The England cricket team is the national cricket team which represents England and Wales. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) from 1903 until the end of 1996.[1][2]
England and Australia were the first teams to be granted Test status on 15 March 1877 and they gained full membership to the International Cricket Council (ICC) on 15 June 1909. England and Australia also took part in the first One Day International (ODI) on 5 January 1971. England played their first Twenty20 match on 13 June 2005 and once again their opponents were Australia.
As of 2 September 2008 England have won 305 of the 877 Test matches they have played and are ranked fifth in the ICC Test Championship.[3][4] They have finished runners-up in three Cricket World Cups (1979, 1987 and 1992) and are ranked third in the ICC ODI Championship.[5]
History
The first recorded incidence of a team with a claim to represent England comes from 9 July 1739 when an "All-England" team which consisted of eleven gentlemen from any part of England, exclusive of Kent. This team played against 'the Unconquerable County' of Kent and lost by a 'very few notches'. Such matches were repeated on numerous occasions for the best part of the century.
In 1846 William Clarke formed the All-England Eleven, this team would eventually compete against a United All-England Eleven with annual matches occurring between 1857 to 1866. These matches were arguably the most important contest of the English season, if judged by the quality of the players.
The first overseas tour occurred in September 1859 with England going to North America. This team had six players from the All-England Eleven and six from the United All-England Eleven, and was captained by George Parr. With the outbreak of the American Civil War, attention turned to Australia and New Zealand with the inaugural tour of Australia taking place in 1861-2. England would visit New Zealand in 1863–64 with the tour being the first to be organised by the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC). Most tours prior to 1877 were played "against odds", meaning the opposing team was permitted to have more than 11 players (usually 22) in order to make for a more even contest.[8] As a result these matches were not considered first-class matches and were organised purely for commercial reasons.[9]
James Lillywhite led the England team which sailed on the P&O steamship Poonah on 21 September 1876. They would play a combined Australian XI, for once on even terms of 11 a side. The match, starting on 15 March 1877 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground came to be regarded as the first Test match. The combined Australian XI won this Test match by 45 runs with Charles Bannerman of Australia scoring the first Test century. At the time this match carried little significance and was classed as another tour match and was labelled as the James Lillywhite's XI v South Australia and New South Wales.[10] The first Test match on English soil occurred in 1880 with England winning this series 1–0. The series was also the first for England to field a fully representative side with W.G. Grace being present in the team.[11] England would lose their first home series 1–0 in 1882 with The Sporting Times famously printing an obituary on English cricket:
| “ | In Affectionate Remembrance of ENGLISH CRICKET, which died at the Oval on 29th AUGUST, 1882, Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances R.I.P. N.B. - The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.[12] | ” |
As a result of this loss the tour of 1882–83 was dubbed by England captain Ivo Bligh as "the quest to regain the ashes". England with a mixture of amateurs and professionals won the series 2–1.[13] Bligh was presented with an urn that contained some ashes, which have variously been said to be of a bail, ball or even a woman's veil and so The Ashes was born. A fourth match was then played which Australia won by 4 wickets but the match was not considered part of the Ashes series.[14][15] England would dominate many of these early contests with England winning the Ashes series 10 times between 1884–98.[16] During this period England also played their first Test match against South Africa in 1889 at Port Elizabeth.[17]
The 1899 Ashes series was the first tour where the MCC and the counties appointed a selection committee. There were three active players: Lord Hawke, W.G. Grace and HW Bainbridge who was the captain of Warwickshire. Prior to this, England teams for home Tests had been chosen by the club on whose ground the match was to be played.
The turn of the century saw mixed results for England as they lost four of the eight Ashes series between 1900 and 1914.[18] During this period England would lose their first series against South Africa in the 1905/06 season 4–1 as their batting faltered.[19] The 1912 season saw England take part in a unique experiment. A nine Test triangular tournament involving England, South Africa and Australia was set-up. The series was hampered by a very wet summer and player disputes however and the tournament was considered a failure with The Daily Telegraph stating:[20]
| “ | Nine Tests provide a surfeit of cricket, and contests between Australia and South Africa are not a great attraction to the British public. | ” |
With Australia sending a weakened team and the South African bowlers being ineffective England dominated the tournament winning four of their six matches. The Australia v South Africa match, at Lord's, was notable for a visit by King George V, the first time a reigning monarch had watched Test cricket.[21] England would go on one more tour against South Africa before the outbreak of World War I.
