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The 1974–75 Ashes series consisted of six cricket Test matches, each match lasted five days with six hours of play each day and eight ball overs. It formed part of the MCC tour of Australia in 1974–75 and the matches outside the Tests were played in the name of the Marylebone Cricket Club. Ian Chappell's Australians won the series 4–1 and "brutally and unceremoniously wrenched the Ashes"〔p12, Tyson〕 from Mike Denness's England team. It was Australia's first series victory over England for ten years and the experience proved popular as 777,563 spectators came through the gates and paid nearly a million Australian dollars for the privilege.〔p216, Tyson〕 For the first time the first day of the Third Test at Melbourne was held on Boxing Day in an Ashes series, now a cricketing tradition. Chappell's team was labelled the "ugly Australians" thanks to his hard-nosed captaincy, intimidatory fast bowling and constant sledging as "Rod Marsh and his captain Ian Chappell would vie with each other in profanity".〔p119, Willis〕 Dennis Lillee had injured his back in 1973, but now returned to Test cricket with 25 wickets at an average of 23.94, but the real surprise was Jeff Thomson whose javelin throw bowling action generated exceptional pace and rearing bouncers that gave him 33 wickets (17.93). ''Wisden'' reported that "never in the 98 years of Test cricket have batsmen been so grievously bruised and battered by ferocious, hostile, short-pitched balls".〔 They received generous support from the fast-medium bowler Max Walker with 23 wickets (29.73) and the off-spinner Ashley Mallett with 17 wickets (19.94) as Australia won four of the first five Tests. Greg Chappell had already established himself as a world class batsman and cemented his reputation with 608 runs at an average of 55.27 and a record 14 catches. The opener Ian Redpath spent over 32 hours at the crease for his 472 runs (42.90) and Doug Walters became the first batsman to make an Ashes century in a single session since Don Bradman. The Australian fielding was exceptional as "almost everything that left the ground was caught and ... had a swallow flown within reach of the Australian fieldsmen ... it would have done do at its own risk".〔p66, Tyson〕 The England batsmen were battered and bruised to such an extent that in one game a local player was used to make up an XI. The 41-year-old Colin Cowdrey was sent to reinforce the team on his record sixth tour of Australia and opened the England innings in the second Test at Perth a few days after his arrival and without any match practice. Denness's form deserted him for most of the tour and he became the first captain to drop himself from a Test match, but returned to make 188 and win the Sixth Test by an innings, the highest score by an England captain in Australia. ==Umpiring== (詳細はE.W. Swanton〔pp175-176, Swanton〕 The umpires in all six Tests were Tom Brooks, who had made his debut four years previously in 1970–71, and Robin Bailhache, whose made his debut in the First Test at Brisbane. Brooks had been a fast-medium bowler for New South Wales and was forgiving of short-pitched deliveries which he saw as a natural part of the game.〔p108, Snow〕 This helped England in 1970–71 when they had the fast bowlers John Snow and Bob Willis, but not in 1974–75. The only real point of contention the series was the intimidatory bowling, in particularly by Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson of Australia, but also Bob Willis, Tony Greig and Peter Lever of England. As the series progressed the touring team and English press thought that the Australian umpires failed to apply Law 46; 'The persistent bowling of fast short-pitched balls at the batsman is unfair if, in the opinion of the umpire at the bowler's end, it constitutes a systematic attempt at intimidation'.〔p218, Tyson〕 Traditionally it was the job of the captain to restrain his bowlers if they became too aggressive, but Ian Chappell refused to do so and the Australian umpires were loath to give them official warnings. To be fair Chappell "employed almost the identical tactics used by Illingworth and Snow in 1970–71".〔 Keith Fletcher and John Edrich (twice each), Dennis Amiss, David Lloyd, Colin Cowdrey and Fred Titmus of England and Wally Edwards, Dennis Lillee, Ashley Mallett and Greg Chappell of Australia were all injured while batting in the series. However, the umpires were willing to give the batsmen the benefit of bad light several times, particularly if Lillee, Thomson or Willis were bowling. In the First Test at Brisbane Bailhache told Lille and Thomson to stop bowling short, but they did not and he offered the England openers the benefit of the bad light. As a result Ian Chappell complained about the umpire's interference as it was not his job to tell his team how to bowl, Frank Tyson agreeing. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「1974–75 Ashes series」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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