Australian Imperial Force Touring XI
The bulk of the team remained intact for nearly nine months from May 1919, playing 33 matches in Great Britain, ten in South Africa on their way home and then another three in Australia itself before disbanding in February 1920.
The AIF team toured South Africa October to December on their way home and were undefeated in ten matches, eight of which were first-class.
On arrival home January 1920 in Australia, the team played three first-class matches, defeating both the reigning Sheffield Shield champions New South Wales and their main challengers Victoria.
During 1917 and 1918, at the height of the First World War, charity matches were occasionally staged between teams of servicemen, including many players of first-class standard.
The game, a great success, featured notable players, including Colin Blythe in his final match, Patsy Hendren, Pelham Warner and Percy Fender for the British Army.
[2] Later in the month, a combined Australian and South African XI played a British Army and Royal Navy team, also at Lord's, both matches to raise money for wartime charities.
[3] There were a couple of games involving Australian XIs in 1918 but the main events were three matches played at Lord's and The Oval between an England XI and a Dominions XI which included a number of Australian players such as Kelleway, Docker, Nip Pellew, Johnny Taylor, Ed Long and Allie Lampard who were all to play for the AIF team in 1919.
[7] Following the cessation of hostilities on 11 November 1918, the Australian Army Corps HQ in London had to think of ways to entertain the thousands of servicemen waiting to be sent home.
Despite the fact that some of the players still carried war injuries, the Sports Board was able to form a strong team which came to be billed as the Australian Imperial Force Touring XI.
In reply, the AIF scored 227 and were 274 for nine when time ran out, a match total of 501 leaving them nine runs and Robinson's team one wicket short of victory.
Lampard bowled well and took six for 91 in the Middlesex first innings but it included a fourth wicket partnership of 177 between Patsy Hendren and Pelham Warner who both completed centuries.
Chris Harte wrote that the team "ignored all considerations of (military) rank", Collins "giving orders to seven commissioned officers without anyone questioning his authority".
[8] With Kelleway's departure, the AIF squad was reduced to its nucleus of fourteen principal members: Herbie Collins (captain), Eric Bull, Cyril Docker, Jack Gregory, Allie Lampard, Ed Long, Jack Murray, Bert Oldfield, Nip Pellew, Bill Stirling, Johnny Taylor, Bill Trenerry, Carl Willis and Charles Winning.
[34] Collins' first game in charge was at Lord's against Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the Australians won convincingly by ten wickets inside two days on 5 and 6 June.
[37] The match in Sheffield produced an exciting finish as the Australians, needing 170 to win, had been reduced to 116 for nine before Gregory was joined by last man Ed Long.
A key innings was played by one of the bit-part players Eric Bull who scored a career-highest 42 at a crucial time from the end of day one and well into the second morning.
The Australians began the fourth innings before lunch on the final day and were soon struggling after Collins was out without scoring and only Trenerry, with 39, made any contribution among the top order batsmen.
[39] Having been unbeaten in their first eleven matches, the Australians finally tasted defeat in the twelfth at Lord's when they played the Gentlemen of England, captained by Pelham Warner, 23 to 25 June.
They had Surrey on 83 for six in the second morning but the county rallied with a seventh wicket partnership of 146 between captain Cyril Wilkinson (103) and Jack Crawford (144*) to reach 322 and avoid the follow-on.
Carl Willis, enjoying something of a purple patch in the summer months, scored another century with 127, opening the innings this time and Sussex needed a run out to dismiss him.
[55] On Wednesday, 27 August, the Australians were at the Clifton College Close Ground and its strong associations with W. G. Grace, who had died in the autumn of the bleak year of 1915, to play Gloucestershire.
In the second innings, the Australians were struggling against the medium pace of Dipper, bowling in tandem with Parker, but thanks to a determined effort by Bill Trenerry they managed to hold on for the draw.
[57] The AIF tour of England concluded with three first-class games against representative sides (i.e., consisting of players chosen from several counties) and finally a one-day exhibition match on what is believed to be the world's oldest cricket ground.
He led a strong team which included Frank Woolley, Phil Mead, Jack White, Dick Young, Wally Hardinge, Arthur Gilligan and the Relf brothers.
[59] The Australians travelled up to Scarborough over the weekend ready for their final first-class fixture against "Buns" Thornton's team on the Monday.
Thornton had selected a strong team captained by Reggie Spooner and including George Hirst, Wilfred Rhodes, Jack Hobbs, Johnny Douglas, Arthur Dolphin, Greville Stevens and Bill Hitch.
The image (see right) is a 1919 poster advertising Australian Imperial Force Touring XI v Sixteen of Mitcham (Bertie Oldfield's initials and Bill Trenerry's name were misprinted).
The other two were Surrey wicketkeeper Dennis Sullivan, who was born in Mitcham, and amateur Burnett Bullock, who was "mine host" at the public house opposite the ground that now bears his name.
The AIF batsmen had to contend with Ted McDonald, Gregory's future Test bowling partner, and he took a modest three for 76 as Willis scored 111 in a total of 311.
Even so, the AIF did bequeath a legacy to Australian Test cricket as Collins, Gregory, Oldfield, Pellew and Taylor formed the nucleus of Warwick Armstrong's team in the next two years, during which they overwhelmed England in two series.
