Australian Services cricket team The Australian Services XI was a cricket team comprising solely military service personnel during World War II . They became active in May 1945 after the defeat of Nazi Germany . The team played matches against English cricket sides of both military and civilian origins to celebrate the end of the war . These matches were aimed at increasing morale in the war - ravaged English cities and as a means of reviving cricket after the conclusion of fighting . The end of the war marked the start of the 1945 cricket season . Plum Warner organised a series of matches between England and Australian servicemen , known as the Victory Tests , to celebrate the end of hostilities . However , Australian cricket administrators would not accredit the three - day matches as official Test matches , arguing that there were not enough Test - level players in the armed services ; Lindsay Hassett was the only Australian who had Test experience . The side was composed of an amalgam of a Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) team , which had already been stationed in England during the war , and another group of mostly Australian Imperial Force ( AIF ) soldiers from Australia . The players were deliberately stationed with each other in England for the express purpose of forming a cricket team to tour the country , with Australian prime minister John Curtin pushing for the immediate resumption of international cricket after the war was over . The team was officially a military unit , led by Squadron Leader Stan Sismey , the team ' s wicket - keeper . England were close to full strength , so the AIF and the RAAF teams merged to strengthen their quality . As a result , the Australian Services cricket team was formed under the leadership of Warrant Officer Lindsay Hassett to compete in the Victory Tests . The Australian team , despite being split by rank and service , all took their place in the side in good spirit and not much was made of the fact that Hassett , a warrant officer who was outranked by almost every other member of the team , was appointed captain . The Victory Tests were greeted by packed English grounds , and raised a lot of money for war charities . Against expectations , the Australians managed to draw the series 2 – 2 against an England team filled with Test cricketers . As a result , the Australian government , cricket administrators and military officials ordered the team to travel home via India to play more fundraising matches , before finishing their campaign against the Australian state teams . By the time the team arrived in Australia they were extremely tired and their performances deteriorated , leading analysts who had not seen them in England to regard them as a weak team . Personnel . The following cricketers played in at least one match . The manager was Flight Lieutenant Keith Johnson from New South Wales . Only one player in the side , future Test captain Lindsay Hassett had Test match experience . Keith Miller , Bob Cristofani , Cec Pepper , Keith Carmody , Ross Stanford , Albert Cheetham , Stan Sismey , Dick Whitington , and Graham Williams were the players who had previous first - class experience . The spinner Reg Ellis and opening batsman Jack Pettiford had not prior experience at first - class level , but played for their states in Australia after making their debut for the Services . Charles Price and Jim Workman made their debut during the Australian Services campaign and never played first - class cricket afterwards . Keith Miller , one of the ten inaugural inductees of the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame at the time only a batsman with Victoria , played what many consider to be his breakout series in the Victory Tests , ensuring that when he returned to Australia he would have a place in the Australian national team now referred to as " The Invincibles " . In the batting department , Miller was the top - scorer ; he scored 1 , 447 runs in 20 matches at an average of 49 . 89 . Hassett scored 1 , 434 runs at 49 . 44 in 18 matches and top - scored for the whole campaign with 187 . Opening batsman Whitington was the only other member of the team to score more than 1 , 000 runs . He totalled 1 , 054 runs at 35 . 13 . On the bowling front , Australia was heavily dependent on its spin attack . The left arm orthodox spin ner Ellis took 72 wickets at 25 . 02 , while the leg spin ner Pepper took 71 wickets at 32 . 47 . The third highest wicket - taker was Cristofani , also a leg spinner ; he took 34 wickets at 30 . 73 . Miller was the leading paceman , taking 29 wickets at 28 . 96 . For all rounder s , Pepper also scored 987 runs at 36 . 55 , while Cristofani added 558 runs at 27 . 90 . Pettiford scored 768 runs at 38 . 40 and took 22 wickets at 41 . 