Ernie Toshack With The Australian Cricket Team in England in 1948 - First Test

First Test

Toshack's performance in the First Test at Trent Bridge was a quiet one, taking a single wicket in each innings. England won the toss and elected to bat. Toshack trapped the home captain Norman Yardley leg before wicket with a ball that straightened after pitching, ending with 1/28 as England were bowled out for 165. Toshack then came to the wicket at 9/476 and was involved in an aggressive final wicket partnership of 33 with Johnston, scoring 19 runs—his best at Test level to date—in just 18 minutes, batting in a carefree and freewheeling manner, before falling lbw to Alec Bedser, ending Australia's innings on 509 with a 344-run lead.

During the second innings, Bradman thought that rain might come so he utilised Toshack to bowl defensive leg theory. He did so to slow the scoring so that England would not have a lead by the time the rain came to create a sticky wicket, otherwise Australia would have been forced to chase a target on a difficult pitch with irregular bounce and pace. As the umpires were obliged to not call off play unless the light was so poor as endanger the batsman, the lack of pace of Johnson and Toshack forced proceedings to continue as they posed no injury threat to the batsmen. Early on the fourth morning, Toshack were able to make the ball deviate regularly while bowling to Hutton and Denis Compton, but Bradman opted to have Miller take the new ball in the fifth over of the day as soon as it was available, taking Toshack off. Later, Toshack was used defensively while Miller attacked from the other end. Bradman's response to a boundary being hit from Toshack was to further stack the leg side with fielders in defensive positions, and scoring was slow as Toshack bowled accurately. Toshack took the wicket of Joe Hardstaff junior for 43, who holed out to Hassett on the leg side, having supported Denis Compton in a partnership of 93. The ball looped up in the air and travelled half-way to the square leg boundary, but Hassett managed to keep track of its trajectory through the fog. Toshack ended with 1/60 from 33 overs as Australia were one bowler short after an injury to Lindwall had prevented him from bowling since the first afternoon. England were bowled out for 441 and Australia reached the target of 98 with eight wickets in hand.

Toshack was rested for the first tour match after the First Test against Northamptonshire, which Australia won by an innings. He returned against Yorkshire at Bramall Lane, Sheffield, making four as Australia batted first and scored 249. He then recorded the best innings analysis of his first-class career, taking 7/81 from 40 consecutive overs, bemusing the Yorkshire spectators with his Australian accent and distinctive "Ow Wizz Ee" appealing. He removed both openers, including Hutton, and then bowled Yorkshire and England captain Norman Yardley to leave the hosts at 3/107. After Yorkshire reached 4/149, Toshack took four more wickets as the hosts collapsed to be all out for 206. Wicket-keeper Ron Saggers stood up to the wickets and stumped Ted Lester before Toshack removed three lower-order batsmen. Toshack did not bat or bowl again as the match petered into a draw. Bradman decided to bat until late on the third afternoon and secure a draw instead of pressing for a win; Yorkshire only batted for 27 overs in their second innings and the crowd booed Bradman for not pursuing a victory. With the match safe, Bradman elected to rely mainly on his second-choice bowlers to conserve his frontline bowlers' energy for the next Test.