The 1946–47 Ashes series consisted of five cricket Test matches, each of six days with five hours play each day and eight ball overs.
 Unlike pre-war Tests in Australia, matches were not timeless and played to a finish.
 It formed part of the MCC tour of Australia in 1946–47 and England played its matches outside the Tests in the name of the Marylebone Cricket Club.
 The England team was led by the veteran Wally Hammond and his vice-captain Norman Yardley with the strong batting line up of Len Hutton, Cyril Washbrook, Bill Edrich, Denis Compton and Joe Hardstaff, but a weak bowling attack that relied on pre-war bowlers like the 37-year-old Bill Voce of Bodyline fame and the mercurial leg-spinner Doug Wright.
 The two successes of the tour were the newly capped Alec Bedser, who would carry the England bowling attack until 1955, and Godfrey Evans who would be England's first choice wicketkeeper until 1959.
 England had drawn the Victory Tests 2-2 in 1945 and were thought to be equal in strength, but Hammond lost 3-0 to Don Bradman's Australian team which had only two other pre-war players - Lindsay Hassett and Sid Barnes, who had played 5 Tests between them - and was packed with fresh talent in the shape of Arthur Morris, Keith Miller, Ray Lindwall, Colin McCool, Ernie Toshack and Don Tallon.
 There were several controversial umpiring decisions which assumed greater significance as they favoured Australia and in particular Don Bradman.
Ian William Geddes Johnson (8 December 1917 – 9 October 1998) was an Australian cricketer who played 45 Test matches as a slow off-break bowler between 1946 and 1956.
 Johnson captured 109 Test wickets at an average of 29.19 runs per wicket and as a lower order batsman made 1,000 runs at an average of 22.92 runs per dismissal.
 He captained the Australian team in 17 Tests, winning seven and losing five, with a further five drawn.
 Despite this record, he is better known as the captain who lost consecutive Ashes series against England.
 Urbane, well-spoken and popular with his opponents and the public, he was seen by his team mates as a disciplinarian and his natural optimism was often seen as naive.
The 1970–71 Ashes series consisted of seven cricket Test matches, each of five days with six hours play each day and eight ball overs.
 It formed part of the MCC tour of Australia in 1970–71 and the matches outside the Tests were played in the name of the Marylebone Cricket Club.
 Ray Illingworth's England team beat Bill Lawry's Australians 2–0 and regained the Ashes, the only full Test series in Australia in which the home team failed to win a Test.
 "The Momentous Series of 1970–71" was pivotal in cricket history and "essentially ushered in the modern period of Test cricket".
 It was the first Test series to have more than five Tests and the first One Day International in cricket history was played in Melbourne; like the first test match in history it was won by Australia.
The 1954–55 Ashes series consisted of five cricket Test matches, each of six days with five hours play each day and eight ball overs.
 It formed part of the MCC tour of Australia in 1954–55 and the matches outside the Tests were played in the name of the Marylebone Cricket Club.
 The England team was captained by Len Hutton, the first professional cricketer to lead an MCC tour of Australia.
 The Australian team under Ian Johnson was confident of victory, but despite losing the First Test by an innings England won the series 3–1 and retained the Ashes.
 They were the only touring team to win a series in Australia between 1932–33 and 1970–71 and only the second of three touring teams to win a series in Australia from behind (the other two being England in 1911–12 and the West Indies in 1992–93).
 The tour is best remembered for the bowling of Frank "Typhoon" Tyson, who was at the time regarded as the fastest, most frightening bowler ever seen in Australia.
 The series saw a phenomenal concentration of bowling prowess on both sides – four of the bowlers had career Test averages under 21, another five under 25 and the remaining four under 30.
 Unsurprisingly therefore, the ball dominated the bat for most of the series and each side only topped 300 in an innings twice.
 Unlike the following series in 1958–59 there were rarely any umpiring disputes and Keith Miller wrote "Mel McInnes, Colin Hoy and Ron Wright were our leading umpires in the 1954–55 M.C.C. tour of Australia, and I have no hesitation in saying that McInnes gave the finest exhibition of umpiring in a Test series that I have experienced".
The 1950–51 Ashes series consisted of five cricket Test matches, each of six days with five hours play each day and eight ball overs.
 It formed part of the MCC tour of Australia in 1950–51 and the matches outside the Tests were played in the name of the Marylebone Cricket Club.
 The England team under the captaincy of the big-hearted all-rounder Freddie Brown was regarded as the weakest sent to Australia and "without Bedser and Hutton, England would have been little better than a club side".
