English cricket team in Australia in 1954–55

The tour was managed by Geoffrey Howard, the popular secretary of Lancashire County Cricket Club who had been a wicketkeeper-batsman for the Private Banks XI in 1926–36 and had played three games for Middlesex.

He "was guide, philosopher and friend to all who had the sense to see the worth of his experience of cricket in Australia" and liaised with the press corps.

This break with tradition received much criticism from those who thought only a gentleman should hold this honour, but England had been heavily defeated by Australia in every series since the war, and even the West Indies in 1950.

England pulled back from being 2–0 down to square a series in the West Indies in 1953–54 despite political interference, riots and dubious umpiring.

Of the amateurs on tour Bill Edrich was an old comrade and had been a professional before the war, and the others – Reg Simpson, Trevor Bailey, Peter May and Colin Cowdrey – had been schoolboys when Hutton was making Test centuries.

The Yorkshireman also made bowling changes with great cunning, notably in the Fourth Test at Adelaide, and his ability to read a wicket during a match sometimes verged on second sight.

With the strong Australian bowling on their home turf, runs were hard to come by and only the obstinate stonewaller "Barnacle" Bailey exceeded his career Test average in a low-scoring series (37.00 over 29.74).

[13] Bill Edrich had been a Squadron Leader during the war and won the DFC for his part in the "RAF's most audacious and dangerous low-level bombing raid" on Cologne in 1941.

"[16] Vic Wilson was a strapping Yorkshire farmer who could hit the ball many a mile, but failed to come to terms with the Australian pitches.

The baby-faced Colin Cowdrey, an Oxford undergraduate and the youngest member of the side, was a real find with his immaculate timing of the ball in the first of a record six tours of Australia.

The most likely explanation is that these outspoken cricketers were regarded as 'difficult tourists' by the MCC and Hutton thought that "Fiery Fred" had yet to mature as a bowler.

[21] As in every series since the war it looked like the England bowling would rest on the broad shoulders of Alec Bedser (24.89)—in 1954 his 231 wickets was the greatest haul in Test history.

[22] In the last four Tests Hutton relied on the formidable bowling attack of Frank Tyson (18.76), Brian Statham (24.84), Trevor Bailey (29.21), Johnny Wardle (20.39) and Bob Appleyard (17.87).

While "Typhoon" Tyson is justly famed for simply blasting the opposition away, the nagging accuracy of Statham and Bailey and the increasing spin of Wardle and Appleyard all served to tie down and frustrate the Australian batsmen.

[24] In the First Test the exuberant Godfrey Evans – the outstanding wicket-keeper of the era – was suffering from heat-stroke, so debutant Keith Andrew was behind the stumps; he dropped Arthur Morris on 0 (he made 153) and didn't take any catches.

Evans recovered and took over the rest of the series, taking a magnificent leg side catch off Tyson to dismiss Neil Harvey at Melbourne that precipitated Australia's collapse.

Len Hutton (57 catches), Peter May (42), Bill Edrich (39) and Tom Graveney (80) were fine slip catchers, and Colin Cowdrey (120) proved to be an excellent one, but Hutton had fibrositis, Edrich and Bedser proved ungainly in the field and Denis Compton not only had his knee problem, but broke his hand on a billboard at Brisbane.