Less than two weeks after VE Day, England and an Australian Services XI began a five-match Victory Test series at Lord's that ended 2-2 with one drawn after a final-day finish at Old Trafford on 22 August 1945. Played as celebration cricket and watched by 367,000 people across three grounds, the series re-introduced first-class cricket to a war-weary Britain, launched Keith Miller and confirmed Lindsay Hassett's quality as a captain. Although first-class only — neither board would grant Test status to Services teams — the series functioned as a public reopening of cricket and is the foundation of the modern English summer calendar.
The Lord's pavilion had been requisitioned in 1939; turret guns were stripped only in May 1945. Many county grounds were still cratered or damaged when the series began.
The Australian Services XI had played a series in India in 1945-46 (planned post-Europe) but flew home only after the Lord's matches. Miller, Hassett, Pepper and Williams were the headline names; the youngest, Bob Cristofani, was 24.
Negotiations between Sir Pelham Warner at MCC, the British Empire War Comforts Fund and the RAAF in late 1944 produced a fixture list designed to span the European summer. The Australian Services XI, captained throughout by Lindsay Hassett, was assembled from RAAF, AIF and Royal Australian Navy personnel still in Britain — including Miller, Bill O'Reilly's protege Cec Pepper, Graham Williams (a former POW released from Stalag Luft III in April), Stan Sismey, Albert Cheetham and Ross Stanford.
The first Test began at Lord's on 19 May 1945, only 11 days after the German surrender. Williams, frail from his POW years, walked out to bat to a standing ovation that lasted three minutes; he made 53. Australia won by six wickets. England squared the series at Bramall Lane in mid-July, then the third match at Lord's was drawn after Miller hit 73 and Hammond 100. Australia took the lead at Lord's in the fourth match before England, with Hutton, Washbrook and Hammond, levelled at Old Trafford on 22 August. Crowds reached 93,000 over three days for the final Lord's Test — a one-ground three-day record that survives.
Miller's 185 for the Dominions XI in the additional fixture at Lord's a week later (treated as a separate event by historians) became the lasting image of the season, but his 105 in the third Victory Test and 71 in the second were the innings that made him an Australian Test certainty. Cec Pepper's all-round performances were also significant; his omission from the 1948 Invincibles squad, taken as snubbed and the subject of a long feud with Bradman, has its origins in the high public profile he gained in this series.
19-22 May 1945 — 1st Victory Test at Lord's; Australia win by 6 wickets; Williams 53
23-26 Jun 1945 — 2nd Test at Bramall Lane; England win by 41 runs
14-17 Jul 1945 — 3rd Test at Lord's; drawn; Hammond 100, Miller 105
6-8 Aug 1945 — 4th Test at Lord's; Australia win by 4 wickets
20-22 Aug 1945 — 5th Test at Old Trafford; England win by 6 wickets, levelling 2-2
367,000 total attendance
19-22 May 1945
1st Victory Test, Lord's — Australia win
23-26 Jun 1945
2nd Victory Test, Bramall Lane — England win
14-17 Jul 1945
3rd Victory Test, Lord's — drawn
6-8 Aug 1945
4th Victory Test, Lord's — Australia win
20-22 Aug 1945
5th Victory Test, Old Trafford — England win, series 2-2
“It is doubtful whether any cricket has ever been played in such circumstances of public emotion.”
“When Williams walked to the wicket the entire ground rose. He played and missed three times in the first over and the cheering only got louder.”
The Australian Board of Control quickly converted the Services XI into the basis of its 1945-46 New Zealand tour party (which played Tests there) and recalled Hassett as vice-captain to Bradman for 1946-47. Williams, weakened by his Stalag years, played one more season for South Australia before retiring. Pepper went to the Lancashire Leagues, where he became a feared all-rounder for Burnley and later an umpire.
A bridge series — neither full Tests nor mere exhibition — that re-laid first-class cricket's foundations in a half-rebuilt Britain. The 367,000 ticket sales told the boards there was a public for cricket; Hassett's captaincy and Miller's batting told them there was a side.
Wisden's 1946 edition was the first since 1939; it devoted 60 pages to the Victory Tests. Mark Rowe's 2009 book The Victory Tests is the standard work and treats the series as the unofficial restart of international cricket. The phrase 'the cricket came back at Lord's in May 1945' has entered the cricketing lexicon.
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.