An account of England’s 1954-55 Australian Tour, dubbed their greatest Ashes triumph, is reviewed by Eric Brown…
BY ERIC BROWN
Back in the 1950s, my father informed me we would be going on an unspecified evening adventure.
Travelling in darkness in my father’s trusty black Ford Prefect so soon after the removal of petrol rationing was indeed an adventure for a primary school pupil and excitement peaked when he refused to reveal our destination.
We arrived at a mansion-style building at the end of a long drive winding through mature trees. On entering, we found about 40 people waiting expectantly for a talk to begin.
Eventually, a small, balding man sitting behind a table stood up and introduced himself as… Frank Tyson. I’d been interested in cricket for several years through watching my father perform as a wicketkeeper-opening batsman for his company and knew from radio broadcasts that Tyson had been among the England heroes who recently won the Ashes in Australia.
I can’t recall what he said or even if my attention span coped with his whole talk, but it was enough just to be in Tyson’s presence. I knew he was nicknamed “Typhoon Tyson” because of his astonishingly fast bowling and that he was considered a star of post-war English cricket.
These memories were rekindled when I read the new paperback version of Richard Whitehead’s Victory in Australia, which firmly puts Tyson at the centre of England’s 1954-55 Ashes triumph, a feat repeated on Australian soil only four times in the following 70 years.
Frank’s blistering bowling simply blasted away an Australian team confident of success with the likes of Keith Miller, Ray Lindwall, Richie Benaud, Arthur Morris, Neil Harvey and Alan Davidson in its ranks.
Tyson’s 7 for 27 in Melbourne were the best figures by an English fast bowler in an Ashes Test since 1898 and included a devastating fifth morning spell of 6.3-0-16-6.
Tyson and England had begun the series slowly, with the Northamptonshire quick claiming only a single wicket as the tourists lost by an innings in Brisbane.
But then he had three wickets in each innings at Adelaide, a match total of nine in the second Test at Sydney and two more in the fifth drawn Test in Sydney.
The Aussies had little answer as Tyson helped Len Hutton’s team turn a heavy first Test defeat into a 3-1 series win and become only the second England team to come from behind for an Ashes triumph in Australia.
Hutton had himself been under fire from the blazers who still operated outdated pre-war thinking as they ran English cricket on behalf of the MCC. Many were still opposed to a professional captain and tried to manoeuvre Reverend David Sheppard into the role.
As an amateur, Sheppard fitted their profile perfectly, but his “job” with the church complicated matters when it came to a tour lasting several months. So Hutton stayed in charge at the age of 38 and, despite an increasingly suspect back, led England to glory.
England’s tour party comprised a mixture of experienced county cricketers and future legends. Hutton, Compton, Cowdrey, May, Graveney and Bailey were the batters, with batsman-keeper Evans, while the main bowlers were Statham, long-serving Alec Bedser, Bob Appleyard and Tyson. There was no spinner. Among those omitted were Jim Laker and Fred Trueman.
Lancashire secretary Geoffrey Howard managed the squad, which took 23 days to reach Australia by sea, spent 50 days there before the First Test and played seven challenging warm-up games. Quite a contrast to England’s Ben Stokes-led Australian shambles, when the Ashes were surrendered in 11 playing days after no serious warm-up games were played.
Whitehead has worked in newspapers for nearly 40 years, with 21 of them in various roles at The Times, including spells in the sport, books and obituaries sections. He has written obituaries for Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack since 2012, and his books include The Times on the Ashes and Warne in Wisden.
Whitehead’s analysis of squad selection, travel, characters and test qualities allied to anecdotes, quotes and match descriptions won huge praise from critics when the hardback version first appeared. And deservedly so.
My favourite anecdote: A hopelessly disorganised Denis Compton arriving late and breathless for one match only to be denied entry by an obstinate gateman because he had forgotten his players’ pass. After several minutes of heated argument, Compton simply leapt over the gate.
The lower-priced paperback edition makes this absorbing book an ideal Christmas gift.
In April, “Victory in Australia” won the Cricket Society and MCC Book of the Year Award, while in May, it was named the Rathbones Cricket Book of the Year at the Sports Book Awards 2026.
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