Ray Illingworth captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1970–71, playing as England in the 1970–71 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour.
The 1970 South African tour of England was cancelled due to the Basil d'Oliveira Affair and concerns over anti-apartheid demonstrations that had led to barbed wire at Lord's.
[11] Ray Illingworth smoothed things over, but in Second Test Clark criticised both captains for cautious play and England for their short-pitched bowling.
[16] Unlike his predecessors Illingworth insisted on good hotel accommodation, decent sporting facilities, better travel arrangements, higher allowances and pay and fought hard to get them, which was greatly appreciated by the players.
[17] In the final Sydney Test Clark tried to push Illingworth back onto the field when he took the team off because of the crowd throwing beer cans after the Snow-Jenner incident.
A furious Illingworth said he would not return until the playing area had been cleared and the crowd had calmed down and objected to Clark constantly siding with the Australians against his own team.
He was chosen over his rivals such as former captain Brian Close or vice-captain Tom Graveney as he was not a threat to Cowdrey's long-term captaincy due to his age and inability to establish a regular spot in the Test team.
The Yorkshireman was 'tough, combative, grudging, shrewd, and an instinctive reader of the game',[22] and an experienced, non-nonsense captain who expected his team to play like professionals.
The "Great Accumulator"[26] Geoff Boycott had his best series making 657 runs (93.85) with two unbeaten centuries and his name became a byword for long, stonewalling innings.
John Edrich also had his most prolific series, making 648 runs (72.00) and two centuries, a stalwart left-hander with a formidable defence and always a thorn in Australia's side.
In 1970 the vice captain Colin Cowdrey was the only man to have played over a hundred Tests and had made more runs (7,228) than any other player, but was in the sunset of his career and failed on tour.
He was a brilliant Cape-Coloured batsman who qualified for England by residence in his mid-thirties, an unflappable player with a low backlift and powerful arms whose gentle, smiling face concealed a very determined man.
[30] John Hampshire was a dashing Yorkshire batsman who is the only England player to make a century on debut at Lord's, 107 against the West Indies in 1969, but never made another and was dropped after a short Test career.
England's lower middle order added real strength with the wicket-keeper Alan Knott worth his place for his perky, unorthodox batting alone.
I have not met John Snow, the outstanding personality and most dominating cricketer of the 1970–71 Anglo-Australian series...To me, he is one of the most faithful and effective servants Nemesis ever employed...Never did he lose that aura of menace.
[32] The 6-foot-4-inch (1.93 m) tall Ward was 'tall, lean, raw boned youngster with a fine pair of shoulders and powerful, rhythmical side-on action'[33] compared to Frank Tyson, but suffered from assorted injuries and never made the expected impact in Test cricket.
Although the son of a country vicar who published two volumes of poetry, Snow revelled in his reputation as a big, fast bowler[35] and emerged as Fred Trueman's successor in 1967–68 when he took a record 27 wickets (18.66) in the West Indies.
[36][37] Snow had a reputation for being mercurial – he took only 7 wickets (71.57) in the state matches – strong-willed and difficult to handle, and his autobiography was suitably entitled Cricket Rebel.
On damp English wickets he earned the nickname "Deadly" for his ability to make the ball leap and turn, as when he took 7/50 against Australia at The Oval in 1968[40] to win the match and square the series with five minutes to spare.
[41] The reserve spinner Don Wilson was Illingworth's old Yorkshire "spin twin", but he and Underwood kept him out of the England team, like the other two he was an accurate bowler rather than a wicket-taker.