England's Revenge — Second Test at Melbourne, 31 March 1877

Lillywhite's side, smarting from the Melbourne loss, played a series of upcountry games in Victoria before returning to the MCG. Australia kept the same XI minus Frank Allan, who had cried off the first match.

The match started on 31 March on what was reportedly a softer Melbourne pitch following overnight rain. Lillywhite won the toss and put Australia in.

The Australians, exhausted from a long colonial summer and missing Bannerman through finger injury and Gregory's continued reliance on Kendall, were a notch below their Melbourne best. Australia were dismissed for 122 in their first innings, with Shaw and Hill running through a top order in which only Tom Horan (19) reached double figures. England replied with 261, of which Ulyett's 52 and Lillywhite's 22 were the highest scores. Australia 259 in the second innings, led by Horan's 33 and Murdoch's 17, set England 121 to win. Ulyett anchored the chase and England won by 4 wickets. The match took five playing days, much of it in showery weather, and confirmed that the first Test loss had not been a freak. The two matches together would later be considered the first Test series — though no one called it that at the time.

“Honour was satisfied on both sides.”

England returned home with a £1,000 profit on the tour, having won the rematch and lost the first Test. Australia's selectors began thinking about a return tour to England — which became the 1878 visit.