It isn't often that England depart for Australia as firm favourites. It isn't often, either, that the favourites come such a spectacular cropper as they did in 1958-59. On paper, there was simply no contest. Since regaining the Ashes in the summer of 1953, England had dominated world cricket for, arguably, the only time in the 20th Century. Australia had been blown away in consecutive Ashes series - by Typhoon Tyson in 1954-55 and by Jim Laker's mesmeric feats in 1956 - and England's attack seemed none the weaker third time around, with Tyson returning to the scene of the crime as part of a formidable pace attack including Fred Trueman, Brian Statham and Peter Loader.

Laker and Tony Lock were back in harness in the spin department, while the batting looked to be well represented by Peter May - the finest batsman in the world at the time - and Colin Cowdrey, who had impressed on the first of his six tours of Australia in 1954-55. Tom Graveney was considered another banker, while Peter Richardson had barely put a foot wrong since his debut in the 1956 series, galloping past 1000 Test runs in just 13 matches.

Australia, by contrast, were seemingly on the wane. Keith Miller had retired, Ray Lindwall was nearing the end of a magnificent career, and the captaincy had passed to Richie Benaud, whose reputation as a legspinning allrounder had only been established on the previous winter's tour to South Africa. Much depended on Benaud and Alan Davidson with the ball, though in Raman Subba Row and Willie Watson, England believed they had the left-handers in the middle order to counter their lines of attack.

In the event, both Watson and Subba Row suffered early injuries - Watson's while journeying to Australia on board the SS Iberia - and in all seven of the original 16 players were out of action for lengthy parts of the tour. May and Cowdrey found their touch soon enough, but it quickly became apparent that England's four-man pace attack was distinctly off the pace. Of greatest concern was Frank Tyson, who took only three wickets in the entire series and would never again approach the heights of 1954-55. Trueman, meanwhile, was ruled out of the first Test at Brisbane with back trouble.

England nevertheless went into that first Test with confidence, but when May chose to bat first on a green-tinged pitch England soon found out what they were up against. Davidson and his fellow left-armer Ian Meckiff ripped through England's top order, aided by some aggressive captaincy from Benaud that put May's stereotypical leadership to shame. England folded for 134, and they fared little better second time around, with only Trevor Bailey's seven-hour 68 saving any face. His innings did not find favour with the fans, however, who endured some turgid cricket from both sides in the course of the series.

Norm O'Neill, on debut, duly guided to Australia to an eight-wicket victory, but afterwards there were mutterings of discontent from the England camp, not all of which smacked of sour grapes. Meckiff's action, not for the first time, had warranted serious attention, though not, it seemed, from the umpires, who did not once call him for throwing in the five matches. When, in the second Test at Melbourne, his jerky style yielded 6 for 38 in an embarrassing England total of 87, there was no way back for a demoralised side.

Gamesmanship and suspicions of foul play were not by any means limited to Australia's cricket - Lock's action was equally suspect, and he and Laker were both witnessed rubbing the ball on the ground. But no fewer than four of Australia's front-line bowlers - Meckiff, Jim Burke, Gordon Rorke and Keith Slater - were all suspected of chucking. Rorke also used his 6ft4ins frame to exploit the back-foot no-ball law, frequently dragging from behind the bowling crease to deliver the ball from around 18 yards.

None of this would have mattered if England's batsmen had lived up to their hype. But apart from May and Cowdrey, who each averaged above 40, the rest were distinctly disappointing. Graveney belatedly found some form, but Richardson mustered just 24 runs while the Ashes were still at stake, and other than Bailey, none of the support cast contributed so much as a half-century. Their efforts were put in context by Colin McDonald, who scored 519 runs in the series including a magnificent century at Adelaide, and Neil Harvey, whose 167 out of 308 in the vital second Test was arguably the finest innings of his long career.

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