 Few gave them a chance of regaining the Ashes and they lost the series 4–1 to Lindsay Hassett's Australian team, which had far greater reserves of talent.
 In the Fifth and final Test England beat Australia for the first time since 1938 and ended their unbeaten run of 14 Tests against England, 26 Tests against all teams and 96 games in all cricket since the Second World War.
 After this victory England would defeat Australia in 1953, 1954–55 and 1956.
The 1962–63 Ashes series consisted of five cricket Test matches, each of five days with six hours play each day and eight ball overs, a change as before 1960-61 Australian Test matches had been played over six days.
 It formed part of the MCC tour of Australia in 1962–63 and the matches outside the Tests were played in the name of the Marylebone Cricket Club.
 The MCC was determined to "brighten up" cricket, but the series was drawn 1-1 and Australia retained the Ashes.
 The MCC chose Ted Dexter to captain an England team managed by Bernard Marmaduke Fitzalan-Howard, 16th Duke of Norfolk.
 The Duke's presence generated considerable press interest, as did the model Mrs Dexter and the Reverend David Sheppard—the future Bishop of Liverpool—who preached in cathedrals across Australia.
The 1954-55 Australians lost 3–1 to the touring England team in the 1954-55 Ashes series.
 The Australian teams of the 1940s and early 1950s were strong even after the retirement of Don Bradman as many of his great 1948 side remained.
 Australia had lost only one series since 1932-33, when they lost he Ashes to Len Hutton in the exceptionally close fought 1953 Ashes series, but had played no Test cricket since.
 They had thrashed John Goddard's West Indian team 4–1 in 1951-52 after his triumphant 3-1 win in England, but had surprisingly been held to a 2–2 series draw against Jack Cheetham's South Africans in 1952-53.
 The general opinion in Australia was that they would win the return series, especially after the great victory in the First Test.
 "Although Australian batting was unsound by the old standards the presence of more all-rounders gave them the slightly better chance" wrote E.W. Swanton "all-rounders are said to hold the key to Test matches.
 Australia had four or five to England's one..."
The 1958–59 Ashes series consisted of five cricket Test matches, each scheduled for six days with eight ball overs.
 It formed part of the MCC tour of Australia in 1958–59, and the matches outside the Tests were played in the name of the Marylebone Cricket Club.
 The England team led by Peter May was labelled the strongest ever to leave England.
 It had the formidable bowling attack of Fred Trueman, Frank Tyson, Brian Statham, Peter Loader, Jim Laker and Tony Lock; the all-rounder Trevor Bailey; the outstanding wicket-keeper Godfrey Evans; and the batting of Colin Cowdrey, Tom Graveney, Raman Subba Row and Ted Dexter.
 They had won the last three Ashes series in 1953, 1954–55 and 1956, but lost the series 4–0 to Australia.
 It was one of the biggest upsets in Test cricket history and the biggest margin of defeat in an Ashes series since the 5–0 "whitewashing" inflicted by Warwick Armstrong's Australians in 1920–21.
The 1974–75 Ashes series consisted of six cricket Test matches, each match lasted five days with six hours of play each day and eight ball overs.
 It formed part of the MCC tour of Australia in 1974–75 and the matches outside the Tests were played in the name of the Marylebone Cricket Club.
 Ian Chappell's Australians won the series 4–1 and "brutally and unceremoniously wrenched the Ashes" from Mike Denness's England team.
 It was Australia's first series victory over England for ten years and the experience proved popular as 777,563 spectators came through the gates and paid nearly a million Australian dollars for the privilege.
 For the first time the first day of the Third Test at Melbourne was held on Boxing Day in an Ashes series, now a cricketing tradition.
The Marylebone Cricket Club tour of Australia in 1954-55 under the captaincy of Len Hutton was its eleventh since it took official control of overseas tours in 1903-1904.
 The touring team played as England in the 1954-55 Ashes series against Australia, but as the MCC in all other games.
 In all there were 23 matches; 5 Test matches (which they won 3-1), 12 other First Class matches (which they won 5-1) and 6 minor matches (which they won 5-0).
 It was the only time that a professional cricketer captained a MCC tour of Australia.
 It was one of the MCC's most successful tours, the Ashes being retained and the team winning five of their victories by an innings.

Question: The 1954–55 Ashes series consisted of an Australian team led by the cricketer who played how many test matches?
Answer: 45