Plum Warner — First MCC Tour Captain to Australia, 1903-04

MacLaren had captained England in the 1901-02 tour (lost 4-1) and the 1902 home Ashes (lost 2-1 with the urn forfeited). The MCC felt a fresh face was needed. Warner, then 30, had captained Middlesex and led an MCC side to New Zealand, but had no Ashes captaincy experience. The Australians, led by Monty Noble, were favourites at home.

The political dimension was large: this was the first official MCC tour, the precedent for England touring sides for the next 70 years.

Warner's side arrived in October 1903, played warm-up matches against state sides (with mixed results), and entered the first Test at Sydney as underdogs. The team had not had an obvious star batsman before Foster's 287 in that match.

Until 1903 every England touring side to Australia had been raised by a private promoter — usually a former Test cricketer or wealthy backer. The MCC, mindful of declining English fortunes (no Ashes win since 1896) and pressure from the Australian board, agreed in early 1903 to organise the next tour officially. Pelham Warner, the Middlesex amateur and a Wisden Cricketer of the Year, was appointed captain.

MacLaren, who had captained the previous two tours, refused to go in protest, taking with him three of the team's strongest professionals. Warner had to rebuild. He took R.E. Foster (untested), B.J.T. Bosanquet (whose googly was new), Wilfred Rhodes, Tom Hayward, George Hirst, Bert Strudwick and a handful of less experienced men. Few in England gave the side a chance.

The tour produced two Test wins for the visitors (Sydney first Test, with Foster's 287; and the fourth Test at Sydney, with Bosanquet's 6 for 51), and one for Australia at Melbourne. England won the series 3-2, regaining the Ashes for the first time since 1896. Warner returned to England a hero. His book 'How We Recovered The Ashes' (1904) was a bestseller and almost single-handedly fixed the Ashes terminology in the public mind — the urn itself, sealed in a Melbourne home since 1882, was barely known.

“It is the proudest day of my life.”

“His captaincy was a model of tact.”

Warner returned to England a hero. His book 'How We Recovered The Ashes' (Chapman & Hall, 1904) sold strongly and revived the term 'Ashes' for both press and public — the original 1882 obituary in the Sporting Times had been a one-off joke, and the urn itself had been little discussed in newspapers since. After Warner, the Ashes became the central narrative of England-Australia cricket.

Warner himself went on to captain England again in 1911-12 (when illness forced him out and JWHT Douglas took over), then served as MCC tour manager in the 1932-33 Bodyline series, edited The Cricketer magazine for decades and was knighted in 1937. He died in 1963.