Fourth Test, 1948 Ashes Series - Aftermath

Aftermath

After the Fourth Test, the Australians had five tour matches before the final Test. They defeated Derbyshire by an innings, before having a washout against Glamorgan. The Australians then defeated Warwickshire by nine wickets, before drawing with Lancashire, who hung on with three wickets in hand on the final day. This was followed by a two-day non-first-class match against Durham, which was drawn after rain washed out the second day. During this period, Barnes returned to action after recuperating from his rib injury. Toshack also recovered to play against Lancashire, but injured himself again and was ruled out of the remainder of the tour.

Following Australia's unlikely win at Headingley, the England selectors were widely condemned for their failure to choose a specialist wrist spinner to exploit the turning pitch. This was cited as a reason for the hosts' loss, as the part-timer Compton was able to trouble the batsmen and generate opportunities for wickets, only to see them foregone because of missed catches and stumpings. In response, the English selectors made four changes to the team for the Fifth Test, one of these being the inclusion of leg spinner Eric Hollies. Their frequent changes to the team meant the hosts used a total of 21 players for the five Tests, and the repeated changes to personnel resulted in heavy criticism.

Despite Hollies being able to trouble most of their batsmen, Australia completed the Test series with a convincing innings victory in the Fifth Test to complete a 4–0 result. The Fifth Test was the last international match, and Australia only had seven further matches to negotiate in order to fulfil Bradman's aim of going through the tour undefeated. They secured three consecutive innings victories against Kent, the Gentlemen of England and Somerset. They proceeded to take first innings leads of more than 200 against the South of England and Leveson-Gower's XI, but both matches were washed out. The last two matches were two-day non-first-class matches against Scotland, both won by an innings. Bradman's men thus completed the tour undefeated, earning themselves the sobriquet The Invincibles.