86 with his leg spin . Graham Williams , the team ' s main strike bowler , had only been released from a German prisoner of war camp weeks before the series started , and played at 31 kg ( 68 lb ) below his pre - war playing weight . In between overs he drank glasses of glucose and water to keep his energy up , but when he was unable to bowl Miller took his place and demonstrated what a valuable pace bowler he would become in the future himself . Omissions . Some players with prior first - class experience could not be considered for selection because they could not be released from the units in which they were serving , particularly those serving in the Pacific . These included Arthur Morris , Ian Johnson and Ray Lindwall . Lindwall and Johnson went on to make their debuts for Australia in 1946 in the first post - war Test , while Morris made his debut in 1946 – 47 against England . All three became long - serving Australian Test players , and all three captained their country , Johnson for two years . Bill Brown had played regularly for Australia ' s Test team before the war , but was not available , nor was Colin McCool , who had made his first - class debut before the outbreak of war . Chronology . In England . The Australians and their schedule was administered by Keith Johnson , a member of the Australian Board of Control and the New South Wales Cricket Association . During World War II , Johnson served in the Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) and the rose to the rank of Flight Lieutenant and was deployed to London , where he did public relations work at the RAAF ' s overseas headquarters . Officially a military unit , the team ' s commanding officer was Squadron Leader Stan Sismey of the RAAF , although the on - field captain was Warrant Officer Lindsay Hassett of the Second Australian Imperial Force . Wisden Cricketers ' Almanack praised the organisational work done by Johnson in arranging the services ' programme in England : " A stranger to this country , he found the programme in only skeleton form ; and that the tour proved such a success from every point of view was due to his hard work and courtesy . " The almanack reprinted in full Johnson ' s " message " of thanks to English cricket before the team sailed to India . The First Victory Test started at Lord ' s on 19 May and was expected to usher in a new post - war era , which it hoped would be more aggressive and attractive . The last Anglo - Australian Test series before the war had featured a large number of draws due to defensive play . England won the toss and batted first . They batted steadily although none of their specialist batsmen managed to pass 57 and reached 4 / 205 , before Miller came on as the fifth bowler and bowled his Great Massingham pilot colleague Bill Edrich for 45 , precipitating an English collapse from 4 / 200 to 267 . Paceman Albert Cheetham took 3 / 49 , while new ball partner Williams , spinner Reginald Ellis and Charles Price took two wickets each . In reply to England ' s 267 from 100 . 1 overs , Australia reached 2 / 82 by stumps on the opening day , with Hassett and Sismey at the crease . The next day , Sismey fell for 37 , and Miller came to the crease at 3 / 136 and joined Hassett . Miller gradually progressed , undeterred by the fall of Hassett for 77 at 4 / 171 . He put on 99 with Ross Stanford , who fell for 49 soon after Australia passed England ' s total , with the score at 5 / 270 . Once Australia had taken the lead , Miller cut loose . After spending 40 minutes in the 90s , he finished with 105 in 210 minutes , with a straight six . " The Times " opined that his innings was " as good a century as has been seen at Lord ' s in many a long day " . " Wisden " said that he " was always getting runs with the soundness characteristic of most Australians " . Harry Altham declared that " a brilliant new star had joined the cluster of the Southern Cross " . Miller put on 87 for the sixth wicket with Pepper , and although both feel in quick succession in a collapse of 3 / 9 , Price and Williams put on a ninth - wicket stand of 88 to take the Australian total to 455 , giving them a 188 - run lead , and the end of the innings marked the end of the second day ' s play . On the final morning , England batted steadily and their Test openers Len Hutton and Cyril Washbrook took the score to 52 before leg spin ner Cec Pepper removed both . Jack Robertson top - scored with 84 and his Middlesex teammate Edrich scored 50 as England moved to 5 / 286 late in the day , an overall lead of 98 . It appeared that England would be able to hold on for a draw , but they lost their last five wickets for eight runs to be all out for 294 . Pepper took 4 / 80 and Ellis and Price two wickets each . This left Australia with a target of 107 . Miller and Richard Whitington were both out with only 11 runs on the board , but Hassett and Pepper put on 52 runs quickly and Australia reached their second innings target with two balls to spare . Pepper was unbeaten on 54 . The last pre - war series between England and Australia in 1938 had been an attritional