Australian cricket team in Australia in 1946–47

[1] Their cricket grounds had not been bombed and compared to austerity Britain, Australia was a land of plenty, which allowed for a more rapid recovery than in the old country, as had happened after the First World War.

[5] It was also superior to the pre-war Australian teams, as though they were just as strong in batting they had no fast bowlers and depended heavily on the leg-spin of Clarrie Grimmett and Bill O'Reilly.

In 1946–47 Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller emerged as a great new-ball partnership, with quality support from Ernie Toshack, Ian Johnson and Colin McCool.

[7] His unorthodox grip meant he could not cream the ball through the covers like Wally Hammond and purists contend that Jack Hobbs was better on a sticky wicket, but on any pitch that did not make batting a lottery he simply made more runs.

Ironically he was bowled by an Eric Hollies googly for a duck in his final Test innings when he was 4 runs short of a batting average of 100.00, he had to settle for 99.94.

Don Bradman went into a huddle and refused to make any statement concerning his cricket future; it was not until this sagacious colossus had obtained first-hand reports from Perth, and had sampled the bowling at Adelaide and Melbourne then he told the Board of Control he would be available for the opening Test...Bradman is justifiably proud of his marvellous record, and one suggestion is that only consented to play because of his supreme confidence of being able to gather in his full share of runs, and that his health would stand up to any strain imposed on it.

Stress and depression aggravated his fibrositis and he was invalided out of the army in 1941, after which he spent months in poor physical condition and lost the use of his right thumb and forefinger.

The England players (and Keith Miller from the dressing room) thought he was out, but Bradman was confident that the ball had been jammed into the ground by his bat before it flew up to Ikin and refused to walk.

He appeared as determined in seeking convincing victory as if he had been opposed by a team of Jardines and Larwoods[14] In Don Bradman's time as an Australian batsman before the war England won 13 Ashes Tests to Australia's 10, some of them by huge margins.

In their last Test before the war England had made 903/7 – Wally Hammond waiting the Don was unfit to bat before he declared – and Australia lost by an innings and 579 runs, another record.

With typical resilience, Australian youth participated in the restoration of sport to pre-war grade, directly khaki and the blue uniforms were laid aside.

[35] Merv Harvey was a middle order strokeplayer who was called up to open with Morris when Sid Barnes was unfit to play in the Fourth Test.

After Don Bradman in the batting order was his vice-captain Lindsay Hassett, a dimulative (5'6") batsman who had been a great strokemaker before the war and had made his Test debut in England in 1938.

In the war he was a Flight Lieutenant in the RAAF, and injured his back crash-landing a de Havilland Mosquito, which affected the rest of his playing career.

[41][42][43] Ron Hamence was the nearly man of the Australian team, he made his Test debut after his career best 145 vs the MCC and was stranded on 30 not out in their first innings collapse to Doug Wright.

One of the great strengths of the team was its plentiful all-rounders, apart from Keith Miller, there was Ray Lindwall, Colin McCool, Ian Johnson and the wicketkeeper Don Tallon.

[44] Lindwall took to fast bowling after seeing Harold Larwood as a boy, but was a strong striker of the ball and a menace to parked cars in grade cricket.

The havoc wrought by Larwood and company a decade earlier still rankled; the nation wanted genuine fast bowlers to repay the humiliation.

Neville Cardus later wrote that "He has so many brains it's a wonder why he ever went in for fast bowling"[47] and working hand-in-glove with his captain Don Bradman he would think batsman out and catch them in carefully selected field-placings.

Bradman knew Australia needed this more than another batsman and encouraged Miller to develop his new talent, though his back injury limited him to short spells.

[53][54][55] Ernie Toshack was a left-arm medium pace bowler who bowled with a packed leg-side field and tied up the batsmen when Lindwall and Miller were resting.

[59] The England captain Wally Hammond ordered his batsmen to stay within their crease when facing the Australian spinners, whose figures were flattered as a result.

[60] Johnson's off spin was a rarity in Australia, where the pitches work better to leg-spin, and was not a big spinner of the ball, but he used flight to deceive the batsmen and could tie down one end.

He dismissed Hammond, Hutton, Washbrook, Compton, Yardley, Edrich and Voce in his 7/106 for an Australian XI against the MCC, 5/109 in the Third Test and 5/44 in the Fifth and "the English batsmen seemed like rabbits fascinated in the presence of a snake".

[66] Hawk-eyed, swift in action after sure reception, Tallon goes for everything...many of his deeds he has accomplished have been remarkable for sheer speed of thought and execution and his only fault in his early matches was impetuous appealing.

He was 30 when he made his Test debut and proved to be an excellent keeper, but in his eagerness would move in front of the slips, denying them the full view of the ball.

Tallon was also "one of the most notorious appealers of all time"[68] and "was often roaring before he had studied facts and it was his over-eagerness that brought about the shocking decision which so greatly affected Washbrook".