Bill Brown With The Australian Cricket Team in England in 1948 - First Test

First Test

Up to this point, Brown—who was on his third tour of England—had scored 800 runs on tour at an average of 72.72, with a double century, three other centuries and 81 not out, In contrast, middle-order batsman Neil Harvey struggled in the initial stages of his first tour of England. Harvey failed to pass 25 in his first six innings, and although he had scored an unbeaten 100 against Sussex, he had totalled only 296 runs at 42.29. As a result, Brown gained selection in the First Test at Trent Bridge, batting out of position in the middle order while Barnes and Morris opened, whereas Harvey was dropped despite making a century in Australia's most recent Test against India.

England batted first and made 165, with Brown prominent in the field. Early on the first day of play, Brown caught England opener Cyril Washbrook on the run at the fine leg boundary after the batsman had attempted to hook a Ray Lindwall bouncer, leaving England at 2/15 after 41 minutes of play. He later made a series of one-handed stops in the field, helping to keep the pressure on the batsmen. Brown took his second catch of the innings to remove Alec Bedser, who had featured in a rearguard fightback to help take England to 165 after they had fallen to 8/74.

On the second day, Barnes and Bradman took the score to 1/121 before Barnes and Miller were dismissed without further addition to the score. All the while, Australia had been scoring slowly, as they would throughout the day. Brown came in at No. 5 to join Bradman, but he had played most of his career as an opening batsman and he looked uncomfortable in the middle order, but Bradman brought him in ahead of Hassett as the new ball was due and Brown was used to starting his innings against pace bowlers and a new ball. English captain Norman Yardley removed Jim Laker from the attack and took the second new ball. Bradman struck his first boundary in over 80 minutes and the run rate picked up somewhat, prompting England to revert to slower bowling. Australia passed England's total before Yardley brought himself on to bowl and trapped Brown—who was attempting to push the ball to mid-on—leg before wicket (lbw) with an off cutter in his first over. This ended a 64-run stand in 58 minutes and left Australia at 4/185. Following the departure of Brown, the scoring slowed as Bradman changed the team strategy to one of attempting to bat only once. Australia eventually reached 509, and after England compiled 441 in their second innings, Brown was not needed as Australia made the 98 runs required victory for the loss of only two wickets.

Between Tests, Brown was rested for the match against Northamptonshire, which Australia won by an innings. He returned for the second fixture against Yorkshire. Opening with Barnes, Brown made 19 as Australia took a 43-run first innings lead. In the second innings, Brown top-scored with 113. He combined with Bradman to add 154 runs for the second wicket as the match petered into a draw. In a patient and restrained display, Brown took four hours to make his century. Following his controversial selection for the tour, Brown was attempting to justify his position in the team by accumulating a large amount of runs, but earned criticism for being too dour. However, the century was enough to see him retain his middle-order position for the Second Test at Lord's, where Australia fielded an unchanged team. Former Test leg spinner and teammate Bill O'Reilly—who was in England as a journalist—criticised the selection of Brown, who had appeared to be noticeably uncomfortable in the unfamiliar role. He said that despite Brown's unbeaten double century in his previous Test at Lord's in 1938, Sam Loxton and Neil Harvey had better claims to selection.