and hard - nosed contest , but in the afterglow of war victory , the cricketers played flamboyantly with abandon in front of a packed stadium . The attractive style of cricket was widely praised by commentators and the match raised £1 , 935 for war relief charities . The First Victory Test was followed by a month in which the Australian Services were not active as a team ; the various players represented their respective RAAF teams during this time . The Second Victory Test was played at Bramall Lane in Sheffield and started on 23 June , where the grandstands were damaged by German air raids . Hassett sent the Englishmen into bat , and the hosts ' innings was highlighted by their captain Wally Hammond , who scored exactly 100 , supported by Washbrook , who scored 63 . However , Hammond ' s dismissal was part of a collapse that saw the home side lose their last five wickets for 38 runs . Cheetham and Pepper took three wickets each , and Ellis and Williams both captured a brace . Australia moved to be 0 / 23 at stumps on the first day , but lost wickets steadily on the second morning , and were all out for 147 ; Keith Carmody scored 42 , the only contribution beyond 21 by a batsman , while George Pope took 5 / 58 . In the second innings , England went about extending their lead and Miller bowled a fast and hostile spell , hitting Test world record holder Hutton in the arm before hitting Washbrook in the head , provoking an angry crowd reaction , comparing Miller to the " Bodyline " spearhead Harold Larwood . He later removed Washbrook and ended with 2 / 28 . His efforts led to calls for him to start taking his bowling seriously , instead of simply jogging in releasing the ball , especially from former South African representative Bob Crisp . Miller ' s spell helped reduce the hosts to 7 / 122 , a lead of only 261 , but a rearguard fightback pushed the total to 190 , leaving the Australians with a target of 330 . England were bowled out at the end of the second day , so the Australians had a full day ' s batting to reach their target . The Australians started well , with their openers , Whitington and Jim Workman posting a century opening stand . However , both fell in quick succession for 61 and 63 respectively to leave the score at 2 / 121 . Miller and Hassett took the score to 2 / 171 before Miller fell for eight . From then on , wickets fell steadily and Australia fell 41 runs short of the target and series was squared . For England , Dick Pollard took 5 / 76 . The Services then drew three non - first - class matches against Oxford & District , HDG Leveson - Gower ' s XI and Yorkshire ; the first two of these were one - day single innings fixtures while in the third Australia had a lead of 48 and reached 1 / 27 in their second innings when time ran out . In the Third Victory Test at Lord ' s , Hammond won the toss and elected to bat . Despite his efforts in the previous Victory Test , Miller was only Hassett ' s fifth - choice bowler . When finally called upon , he measured out a run up . Miller struck John Dewes before uprooting his off stump . However , Hutton , on his way to a century , was holding up his end . Eventually , Miller bowled Donald Carr for four and then removed Hutton ' s off stump . He ended with 3 / 44 from 18 overs . These two wickets helped to precipitate a collapse of 7 / 92 as England fell from 3 / 162 to 254 all out on the first day . Bob Cristofani helped clean up the tail , taking 4 / 43 . Australia started their innings at the beginning of the second day . Their top - order failed and fell to 5 / 72 , and it was up to Hassett ( 68 ) , Carmody and Cristofani ( 32 each ) to push the total to 194 . Pollard took 6 / 75 . Miller took the new ball in the second innings after his performances in the first innings . He bowled Dewes for a duck with an outswinger , before bowling Edrich for 58 . Nevertheless , England were in a strong position at stumps on the second day at 3 / 118 , an overall lead of 178 , with Hutton unbeaten on 49 . However , the home team collapsed on the final morning to be all out for 164 , with Cristofani taking 5 / 49 and Miller taking 3 / 42 . This left Australia a target of 225 in five hours . Sismey ( 52 ) and Workman ( 30 ) laid the foundation for the run chase with a second wicket partnership of 82 . Miller came into bat at 3 / 104 and saw Australia to the target unbeaten on 71 with four wickets in hand . C B Fry opined that Miller ' s innings was " superbly stroked and directed cover driving of the pace bowling formed the most telling and majestic feature " . During the Sunday rest day of the Third Victory Test , which came after the first day ' s play , the Australians beat Gravesend Sunday Club in a single inningsgame . After the Third Test the Australians played in a non - first - class match against Yorkshire at Bramall Lane . The hosts scored 243 in reply to the Australians ' 232 ; Hassett ' s men were 5 / 162 when time ran out . They then drew with Sussex in and lost by 74 runs to the Metropolitan Police in single - innings one - day matches . They were narrowly denied a victory in the next match , against the Royal Navy . The Royal Navy were 7 / 139 in their second innings , with a lead of only 12 , when time ran out . In the Fourth Victory Test , again at Lord ' s , Hassett won the toss and elected to bat . Whitington scored 46 and Sismey 59 . Miller came in at 3 / 108 and after a slow start , scored another century , taking 170 minutes to reach the mark . At the end of the first day , Australia were 5 / 273 with Miller and Pepper at the crease . Miller was removed for 118 the next day . He struck ten fours , all off which were driven . Pepper continued and made 57 to help Australia reach 388 . Pope and Pollard took four wickets each . England ' s batsmen replied productively ; Laurie Fishlock scored 69 , Hammond 83 , Edrich 73 and Washbrook 112 . They reached 3 / 249 by stumps on the second day and declared at 7 / 468 . In the second innings , Miller came to the crease with Australia at 3 / 54 and still in arrears . He scored an unbeaten 35 to ensure that Australia would not collapse further and lose the match . The public reception towards the Victory Tests resulted in an additional fifth match being added to the schedule . A record attendance of 93 , 000 witnessed the Fourth Test at Lord ' s . In the lead - up to the Fifth Victory Test , the Australians lost a single innings game against Northamptonshire and suffered a defeat by an innings and 89 runs North of England cricket team in a two - day match at Blackpool . In the final Fifth Victory Test at Old Trafford , Australia won the toss and batted first . They collapsed to 4 / 66 under overcast conditions on a green pitch when Miller came to the crease . Against a swinging and seaming ball , Miller struck 14 from the first over that he faced and went on to finish 77 not out in a display that featured strong cutting and driving . However , he did not get much support from the lower order , with none of the last five batsmen passing single figures , including two run outs , and Australia could manage only 173 in 59 overs . Pollard took 4 / 78 . Australia reduced England to 2 / 46 , but a 97 - run stand by Hutton and Washbrook took the score to 3 / 143 before both fell for half - centuries . Nevertheless , England were already 5 / 162 at stumps on the first day , having almost overtaken the Australians ' score . The next morning , Cristofani took four wickets to dismiss England for 243 and ended with 5 / 55 . Australia then collapsed to 6 / 69 , still a run in arrears , when Cristofani came to the crease . He struck an unbeaten 110 , while his teammates added only 41 for the remaining four wickets , as Australia were all out for 210 . WE Phillipson took 6 / 48 . England were left with a target of 141 on the final day , which they reached with six wickets in hand to square the series 2 – 2 . Hassett wrote at the end of the series that " This is cricket as it should be . . . These games have shown that international cricket can be played as between real friends — so let ' s have no more talk of " war " in cricket " . Miller topped the batting averages for the series , with 443 runs at 63 . 28 . His aggregate exceeded that of Hammond and Hutton , who made 369 and 380 respectively . Miller also took 10 wickets at 27 . 70 . Of Miller ' s batting , Hassett said that " as a strokeplayer he is second to none " . his exploits in military teams led some to compare him to Jack Gregory , who had broken into top - flight cricket with his exploits with an AIF team immediately after the First World War . The series was regarded as an outstanding success , with a total attendance of 367 , 000 and bright and attacking play . The English summer concluded with five more matches . The Australians defeated Nottinghamshire by 103 runs in a two - day game and Leveson - Gower ' s XI by an innings and 108 runs in their last first - class fixture . This was followed by a low - scoring two - day match in which Australia lost to Surrey by three wickets ; 37 wickets fell for just 327 runs . Australia then won two more single - innings games against Sussex and at Middlesbrough versus the Combined Counties . In India . Due to the unexpectedly strong success of the Victory Tests , the government of Australia , led by foreign minister Doc Evatt , ordered the Australian Services to delay their demobilisation . With the team raising so much money for war charities , the government directed them to travel home via India and Ceylon for further fundraising matches for the Red Cross . The Australians faced an arduous schedule ; eight of the nine matches were first - class ; three were international matches , and four were against the zones of India . Miller , the vice - captain of the team , almost missed the trip to India after turning up late for the voyage . The servicemen arrived in Bombay