By Nick Richardson
In the annals of Test cricket, there have been few more compelling and controversial Ashes series’ than the Bodyline Tests of that long-ago summer of 1932-33.
But the next tour of an English cricket team is rarely celebrated, even though it was a significant first step in a tradition that marks its latest iteration this month. It was the first English women’s cricket tour of Australia, when the daughter of a Suffragette, Betty Archdale, arrived in Fremantle leading a team of women who would play Australia in a three-Test series, in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Just how the tour came about and the story of the development of Australian women’s cricket is the focus of a new podcast, called The Maiden Summer.
Despite the Bodyline ructions, there were no tensions during the 1934-35 women’s tour, and boosted by growing newspaper coverage, good crowds followed the tourists around the country. Australia was captained by Margaret Peden, sports mistress at Redlands in Sydney, who was not only a skilful bat but a shrewd captain.
But after losses in Brisbane and Sydney, the Australians were playing for pride when they arrived in Melbourne for the third and final Test.
As part of organising the Test, the Victorian Women’s Cricket Association wrote to the MCC for permission to use the ground. The Club didn’t hesitate – the then-MCC secretary and former Test off-spinner Hugh Trumble agreed that the MCG could be used for a two-day warm-up game followed by the Test match. It’s worth remembering that it would take another 41 years before the MCC in England would allow women to play at Lords.
The English team could not help but feel the history and appreciate the MCG’s deep connections to cricket. One of the players, Grace Morgan, wrote of the experience: “We were shown over the pavilion and introduced to some well- known ex-cricketers and then to lunch…Ponsford, Kelly, Rigg, Fleetwood-Smith, Ebeling, and Hugh Trumble were there and sat among us, being very friendly, and afterwards taking us out to the wicket and practice nets and telling us about them. Our dressing room is the same one that [English players] Hobbs, Sutcliffe and Co used when they were over here, and we felt honoured in that we were the first women to be allowed in certain parts of the pavilion which are regarded practically as 'hallowed ground’.’’
On the first day of the Melbourne Test, England was dismissed for 162 – and Port Melbourne’s own Peggy Antonio – who would become known as the “Girl Grimmett’’- spun out the tourists, taking 6-49. At the end of two first innings, England only had a 12-run lead.
Betty Archdale made a sporting declaration and set Australia 166 to win. It was a generous challenge but Australia lost quick wickets before a rear-guard action saved the whitewash with a thrilling draw.
By 1937, the Australian women would embark on their inaugural tour of England, and show how much they had learned from that maiden summer.
But more importantly, a tradition had been established: this month, the women’s Ashes takes place around the country, celebrating a rivalry that grew from a pioneering contest more than eight decades ago.
In the annals of Test cricket, there have been few more compelling and controversial Ashes series’ than the Bodyline Tests of that long-ago summer of 1932-33.
But the next tour of an English cricket team is rarely celebrated, even though it was a significant first step in a tradition that marks its latest iteration this month. It was the first English women’s cricket tour of Australia, when the daughter of a Suffragette, Betty Archdale, arrived in Fremantle leading a team of women who would play Australia in a three-Test series, in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Just how the tour came about and the story of the development of Australian women’s cricket is the focus of a new podcast, called The Maiden Summer.
Despite the Bodyline ructions, there were no tensions during the 1934-35 women’s tour, and boosted by growing newspaper coverage, good crowds followed the tourists around the country. Australia was captained by Margaret Peden, sports mistress at Redlands in Sydney, who was not only a skilful bat but a shrewd captain.
But after losses in Brisbane and Sydney, the Australians were playing for pride when they arrived in Melbourne for the third and final Test.
As part of organising the Test, the Victorian Women’s Cricket Association wrote to the MCC for permission to use the ground. The Club didn’t hesitate – the then-MCC secretary and former Test off-spinner Hugh Trumble agreed that the MCG could be used for a two-day warm-up game followed by the Test match. It’s worth remembering that it would take another 41 years before the MCC in England would allow women to play at Lords.
The English team could not help but feel the history and appreciate the MCG’s deep connections to cricket. One of the players, Grace Morgan, wrote of the experience: “We were shown over the pavilion and introduced to some well- known ex-cricketers and then to lunch…Ponsford, Kelly, Rigg, Fleetwood-Smith, Ebeling, and Hugh Trumble were there and sat among us, being very friendly, and afterwards taking us out to the wicket and practice nets and telling us about them. Our dressing room is the same one that [English players] Hobbs, Sutcliffe and Co used when they were over here, and we felt honoured in that we were the first women to be allowed in certain parts of the pavilion which are regarded practically as 'hallowed ground’.’’
On the first day of the Melbourne Test, England was dismissed for 162 – and Port Melbourne’s own Peggy Antonio – who would become known as the “Girl Grimmett’’- spun out the tourists, taking 6-49. At the end of two first innings, England only had a 12-run lead.
Betty Archdale made a sporting declaration and set Australia 166 to win. It was a generous challenge but Australia lost quick wickets before a rear-guard action saved the whitewash with a thrilling draw.
By 1937, the Australian women would embark on their inaugural tour of England, and show how much they had learned from that maiden summer.
But more importantly, a tradition had been established: this month, the women’s Ashes takes place around the country, celebrating a rivalry that grew from a pioneering contest more than eight decades ago.