in the third match of the series, which stood at one-all now. After winning the toss, England made 247, and Australia replied with 218. In the latter innings, Alec Bannerman batted just over four hours to score 94. Figures of seven for 44 from Fred Spofforth saw England collapse to 123, before Dick Barlow's seven for 40 had the Australians collapsing themselves to 83 and losing by 69 runs. Bligh had won the three match series 2–1, and England's pride was restored. A fourth match was played against a "United Australian XI", which was even stronger than Murdoch's team that had lost the Ashes. As an experiment, a separate pitch was prepared for each innings. Australia won the game by 4 wickets, but it was (and still is) not recognised as a part of the Ashes series of 1882/83. England won the toss once again and batted first, 135 Allan Steel scoring 135 to see the tourists to 263. Australia's response was one less at 262, but England's 197 in the second innings did not set much of a target, and Australia won comfortably. A fifth match was proposed and discussed, but it did not materialise. England in Australia 1882/3. Match length: Timeless. Balls per over: 4. Series result: England win 2–1. England in Australia 1882/3. Match length: Timeless. Balls per over: 4. One-off Test. Result: Australia won. Continued on: History of Test cricket (1884 to 1889) Notes References Gibson, Alan: The Cricket Captains of England . Green, Benny (ed.): Wisden Anthology 1864–1900 . Grubb, Norman P.: C.T. Studd: Cricketer and Pioneer (Lutterworth Press, 2003). , p. 29. Frith, David: Australia versus England: A Pictorial History of every Test match since 1877 . Munns, Joy, Beyond Reasonable Doubt: The Birthplace of the Ashes (Sunbury, 1994), , for the origin of the Ashes Piesse, Ken: Cricket's Colosseum, 125 Years of Test Cricket at the MCG, . Barclay's World of Cricket (Collins, 1980), , p259. External links Detailed scorecard of the 1880 Test Cricinfo Cricket Archive History of Test cricket