| Australian cricket team in England in 1902 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Part of 1902 English cricket season | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date | 5 May 1902 – 17 September 1902 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | United Kingdom | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Result | Australia won the 5-Test series 2–1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Australian cricket team toured England during the 1902 English cricket season.[1] The five-Test series between the two countries has been fondly remembered; in 1967 the cricket writer A. A. Thomson described the series as "a rubber more exciting than any in history except the Australia v West Indies series in 1960–61".[2] Australia had won the previous three Test rubbers between the two countries, and now won their fourth successive series, by two matches to one with two draws. In the process they "beat the records of all their predecessors in the country" by losing only two of 39 matches during the tour, their defeats being against England in the Fifth Test and in the first of their two fixtures against Yorkshire.[3] The remaining 37 matches gave 23 wins for Australia and 14 draws.
Following the tour, three of the Australians — Victor Trumper, Warwick Armstrong and Jim Kelly — were named Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1903, with their captain Joe Darling already having been bestowed that honour in 1900. The Australians' leading batsman, Victor Trumper, made more first class runs than anyone in the season, and of batsman with more than 1,000 runs only Arthur Shrewsbury scored his at a higher average.[4] His 2,570 runs was a new record for any Australian in England. Harry Altham wrote: "From start to finish of the season, on every sort of wicket, against every sort of bowling, Trumper entranced the eye, inspired his side, demoralized his enemies, and made run-getting appear the easiest thing in the world."[5]
- ^ They also played one match in Scotland and one in Wales.
- ^ My favourite summer, by A. A. Thomson, from Cricinfo (taken from Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1967 edition). Retrieved 26 June 2006
- ^ The Australians in England 1902, John Wisden & Co., Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 1903
- ^ First-class Batting and Fielding in England for 1902 (Ordered by Average), CricketArchive. Retrieved 25 December 2006
- ^ Quoted in The Cricket Captains of England, Alan Gibson, 1989, The Pavilion Library, ISBN 1-85145-390-3, p76.