Jack Hobbs, unavailable at first, was added to the tour party on
12 August when M.C.C. agreed that his wife could accompany him on the
six-month tour. He had considered going instead on Mr. S.B. Joel's tour of South Africa,
which would be better paid and less arduous. M.C.C. allowed Hobbs to tour as an 'extra player' so that
he need not displace anyone.
‘Ciss’ Parkin was not considered for the tour because he
published articles criticising the use made of his bowling in the first Test
match of 1924.
England
suffered another bad tour, losing the Ashes series 4-1, but there was a large
financial profit. M.C.C.'s 'Foreign Tours Fund' was exhausted by the demands
of earlier New Zealand and Australian tours but the financial success of the
1924-25 tour helped the fund to recover.
Maurice Tate, with 38 wickets in the Tests, and 77 on the whole
tour, created records that have still not been broken by an English tourist.
Tom Langridge, an Australian physical training expert, who acted
as 'masseur' to touring teams in the 1940's, helped M.C.C. during this tour.
Selectors
Lord
Harris (chairman), Arthur Gilligan,
Peter Perrin, Pelham Warner and Jack Hobbs (adviser).
H.D.G.Leveson-Gower,
John Daniel and John Sharp had helped in the selection of 'probables',
announced on 9 June.
Selection
Unavailable:Vallance Jupp;Frank
Mann (the original choice as captain) ; G E C (George) Wood.
Jack
Hobbs was one of the first invited but was reluctant to tour owing to poor
health and the length of time at sea. He was tempted by the less strenuous
tour for S B Joel’s XI to South
Africa and not persuaded to join the Ashes
tour until late in August.
Tour Party Announced : (in three stages) On 23 July: Bryan, Chapman,
Gilligan, Hendren, Sandham, Strudwick, Sutcliffe, Tate, Tyldesley, Woolley; on
30 July: Douglas, Freeman, Hearne, Kilner and Gibson; on 20 August:Hobbs,
Howell and Whysall.
Withdrawal : Clem Gibson, who had played no first-class cricket in 1924,
withdrew, it was announced on 20 August, because he would be away in South America during the winter.
Not selected :Percy Fender,George Geary,Ernest Tyldesley.
Time between selection and departure from England
29 days
(20 August - 18 September)
Travel
TilburyTFremantle
‘Ormonde’
There were two pre-tour matches:
Scarborough
C I Thornton's XIvSouth Africans
10-12 September
Kennington Oval
The RestvYorkshire
(champion county)
13-16 September
Three tourists not playing in these matches, Freeman,
Howell and Whysall, and the manager, Fred Toone, left Fenchurch Street
Station, London, at 9:20 am on 13 September to catch the 'Ormonde' at
Tilbury. On 18 September the main body of the team left Victoria Station to
cross France overland and
meet the 'Ormonde' at Toulon.
Sailing via Naples and Port
Said, the ship arrived at Colombo
on 3 October to play a match.
The team disembarked at Fremantle at 6:30 on the
morning of 14 October. They were met by the baggageman Ferguson,
and drove the 12 miles to Perth.
Time spent in Australia
156 days
(14
October - 19 March)
On-tour
selection panel
Arthur Gilligan (captain),Johnny Douglas, Percy Chapman, Frank Woolley and Jack Hobbs (senior professionals).
Reinforcements
None
Fixtures/Results
The match against Western
Australia Colts was not on the original tour programme.
There was no time for the
matches at Albury after the first Test, against Bendigo
after the second, and Geelong
after the third. They were not played because the Test matches were made
timeless.
Percy Chapman did not accompany the team when it left
Sydney’s Central Station for Melbourne on Sunday 8 March. He sailed by
the ss Aorangi to New Zealandwhere he was married to Tom Lowry’s sister.
Jack Bryan left by the same boat to
return to England by way
of Fiji, Hawaii
and America.
On 12 March 1925 the rest of the team left Melbourne by
train for the final tour match at Adelaide, and sailed from there on P &
O mail boat 'Maloja' on 19
March.Their departure was delayed by
the Malojagrounding on a
sandbank at the mouth of the harbour. The ship had to be refloated by tugs at
high tide, and departed at noon next day.
While the mail steamer was in port at Fremantle on 21
March the team disembarked briefly; the ship’s captain held up his departure
for an hour to allow them to play a football match against Western
Australia.
Sailing via Colombo, Aden (9 April) and Port Said, the
ship reached Marseilles on 18 April and, travelling overland by rail, the
team arrived at Victoria Station next day, to an enthusiastic reception.
Time away from England
213 days
(18
September -19 April)
Finances
The players were paid £400 per man, plus out of pocket expenses.
Accounts
of the tour
"Gilligan's Men" by Monty Noble(Chapman & Hall, 1925).
Postscript
The team was reassembled in
September 1925 for two festivalmatches at Scarborough and
Folkestone: