An England cricket team toured Australia in the 1897–98 season to play a five-match Test series against the Australia national cricket team. The team was captained by Andrew Stoddart and, except in the Test matches when it was called England, it was generally known as A. E. Stoddart's XI.
Contents
Stoddart only played in the third and fourth Test matches; Archie MacLaren captained England in the first, second and fifth Tests. England won the first Test comfortably by nine wickets but were emphatically defeated in each of the other four. Australia, captained by Harry Trott, therefore regained The Ashes. Australia were well served in batting by Joe Darling (he scored 537 runs, including three centuries), Clem Hill and Charlie McLeod; and in bowling by Ernie Jones, Monty Noble and Hugh Trumble. J. T. Hearne and Tom Richardson were England's most successful bowlers but the team was largely let down by its batting, with only MacLaren and Ranjitsinhji earning any distinction.
The English team played a total of 23 matches on tour: five Tests; seven first-class matches against state teams; and eleven minor matches against local teams. In the state matches, Stoddart's XI won three, drew three and lost one.
Players
The English party consisted of thirteen players, twelve of whom played for England in the Test series:
The following players represented Australia in the Test series:
Test series summary
Australia won the Test series 4–1: