English cricket team in Australia in 1994–95
| English cricket team in Australia in 1994–95 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
||
| England | Australia | ||
| Dates | 25 October 1994 – 7 February 1995 | ||
| Captains | Mike Atherton | Mark Taylor | |
| Test series | |||
| Result | Australia won the 5-match series 3–1 | ||
| Most runs | Graham Thorpe (444) | Michael Slater (623) | |
| Most wickets | Darren Gough (20) | Craig McDermott (32) | |
| Player of the series | Craig McDermott | ||
The England cricket team toured Australia in 1994–95 to compete in the Ashes series against their hosts. The series consisted of five Test matches, Australia winning three, England one, and the other match was drawn. Australia retained the Ashes a third consecutive time.
England's selection for the tour was predictable, with the experienced Mike Gatting being added to the squads that had toured the West Indies and enjoyed success in home series against New Zealand and South Africa. Joey Benjamin and Martin McCague were recalled to the bowling after successful county seasons. Mike Atherton again captained the team, rallying after the summer indiscretions at Lord's though it appeared he was less than happy at the selections that had been made.
The tourists problems began almost immediately on arriving in Australia, as opening batsman Alec Stewart fractured a finger in a practice match and Shaun Udal broke his thumb in the official tour opener at Lilac Hill. This was followed by Devon Malcolm and Benjamin succumbing to chickenpox prior to the First Test. Malcolm's absence was a huge blow to England, whose coach Keith Fletcher had built up as a focal point of the pace attack, comparing the England seamers to the legendary Lillee and Thomson and claiming that the Australians were scared of his pace, while describing Darren Gough as "Yorkshire's fastest since Freddie Trueman". Lillie and former Aussie skipper Greg Chappell poured scorn on such claims. Meanwhile, both David Hopps of The Guardian and Simon O'Hagan in The Independent identified Graham Thorpe as England's key batsman, and the most likely to counter the leg-spin of Shane Warne.
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