and took a two - day train journey to Lahore to play North Zone . North batted first and made 410 ; Australia replied with 351 , and Pepper top - scored with 77 . He then took 5 / 45 in the second innings and reduced the hosts to 7 / 103 , but time ran out and the match ended in a draw . The Australians headed to Delhi with another long train journey for a match against a Prince ' s XI . It was a high - scoring match in hot conditions ; the Indian Test players Vijay Merchant , Lala Amarnath and Syed Mushtaq Ali all struck centuries in the hosts ' only innings of 401 , and Hassett struck 187 and 124 not out in Australia ' s 8 / 424 declared and 5 / 304 . Hassett then rested as Miller led the team against West Zone in Bombay . Miller top - scored with 106 in Australia ' s 362 . The hosts replied with 9 / 500 declared , with Rusi Modi scoring 168 , as the match ended in a high - scoring draw . In the first match against India at Bombay ' s Brabourne Stadium , regarded as unofficial Tests , Hassett won the toss and elected to bat . Unlike the Victory Tests , these games were four days long . After Whitington fell for four , Carmody and Jack Pettiford added 177 for the second wicket , and scored 113 and 124 respectively . Australia proceeded to 2 / 301 ; Hassett scored 53 , before four wickets fell in the space of 25 runs . Pepper added 95 and Workman 76 , as Australia totalled 531 in almost two days of batting . Vijay Hazare took 5 / 109 and CS Nayudu 3 / 141 . In reply , India reached 1 / 82 at the end of the second day . All of their batsmen made a start , none of the top seven scoring less than 24 , but only Amarnath ( 64 ) and Hazare ( 75 ) passed 50 . India were out for 339 just before stumps on the third day and were forced to follow on . Four Australian bowlers took two wickets . The second innings followed a similar pattern and all of the top five Indian batsmen passed 20 without passing 70 . India reached 8 / 239 and were only 47 runs ahead , leaving Australia in striking distance of victory , but Gul Mohammad and Amir Elahi added 51 for the ninth wicket and pushed the total to 304 . This left Australia with 103 runs to win in half an hour . However , the Indian captain Merchant placed all of his fielders on the off side and instructed his bowlers to deliver the ball wide . The Australians ended at 1 / 31 . Australia were still searching for their first win of the Indian tour when they took on the Indian Universities in a non - first - class match in Pune . However , Australia managed 300 and then took only one wicket as their hosts reached 385 before declaring . Australia were 3 / 85 when time ran out . Conflict hit the team after the ineffective display against the students . The team , mostly made up of RAAF personnel , had been ill with food poisoning and dysentery , and travelled across the Indian subcontinent via long train journeys . The airmen wanted to travel by air , and tried to ask Hassett and manager Keith Johnson for air travel . When this was refused , they threatened to abandon the tour or replace Lindsay Hassett , an Australian Imperial Force member , with either Keith Carmody or Keith Miller , who were RAAF fighter pilots if their wish was not granted . With Bradman likely to miss the upcoming tour of New Zealand , the Services captain would be one of the leading candidates to lead Australia . Miller refused to plot against Hassett and the dispute ended when Squadron Leader Stan Sismey arranged for a RAAF plane already in India to transport the team . On the first flight to Calcutta , the squad survived an electrical storm that caused the plane to drop altitude . The team was scheduled to play East Zone in Calcutta , but the city was gripped in deadly riots as independence activists agitated against British rule . The match went ahead , but on the first day , thousands of protestors invaded the pitch , interrupting play for an hour . Elsewhere in the city , 23 people were killed . Australia batted first and made only 107 , before East Zone replied with 131 . Led by Hassett ' s 125 , Australia posted 304 to leave the hosts a target of 281 . On the final day , Miller ' s friend Denis Compton , who was playing for East Zone while on deployment with the British Army in India , was nearing a century as his team closed in on victory . The pro - independence rioters broke through the security presence and invaded the pitch again . The leader of the demonstrators ran up to Compton and said : " Mr Compton , you very good player , but you must stop " . In later years , Miller would quote this remark whenever Compton came to the crease in matches featuring both of them . Compton told the rioters to ask Hassett , saying that the Australian skipper controlled proceedings . Hassett smiled at the leader of the irate demonstrators and asked " You wouldn ' t happen to have a cigarette , would you , old boy ? " The rioters calmed down and play resumed . Compton brought up his