After several years of England domination, it was Australia’s turn to regain the Ashes in the winter of 1907/08.
The first Test match, in Sydney in December, was closely contested. England batted after winning the toss made 273, George Gunn scoring 119 of them. In reply, Australia made exactly 300, Clem Hill top-scoring with 87 and Victor Trumper contributing 43. Batting second time, England also scored 300, Gunn with 74 the time and Joe Hardstaff Sr 63.
That meant Australia needed 274 to win. They got there with two wickets in hand, largely thanks to Sammy Carter’s 61 and 44 from Warwick Armstrong.
The second Test in Melbourne produced an even tighter finish. This time Australia batted first, making 266, with captain Monty Noble leading the way with 61. England though put themselves in a strong position, replying with 382, Kenneth Hastings with 126, and a young Jack Hobbs 83.
Noble then promoted himself up the order to open the second innings. He made 64, Trumper making 63, and Armstrong 77, out of a total of 397.
That meant England needed 282 to win. Captain Fred Fane made 50, but nine wickets were down by the time the last-wicket pair of Syd Barnes and Arthur Fielder came together, with 33 still needed. But they kept their nerve and scored the necessary runs.
The teams headed North-West to Adelaide for the third Test, where Australia again batted, making 285, Charles Macartney top scoring for them this time with 75. England again looked to be in a strong position when they replied with 363, with Jack Crawford scoring 62 and Hardstaff 61.
But Australia piled on the runs in their second innings which totalled 506, Hill making 160 this time round and Roger Hartigan 116.
Set a notional target of 426, England were bowled out for 183, Jack O’Connor taking 5-40 and Jack Saunders 5-65. Australia won by 245 runs.
The English were to suffer an even bigger loss in the fourth Test in Melbourne. Bowling first, they managed to restrict the home side to just 214, with Jack Crawford taking 5-48. But, then in turn, they were bowled out for 105, losing their last nine wickets for 36 runs, and Saunders took 5-28 and Noble 3-11.
Australia then effectively put the match beyond them by making 385 in their second innings, Armstrong top-scoring for his side.
Set 495 to win, England were bowled out for 186, Saunders claiming four more wickets.
Australia had trounced the visitors by 308 runs, and had won back the Ashes.
That made the result of the fifth Test in Sydney academic, but Australia won that as well. Batting first they struggled and were dismissed for just 137, Barnes claiming 7-60. The tourists then took a first-innings lead after scoring 281, Hobbs making 72, and Gunn an unbeaten 72.
Australia, though, then wiped out their deficit by scoring 422, Trumper with 166 and Syd Gregory with 56. England needed 279, but they lost early wickets, never recovered and were all out for 229. Saunders took another five wickets.
Australia had won by 49 runs.