The five-Test 1938 Ashes series between Australia and England was drawn. England and Australia won a Test each, with two of the other Tests drawn and the third game of the series, scheduled for Manchester, abandoned without a ball being bowled, only the second instance of this in more than 60 years of Test cricket. The Australians retained The Ashes.
In all, 30 first-class matches were played, and the Australian team won 15 of them losing only to England and H. D. G. Leveson-Gower's XI. There were also six minor games, the Australians winning five of them.
The touring team DG Bradman (captain - SA) SJ McCabe (vice-captain - NSW) CL Badcock (SA) SG Barnes (NSW) BA Barnett (VIC) WA Brown (QLD) AG Chipperfield (NSW) JHW Fingleton (NSW) LO Fleetwood-Smith (VIC) AL Hassett (VIC) EL McCormick (VIC) WJ O'Reilly (NSW) MG Waite (SA) CW Walker (SA) FA Ward (SA) ECS White (NSW) Manager: WH Jeanes (SA)
The team travelled to England on the P&O liner RMS Strathmore.Gideon Haigh, The Book of Ashes Anecdotes, p. 61
Test series summary
First Test
Second Test
Third Test
Fourth Test
Fifth Test
The England total of 903/7d is the highest Test innings total to feature a duck – Eddie Paynter was dismissed for 0. The margin of an innings and 579 runs is the largest margin by an innings to date and the second by runs, beaten only by England's defeat of Australia by 675 runs in the first Test of the 1928–29 series.
Ceylon The Australians had a stopover in Colombo en route to England and played a one-day single-innings match there against the Ceylon national team, which at that time did not have Test status.
References
External links CricketArchive – tour summaries
Annual reviews Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 1939
Further reading Bill Frindall, The Wisden Book of Test Cricket 1877-1978, Wisden, 1979 Chris Harte, A History of Australian Cricket, Andre Deutsch, 1993