The strength of the team's batting and the weakness of its bowling is shown by having 10 batsmen averaging over 40, but only one bowler under 30, the part-time leg-spinner Ken Barrington.
En route they had stopped in Ceylon to play two light-hearted one day games, in which they were labelled "Marylebone Cricket Clowns" by the press.
Ken Higgs (2/8) quickly removed the opener Pascoe for a duck and Gale for 3, but was taken off after four overs as he sank into the soft turf.
Western Australia was the newest side in the Sheffield Shield and it would be five years before the WACA's inaugural Test in the 1970-71 Ashes series.
Shepherd declared after avoiding the follow on and Edrich (45) and Peter Parfitt (48) added 75 for the third wicket, before being removed by the leg-spinner Terry Jenner (4/72).
David Larter (4/49) had them 53/3, with the opener Pat Kelley retired hurt after being hit on the head by a bouncer by the tall Scottish bowler.
There was a short break to listen to the Melbourne Cup and Kelley returned to add 171 with Murray Vernon, the highest fourth wicket stand for Western Australia against the MCC.
Usually the Adelaide Oval was the flattest in Australia, but the Sheffield Shield match beforehand had been affected by a dust-storm followed by a sudden 22 degree drop in temperature.
Les Favell (96) and Marks (67) gave South Australia a better start with 150 for the first wicket, the wicketkeeper Barry Jarman made 61 and Alan Shiell 83 in a total of 364.
Thanks to their low first innings this only gave the MCC 158 runs to win and they made them for the loss of 4 wickets on the fourth morning, Barrington making 51 and Hawke (2/49) and Sincock (2/67) against the best bowlers.
This left the MCC 329 to win, but Alan Connolly (4/84) removed Bob Barber for a duck and Edrich for 1 before they recovered to 65/2 at the end of the day.
The leg-spinner Peter Philpott was the best of the suffering bowlers with 3/126 and the wicketkeeper Brian Taber took three catches, stumped Russell and ran out Parfitt.
The batsmen Barry Rothwell bowled the only over and had Barber out for a duck, but Parfitt made the two runs required and the MCC won by 9 wickets.
In reply Queensland were out for 222, with Des Bull (25) and Sam Trimble (34) adding 59 for the first wicket and captain Peter Burge making most of the rest with an unbeaten 114.
Unusually the MCC were scheduled to play a minor game immediately before the First Test and travelled 80 miles inland to the large town of Toowoomba.
Mike Smith won the toss, fielded and used 10 bowlers in the Queensland Country innings before they declared on 157/4, Gary Jennings making nearly half their runs with his 77.
Bob Barber made 56 of his 80 run opening stand with Geoff Boycott, who hung around to make 48 not out in the MCC's 159/3 as they won by seven wickets.
[19] His team consisted of Australian Test players such as Wally Grout, Alan Connolly and Bob Cowper, retired veterans Neil Harvey, Richie Benaud and Jim Burke, young talent like Keith Stackpole, the teenaged Paul Sheahan as well as the famous West Indian fast bowler Wes Hall, who was playing for Queensland.
Thanks to Burke (79), Sheahan (60), Benaud (45) and Stackpole (32 not out) the Prime Minister's XI hit 288/7 in 35 overs, with the wickets shared amongst the touring bowlers with Jeff Jones taking 2/21, David Larter 2/43 and Bob Barber 2/72.
The declaration came halfway through the day and the MCC's winning 289/8 also took 35 overs, though they passed 200 for the loss of two wickets as Geoff Boycott made 95 before he was run out, Colin Cowdrey 52 and M.J.K.
Eight bowlers were used, but the best was Jim Burke who took 2/5 with his infamous chucking action, dismissing John Murray and Jones for ducks in the closing minutes of the match.
Another New South Wales Country XI batted first and were reduced to 32/4 by the left-arm fast bowler Jeff Jones (3/13) before Longmore (38) and Stacy (56 not out) added 80 for the fifth wicket.
Chappell caught Geoff Boycott for a duck and with Peter Parfitt out for 6 the MCC were 13/2 before Bob Barber (46) and Colin Cowdrey (18) added 53 for the third wicket.
The MCC's 444 nearly matched South Australia's score and Favell set about making runs for a declaration, Ian Chappell hitting 113 not out as they rattled up 253/4 in 249 minutes.
Smith (160) and Fred Titmus (114) added 260 runs for the sixth wicket and with Barry Knight hitting a late 35 not out the MCC totalled 449 for a lead of 115.
With Tasmania being so weak they were reinforced with Test players from the mainland for their second match, as Western Australia had been at the start of the tour, so Bill Lawry and Bob Cowper of Victoria and Doug Walters of New South Wales were flown out to Hobart.
Len Maddocks won the toss and batted, but though Lawry made 47, Cowper 53 and Walters 46 none of the Tasmanians exceeded 11 and they were spun out for 119 by Fred Titmus (6/65).
Geoff Boycott (156) and Eric Russell (58) made an opening stand of 107, captain Colin Cowdrey 70 and John Murray 83 not out as the MCC batted into the third and last day before declaring on 471/9.
The Combined XI needed to make 272 runs to avoid an innings defeat and though Kevin Brown was out for a duck Lawry (126 not out) and Cowper (143 not out) made a second wicket stand of 273 in 257 minutes and the match was called off as a draw.
See Main Article – 1965–66 Ashes series The MCC returned to Sydney for their second match against New South Wales, but Bobby Simpson was in charge and he opened the batting with Norm O'Neill after winning the toss.