Alec Bedser Cricket Home Movies: MCC Tour of Australia 1954

The voyage, the camaraderie, the matches, the sights: the whole experience of a 1950s tour down under is here.

A tour of Australia in the early 50s involved a six-week sea journey, several warm-up matches and much social and sight-seeing activity, as well as the Tests themselves. Alec Bedser's home movies capture the whole experience, including the passage through the Suez Canal, many of the matches, beaches and barbies, trips to the Australian Open Tennis tournament, horse racing, the outback and more.

The MCC tourists played 23 matches in all, including five Test matches (as England), winning the series 3-1 after losing the first Test in Brisbane. Players included Peter May, Denis Compton, Tom Graveney and Trevor Bailey, with Richie Benaud, Neil Harvey and Keith Miller featuring for the Aussies.