  • 16 v Australia, Gabba, Brisbane - Australia by 37 runs

January

  • 1 v Australia, Sydney Cricket Ground - Australia by 68 runs
  • 10 v Australia, Melbourne Cricket Ground - Australia by 3 runs
  • England failed to qualify for the finals.

External sources

Annual reviews

Further reading

  • Chris Harte, A History of Australian Cricket, Andre Deutsch, 1993

References

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