Hassett, Morris, Harvey, Johnston, Lindwall, Miller, Ring and Tallon had toured England with the 1948 Australian team, known as "The Invincibles".

Davidson, de Courcy and Hill had not played Test cricket before this tour: all three made their debuts during the 1953 Ashes series.

Harvey made 59, but Johnny Wardle removed the middle order batsmen before Davidson, with 76, coaxed 117 runs out of the last six wickets.

Set 343 to win, England lost three wickets for 12 runs, and Willie Watson was missed before the end of the fourth day.

On the last day, Watson battled to 109 and shared a fifth wicket stand of 163 with Trevor Bailey (71), which saved the match for England.

With the match dead, Wardle, Bedser and Jim Laker took eight Australian second-innings wickets, with none of the batsmen reaching double figures.

[4] On a pitch affected by damp, England batted very cautiously, making just 142 for seven in five-and-a-half hours on the first day, Graveney top-scoring with 55.

When Australia batted for the second time, Hutton turned very quickly to the Surrey spin-bowling pair, Laker and Tony Lock, and they took nine of the 10 wickets to fall, the other being a run-out.

Australia's lack of a spinner – though Johnston bowled slows from one end – meant England got the 132 needed for victory easily, if slowly.