The Final Ashes Voyage by Sea: England’s 1962–63 Journey to Australia

From today’s rushed Ashes schedule to the 1962–63 team’s last sea voyage, explore how England’s journeys to Australia have changed across eras.

England’s Epic Sea Voyage to Australia for the 1962–63 Ashes (Image Source: Google)

For the upcoming Ashes series, England’s cricketers are already in Australia. But do you know how they got there? They never departed as a team from Heathrow.

The T20 squad had travelled to New Zealand, and four players selected for the Ashes — Harry Brook, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse and Zak Crawley — were part of that group.

Ten days later, others chosen for the ODI series, including four more members of the Ashes squad, joined them. In addition, Test bowlers Mark Wood, Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson were also sent ahead to acclimatise.

Those selected for the Ashes who were already in New Zealand, along with the rest of the squad flying from England, finally assembled in Perth for the warm-up game. There are reports that several cricketers have complained about the hectic schedule and are feeling fatigued even before the Ashes begin. The tour is scheduled to end on 8 January 2026 and is being described as hectic and draining — even in this jet age, when players cross multiple time zones within hours.

England’s 1962–63 Journey to Australia

Present England players (and Australians travelling the other way) need to read about the Ashes trips of the past. No jet age and tour meant weeks after weeks at sea, or on road or trains. Which was the last English side to reach Australia by ship? The England side on the 1962-63 Ashes tour was the last to travel that way. For players, the days spent together on the boat or the ship were time bonding exercises. Luckily the players were provided the luxury to travel first-class.

For the 1962 side, it was not a straightway journey from Dover to the Australian shores. The England players took a flight to Aden in Yemen. From there, they boarded a vessel called The Canberra for the trip to Perth. The team was led by Ted Dexter and included seniors containing bona fide greats like Colin Cowdrey, Ray Illingworth, Fred Trueman and Brian Statham. The first Test was from 30 November, and the squad had gathered in London by the end of September.

Most of the occupants of the ship were local traders, who were doing business on the ship itself. There was no shortage of the food available, but cricketers were concerned about their fitness. The schedule was an exercise session in the morning, then badminton, lifting weights, jumping up and down etc.

Incidentally British athlete Gordon Pirie (5,000m silver at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne) was on the ship and he was requested to guide cricketers on the fitness. He declared that the best exercise would be running around the boat and each morning started with this, but no one was forced to run and slowly everyone backed out.

The ship stopped at Colombo in Sri Lanka to play a cricket match. The cricketers, with almost no cricket or playing activity on the ship, found them to be not fit to play. There was a British Army camp in Colombo and cricketers were invited there.

The Manager of the tour party was Bernard Fitzalan-Howard, the 16th Duke of Norfolk means a royal descent. So, he was not friendly with the cricketers and cricketers were always cautious when he was around.

This time Stoke’s England played one and only warm-up match, that too against an English side, before the Perth Test whereas in 1962, England played nine matches in five different states in six weeks before the Tests began. During five months in Australia, the visitors played 22 matches in addition to five Tests, visiting various new cities. The tour fee was £1,250.

By the time the tour ended and the side returned home it was the end of March and the new county season was scheduled to start in a few days.

Almost the same is the story of all the visiting England sides to Australia. The 1920-21 tour involved players being away for over seven months and often sailing by ship.

For the 1936-37 Ashes, the first after all the controversy of the Bodyline series, England side sailed on September 11, 1936, and were back home on April 26, a full 227 days later. They started from Southampton on the ship Orion, via Gibraltar, Toulon, Port Said and Suez and then stopped at Colombo to play a tour match. They arrived at Fremantle, Western Australia, on October 12, 1936. After the Ashes, they toured New Zealand for 18 days, and then bid a goodbye to Auckland on April 4, 1937, for America via Honolulu. A surprise was a stopover in Los Angeles and they visited Hollywood. From there, travelled by train across the United States and reached New York. From here they were again on the ship and boarded the Queen Mary to Plymouth. A train brought them to Paddington in London. Will today’s cricketers accept such a tour programme?