Ashes 1907-08 — Australia Regain the Urn, Macartney Debuts

England's 1905 Ashes win had set them up as favourites for a successful tour, but Stanley Jackson had retired and the Yorkshire fast bowlers Hirst and Rhodes were the side's only star turns. Australia, by contrast, had Trumper, Noble, Hill, Bardsley and Armstrong all available; the home conditions favoured them.

Arthur Jones, the Nottinghamshire amateur captain of the touring side, fell ill with pleurisy on the voyage and was unable to take the field for early matches. F.L. Fane led in the first three Tests; Jones returned for the last two.

Australia's first innings of the first Test, Sydney, ended at 300; Fane's England were bundled for 273. The match ebbed and flowed for three days; the last Australian wicket pair, Cotter and Hopkins, scored the runs to win.

England, captained on the field by Arthur Jones (who fell ill mid-tour and was replaced by F.L. Fane), arrived in Australia with the Ashes won at home in 1905 still in their possession. The series was tight in the first three Tests but turned decisively to Australia thereafter.

The first Test at Sydney was won by Australia by two wickets in a remarkable last-wicket stand. The second at Melbourne went to England by one wicket — two of the closest Ashes Tests in succession. The third (Adelaide) and fourth (Melbourne) went to Australia by good margins. The fifth at Sydney saw Trumper's 166 dazzle the crowd as Australia won the rubber 4-1.

Charlie Macartney made his Test debut at the Sydney first Test, picked as a left-arm spinner with handy lower-order batting. He took 17 wickets in the series (at 26.94) and earned from Kent's KL Hutchings the nickname 'Governor General' — meant ironically at the time, but a name that stuck. Macartney would later (in the 1920s) become a great attacking batsman; in 1907-08 he was still primarily a bowler.

“Trumper's batting was beyond praise.”

Macartney went on to become one of Australia's great attacking batsmen, eventually making 99 before lunch on the first day of a Test (Headingley 1926) and a triple century in his last match for NSW. Noble retired from Test cricket after 1909.

For England, the loss prompted reflection: Warner's 1903-04 success had not been built on. The 1909 home series would also go to Australia, and English Ashes hopes did not revive until 1911-12.