England's first match after the war was in the 1920–21 season against Australia. Still feeling the effects of the war England went down to a series of crushing defeats, and suffered their first whitewash losing the series 5–0. Six Australians scored hundreds while Mailey spun out 36 English batsmen. Things were no better in the next few Ashes series losing the 1921 Ashes series 3–0 and the 1924–5 Ashes 4–1. England's fortunes were to change in 1926 as they regained the Ashes and were a formidable team during this period dispatching Australia 4–1 in the 1928–29 Ashes tour.
On the same year the West Indies became the fourth nation to be granted Test status and played their first game against England. England won each of these three Tests by an innings, and a view was expressed in the press that their elevation had proved a mistake although Learie Constantine did the double on the tour. In the 1929–30 season England went on two concurrent tours with one team going to New Zealand (who were granted Test status earlier that year) and the other to the West Indies. Despite sending two separate teams England won both tours beating New Zealand 1–0 and the West Indies 2–1.
The 1930 Ashes series saw a young Don Bradman dominate the tour, scoring 974 runs in his seven Test innings. He scored 254 at Lord's, 334 at Headingley and 232 at the Oval. Australia regained the Ashes winning the series 3–1. As a result of Bradman's prolific run-scoring the England captain Douglas Jardine chose to develop the already existing leg theory into fast leg theory, or bodyline, as a tactic to stop Bradman. Fast leg theory involved bowling fast balls directly at the batsman's body. The batsman would need to defend himself, and if he touched the ball with the bat, he risked being caught by one of a large number of fielders placed on the leg side.
Using his fast leg theory England won the next Ashes series 4–1. But complaints about the Bodyline tactic caused crowd disruption on the tour, and threats of diplomatic action from the Australian Cricket Board, which during the tour sent the following cable to the MCC in London:
| “ | Bodyline bowling assumed such proportions as to menace best interests of game, making protection of body by batsmen the main consideration. Causing intensely bitter feeling between players as well as injury. In our opinion is unsportsmanlike. Unless stopped at once likely to upset friendly relations existing between Australia and England. | ” |
Later, Jardine was removed from the captaincy and the laws of cricket changed so that no more than one fast ball aimed at the body was permitted per over, and having more than two fielders behind square leg were banned.
England's following tour of India in the 1933–34 season was the first Test match to be staged in the subcontinent. The series was also notable for Morris Nichols and Nobby Clark bowling so many bouncers that the Indian batsman wore solar topees instead of caps to protect themselves.
Australia won the 1934 Ashes series 2–1 and would keep the urn for the following 19 years. Many of the wickets of the time were friendly to batsmen resulting in a large proportion of matches ending in high scoring draws and many batting records being set.
The 1938–39 tour of South Africa saw another experiment with the deciding Test being a timeless Test that was played to a finish. England lead 1–0 going into the final timeless match at Durban. Despite the final Test being ‘timeless’ the game ended in a draw, after 10 days as England had to catch the train to catch the boat home. A record 1981 runs were scored, and the concept of timeless Tests was abandoned. England would go in one final tour of the West Indies in 1939 before the World War II, although a team for an MCC tour of India was selected more in hope than expectation of the matches being played.
After World War II, England fell under difficult times suffering a heavy defeat 3–0 to Australia. This followed by a 4–0 loss to Bradman's 'invincibles' and a stunning 2–0 loss to the West Indies. These loses were tempered by victories against India and South Africa.
Their fortunes would change in the 1953 Ashes tour as they won the series 1–0. England would not lose a series for five years and secured famous victories in the 1954–55 and 1956 Ashes series. The 1956 series was remembered for the bowling of Jim Laker who took 46 wickets at 9.62 which included bowling figures of 19/90 at Old Trafford. After drawing to South Africa, England defeated the West Indies and New Zealand comfortably. The England team would then leave for Australia in the 1958–59 season with a team that had been hailed as the strongest ever to leave on an Ashes tour but lost the series 4–0 as Richie Benaud's revitalised Australians were too strong.
The early and middle 1960s were poor periods for English cricket. Despite England's strength on paper, Australia held the Ashes for the entire decade and the West Indies dominated England in the early part of the decade. England would the end the 60s on a high however, regaining the Wisden Trophy in 1968 and drawing the Ashes series in the same year 1–1.
England carried their good form from the late 60s into the 70s regaining the Ashes in 1970 but then suffered a loss of form losing to India and a rising West Indian side. This culminated in a 4–1 defeat in the 1974 Ashes series. The inaugural 1975 Cricket World Cup saw England reach the semi-finals and was to be the turning point in England's fortunes. The results of the Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket were felt in Test cricket with Australia and Pakistan losing many of its star players. England replaced captain Tony Greig who had joined the league with Mike Brearley while Geoffrey Boycott returned from his England exile. England would defeat a divided Australian side 3–1 in the centenary Ashes series. This was followed by a comfortable 4–0 win against Pakistan and a World Cup final appearance against the West Indies.
With Ian Botham and Bob Willis at their peak with the ball, Boycott and Graham Gooch opening the batting, and a young David Gower in the middle order, England were a formidable team. Their results were initially promising, narrowly losing to the West Indies, the unofficial champions at the time. England would then fight back to win the 1981 Ashes series, often referred to as "Botham's Ashes" 2–1. The third Test at Headingley saw a revitalised Botham perform well with bat and ball, taking 6/95 and then scoring a unbeaten 149. England won by 18 runs after following-on, only the second time in the history of England v Australia Tests that this has been achieved. England suffered their second whitewash series against the West Indies in 1984 but continued to produce good results, defeating India 2–1 and regaining the Ashes in the 1985 season with a comfortable 3–1 victory.
Hopes that this victory could see a challenge mounted on the 1985–86 tour of the West Indies were dashed as England were soundly beaten 5–0. A shocked England team never truly recovered from this defeat and although England managed to retain the 1986–87 Ashes, they would only win one further Test series in the 80s against a relatively weak Sri Lanka side and suffered heavy defeats to Australia and the West Indies.
England continued their decline during the 90s. This was not helped by squabbles between key players and the chairman of selectors, Raymond Illingworth. Another reason for their poor performances were the demands of County Cricket teams on their players, meaning that England could rarely field a full strength team on their tours. This would eventually lead to the ECB taking over the MCC as the governing body of England and the implementation of central contracts.
In the early 90s players such as Botham, Gower and Allan Lamb came to the end of their international careers and, specifically in the case of Botham, England had trouble replacing them. This lead to a string of disappointing results as England did not win a Test match for two and half years. However, England’s performance in ODI cricket was still good, as they defeated Australia, the West Indies and South Africa to reach the final of the 1992 Cricket World Cup. Shortly after the World Cup Mike Atherton replaced Gooch as England captain but his captaincy was regarded as a failure with England winning only one Test series under his captaincy. A win against South Africa in 1998 was England’s first five Test series win since 1986–87, but this would be a false dawn as they were eliminated in the first round of the 1999 Cricket World Cup (which they hosted) and lost a home Test series against New Zealand 2–1, resulting in England being officially ranked as the worst Test nation.[22]
With the appointment of Duncan Fletcher as coach and Nasser Hussain as captain, England began to rebuild their team. They won four consecutive Test series which included impressive wins against West Indies (a first in 32 years) and Pakistan. England were still left wanting against Australia and lost the 2001 Ashes 4–1. Promising results against India and Sri Lanka gave England some positive sentiments towards their chances against Australia in 2002-2003, yet a 4–1 defeat showed that they were still falling short. This setback did not stop England’s resurgence however as they defeated the West Indies 3–0 and followed this up with whitewashes against New Zealand and the West Indies at home. A victory in the first Test against South Africa at Port Elizabeth meant England had won their eighth successive Test, their best sequence of Test match wins for 75 years.
In 2005, England, under Michael Vaughan's captaincy and aided by Kevin Pietersen's batting in his maiden series (most notably 158 at the Oval), and Andrew Flintoff's superb all-round performances, defeated Australia 2–1 to regain the Ashes for the first time in 18 years.
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