1990–91 Ashes series - Misplaced Pages

International cricket tour

Cricket series

1990-91 Ashes Series

Part of the English cricket team in Australia in 1990-91

Date

23 November 1990 - 5 February 1991

Location

Australia

Result

Australia won the 5-Test series 3-0

Player of the series

Bruce Reid

Teams
Australia	England
Captains
Allan Border	Allan Lamb (stand-in) Graham Gooch
Most runs
David Boon (530) Greg Matthews (353) Geoff Marsh (314)	Graham Gooch (426) David Gower (407) Mike Atherton (279)
Most wickets
Bruce Reid (27) Craig McDermott (18) Terry Alderman (16)	Devon Malcolm (16) Angus Fraser (11) Phil DeFreitas (10)

← 1989 1993 →

The England cricket team toured Australia in the 1990–91 season to play a five-match Test series against Australia for The Ashes. The Australians were the holders, having reclaimed the Ashes in England during the 1989 Ashes series, however the 1986-87 Ashes series, which was the previous series in Australia had been won by England. The English tourists were confident their home series loss in 1989 had been a blemish and that they were more than capable of reclaiming the Ashes 'down under'. The tourists were seemingly well prepared. During their home summer they had 1-0 victories in 3-test series against both India and New Zealand, and had played well in their warm-up matches.

However the Australians, led by the authoritative Allan Border were in a ruthless mood. They had home series victories against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, but had lost a one-off test to New Zealand since the 1989 Ashes series victory, and Border and his men were determined to defend the trophy. The Australians came out aggressively from the start, and combined with moments of bad-luck for the tourists, proved too much pressure for the England side to handle. The five test series was won 3-0 by Australia. However, unlike the 1989 series, only the final test was an outright walkover: England showed considerably more fight than they had two years previously, and in fact narrowly had the better of the first innings in the first two Tests, but in each case suffered a second-innings batting collapse leaving Australia a comparatively small target to chase. The third Test was almost a reverse of the first two, Australia taking a narrow first innings lead (England actually declaring while still short of the Australian total), but collapsing in the second innings: however, stalwart defence by their last two wickets held England up for a couple of hours on the last day, and left them with just not enough time to chase the runs. And in the fourth Test, Australia took a large first-innings lead, and declared in their second innings to set England an improbably high target in the final innings: but they made such a good fist of the chase that the match could have swung either way if an extra day had been available.

Test series

1st Test

23–25 November 1990
Scorecard

England	v	Australia
194 (78 overs) David Gower 61 (121) Bruce Reid 4/53 (18 overs)		152 (63 overs) Greg Matthews 35 (93) Chris Lewis 3/29 (9 overs)
114 (53.1 overs) David Gower 27 (44) Terry Alderman 6/47 (22 overs)		0/157 (46 overs) Geoff Marsh 72* (154)

Australia won by 10 wickets
The Gabba, Brisbane
Umpires: Tony Crafter and Peter McConnell
Player of the match: Terry Alderman (Aus)

Australia won the toss and fielded
Carl Rackemann (AUS) and Martin Bicknell (ENG) were named 12th men for their respective teams

Australia lead the five test series 1–0.

2nd Test

26–30 December 1990
Scorecard

England	v	Australia
352 (131.4 overs) DI Gower 100 (170) BA Reid 6/97		306 (112.5 overs) AR Border 62 (164) ARC Fraser 6/82
150 (73 overs) GA Gooch 58 (116) BA Reid 7/51		197/2 (86 overs) DC Boon 94* (234) ARC Fraser 1/33

Australia won by 8 wickets
Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
Umpires: AR Crafter (Aus) and PJ McConnell (Aus)
Player of the match: BA Reid (Aus)

Australia lead the five test series 2–0.

3rd Test

4–8 January 1991
Scorecard

Australia	v	England
518 (157 overs) GRJ Matthews 128 (175) DE Malcolm 4/128		469/8d (172.1 overs) DI Gower 123 (236) TM Alderman 3/62
205 (89 overs) IA Healy 69 (160) PCR Tufnell 5/61		113/4 (25 overs) GA Gooch 54 (42) GRJ Matthews 2/26

Match drawn
Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
Umpires: AR Crafter (Aus) and PJ McConnell (Aus)
Player of the match: MA Atherton (Eng)

Australia lead the five test series 2–0.

4th Test

25–29 January 1991
Scorecard

Australia	v	England
386 (135.2 overs) ME Waugh 138 (188) PAJ DeFreitas 4/56		229 (81.3 overs) GA Gooch 87 (197) CJ McDermott 5/97
314/6d (104 overs) DC Boon 121 (277) PCR Tufnell 1/28		335/5 (96 overs) GA Gooch 117 (188) BA Reid 2/59

Match drawn
Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
Umpires: LJ King (Aus) and TA Prue (Aus)
Player of the match: GA Gooch (Eng)

Australia lead the five test series 2–0.

5th Test

1–5 February 1991
Scorecard

England	v	Australia
244 (66.4 overs) AJ Lamb 91 (122) CJ McDermott 8/97		307 (90.5 overs) DC Boon 64 (124) DE Malcolm 3/94
182 (61.3 overs) RA Smith 43 (70) MG Hughes 4/37		120/1 (31.2 overs) GR Marsh 63* (110) PAJ DeFreitas 1/29

Australia won by 9 wickets
WACA Ground, Perth
Umpires: SG Randell (Aus) and CD Timmins (Aus)
Player of the match: CJ McDermott (Aus)

Australia won the five test series 3–0.

External sources

CricketArchive – tour itinerary

Annual reviews

Playfair Cricket Annual 1991
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 1991

References

The Ashes

List of Ashes series

1850

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												1882–83		1884–85		1886–87		1887–88				1891–92		1894–95		1897–98

1900

	1902		1905		1909		1912		World War I			1921		1926		1930		1934		1938		World War II			1948
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1950

	1953		1956		1961		1964		1968		1972		1975		1977		1981		1985		1989		1993		1997
1950–51		1954–55		1958–59		1962–63		1965–66		1970–71		1974–75				1978–79		1982–83		1986–87		1990–91		1994–95		1998–99

2000

	2001		2005		2009		2013		2015		2019		2023
		2002–03		2006–07		2010–11		2013–14		2017–18		2021–22

Non-Ashes Australia v England Test series
1876–77 1878–79 1880 1881–82 1882 1945 1976–77 1979–80 1980 1987–88 2027

Matches in white background were played in England, yellow – in Australia.

International cricket tours of Australia

Test and LOI tours
Afghanistan	2021–22 (cancelled)
Bangladesh	2003 2008
England	1876–77 1878–79 1881–82 1882–83 1884–85 1886–87 1887–88 1891–92 1894–95 1897–98 1901–02 1903–04 1907–08 1911–12 1920–21 1924–25 1928–29 1932–33§ 1936–37 1946–47§ 1950–51§ 1954–55§ 1958–59§ 1962–63§ 1965–66§ 1970–71§ 1974–75§ 1977 1978–79 1979–80 1982–83 1986–87 1987–88§ 1990–91 1994–95 1998–99 2002–03 2006–07 2010–11 2013–14 2017–18 2021–22 2022–23
India	1947–48 1967–68§ 1977–78 1980–81§ 1985–86 1991–92 1999–2000 2003–04 2007–08 2011–12 2014–15 2015–16 2018–19 2020–21 2024–25
New Zealand	1973–74 1980–81 1982–83 1985–86 1987–88 1989–90 1993–94 1997–98 2001–02 2004–05 2008–09 2011–12 2015–16 2016–17 2019–20 2022–23
Pakistan	1964–65§ 1972–73§ 1976–77 1978–79§ 1981–82 1983–84 1989–90 1992–93 1995–96 1996–97 1999–2000 2002 2004–05 2009–10 2016–17 2019–20 2023–24 2024–25
South Africa	1910–11 1931–32§ 1952–53§ 1963–64§ 1971–72 (cancelled) 1993–94 1997–98 2000 2001–02 2005–06 2008–09 2012–13 2014–15 2016–17 2018–19 2022–23
Sri Lanka	1987–88 1989–90 1995–96 2004 2007–08 2010–11 2012–13 2016–17 2018–19 2019–20 2021–22
West Indies	1930–31 1951–52§ 1960–61 1968–69§ 1975–76 1979–80§ 1981–82 1984–85 1988–89 1992–93 1995–96 1996–97 2000–01 2005–06 2009–10 2012–13 2015–16 2020–21 2022–23 2023–24
Zimbabwe	1994–95 2003–04 2022

Tournaments hosted
World Cup	1992 2015
T20 World Cup	2022
Tri-series	1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2011–12 2014–15 2017–18
Other multi-team tournaments	1985 1987

Other tours
Afghanistan	2014–15
Australian Forces	1919–20 1945–46
English	1861–62 1863–64 1873–74 1902–03 1922–23 1929–30 1935–36 1979–80
England Lions	2012–13 2021
Fijian	1907–08
Ireland	2014–15
Multi-national	1971–72 2005–06
Nepal	2023–24
New Zealand	1898–99 1913–14 1925–26 1927–28 1937–38 1953–54 1961–62 1967–68 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1974–75
PNG	2014–15
Scotland	2014–15
Sri Lanka	1982–83
UAE	2014–15
World Series Cricket (West Indies & World XI)	1977-78 1978-79
Pakistan A	2024

§: Toured New Zealand as well as Australia

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