England's seam pair Sydney Barnes and Frank Foster shared 66 of the 95 Australian wickets to fall as Plum Warner's MCC side, captained by Johnny Douglas after Warner fell ill, lost the opening Test in Sydney and then won four in a row to take the series 4-1.
Warner was named captain but contracted what was reported as an ulcerated throat after the first match against South Australia and never played a Test on the tour. Douglas, an amateur boxer and stubborn personality, took charge.
The 1911-12 tour was the high-water mark of England's pre-war fast bowling. Plum Warner was nominally captain but illness handed the on-field leadership to JWHT Douglas for the entire series. The decision that almost cost England the rubber came on the first morning at Sydney, when Douglas opted to share the new ball with Foster rather than Barnes; Australia won that Test by 146 runs. Thereafter Barnes was given his head and the pair were near-unstoppable. Foster, the young Warwickshire left-armer, finished with 32 wickets at 21.62; Barnes took 34 at 22.88. Behind them Hobbs scored 662 runs, Rhodes opened with him after years as a number eleven, and Frank Woolley made his first Test hundred. It was the most complete English away performance of the Golden Age and would be the last Ashes contest before the war.
First Test, Sydney: Australia win by 146 runs after Douglas opens with Foster ahead of Barnes
Second Test, Melbourne: Barnes' famous opening spell, four wickets for one run
Fourth Test, Melbourne: Hobbs 178 and Rhodes 179 add 323 for the first wicket
Fifth Test, Sydney: England complete a 4-1 series win
Dec 1911
England lose first Test at Sydney
Dec 1911
Barnes' opening burst at Melbourne wins second Test
Feb 1912
Hobbs and Rhodes add 323 at Melbourne
Mar 1912
England seal series 4-1 at Sydney
“A succession of triumphs for Jack Hobbs and Rhodes as first wicket batsmen.”
Douglas, Hobbs, Rhodes, Barnes, Foster and Woolley all returned home with reputations enhanced. The team was widely considered one of the strongest England had sent abroad. Foster's career would end within three years after a wartime motorcycle accident.
A 4-1 series win built on the Barnes-Foster axis, with Hobbs and Rhodes anchoring the batting. England would not tour Australia again for a decade.
The series confirmed Barnes' status as the leading bowler in the world and gave English cricket the Hobbs-Rhodes opening combination that would dominate the 1920s. The 4-1 scoreline stood as a benchmark for English away success until Jardine's 1932-33 side.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.