century with the winning runs . In 2005 , the ECB and Cricket Australia decided that the player adjudged the Player of the Series in the Ashes would be awarded the Compton - Miller Medal , recognising their friendship and rivalry . The second international match took place at Eden Gardens a week later . Merchant won the toss and elected to bat . Vinoo Mankad , Hazare and Modi all made half - centuries and the hosts ended with 386 on the second day . Pepper was the most successful of the Australians with 4 / 120 . The Australian innings was set up by a second wicket partnership of 218 between Whitington ( 155 ) and Pettiford ( 101 ) . Miller came in 3 / 312 and then hit Mankad for four sixes from five balls , before falling to the said bowler for 82 . This set up Australia ' s total of 472 . India started their second innings late on the third day , and they declared late on the final day at 4 / 350 , after Merchant ( 155 not out ) and Abdul Hafeez Kardar ( 86 not out ) had put on an unbroken stand of 189 . This left Australia with an unfeasible target of 266 in around and hour . The Australians reached 2 / 49 and the match ended in a draw . Captaining the team , Miller took 3 / 19 and 1 / 8 in a match against South Zone in Madras , the Australians ' only win on Indian soil , by six wickets . The final match in India was the third and deciding match in the international series , at Madras . Hassett won the toss and elected to bat , but his batsmen collapsed to 5 / 103 , when Pepper joined Hassett at the crease . The pair added 181 , but their dismissals for 87 and 143 signalled the end of the Australian innings for 339 early on the second day after a collapse of 5 / 55 . Shute Banerjee took 4 / 86 and Chandu Sarwate 4 / 94 . In reply , India fell to 4 / 110 , before Amarnath ( 113 ) and Modi ( 203 ) rebuilt the innings , supported by Gul Mohammad ( 55 ) and Nayudu ( 64 ) . The hosts were eventually out for 525 late on the third day . Pepper was the most successful of the Australians , taking 4 / 118 . Australia faced an uphill task to save the match , and the opening pair of Carmody and Whitington added 133 . However , wickets fell regularly thereafter and the tourists were all out for 275 . Banerjee and Sarwate both took four wickets each for the second time . India then accumulated the 92 runs needed for victory , with six wickets in hand . It was not a happy tour for Johnson and his men on the playing arena . They lost the three - match series against India 1 – 0 and recorded only one victory , against South Zone . Australia ended the subcontinental part of the tour with victory over Ceylon by an innings and 44 runs . Not wanting to wait a month for the next boat and a fortnight ' s sea voyage , the Australians returned to Perth by hitching a ride on a B - 24 Liberator . The pilot of the RAAF plane had already promised 14 friends a lift so that they would not be stuck in India for another six months , so the Australian team sat on the floor of the aircraft . They made it back to Australia despite suffering engine trouble and an overloaded plane . In Australia . Johnson ' s team arrived in Australia late in 1945 , but the armed services and Australian Board of Control ordered them to play another series against the various Australian states . The fixtures were meant to revive cricket following the war and were also used as a lead - up to the international tour to New Zealand in March 1946 . The Services performed poorly ; after playing consecutive draws against Western Australia and South Australia , they were crushed by an innings by both Victoria and New South Wales , before drawing against Queensland and Tasmania , the smallest state . The first match against Western Australia saw the hosts score 323 , and the servicemen replied with 301 ; Miller top - scored with 80 . The Western Australians reached 2 / 144 when time ran out . The second match against South Australia followed a similar pattern . The hosts replied to the Services ' 314 with 319 , and after Hassett ' s men replied with 255 , the Bradman - led South Australians reached 1 / 130 when time ran out . Pepper took 4 / 100 and Ellis 5 / 88 . In the next match against Victoria at St Kilda , Hassett ' s men were hammered . Ian Johnson took ten wickets for the match and the hosts bowled out the Servicemen for 118 and 182 to win by an inning and 156 runs . Miller top - scored in both innings with 37 and 59 . The military men had another difficult time against New South Wales , as their opponents made 7 / 551 declared , with Test batsman Sid Barnes scoring a century . Apart from Miller , the Services batsmen struggled . Miller reached 74 as Services limped to 9 / 171 . Services had no batsmen left with Pettiford injured and retired hurt , so O ' Reilly allowed the twelfth man to Workman to be substituted in and allowed to bat , in order to give Miller a chance of making a century . Miller attacked and scored 31 of the last 33 runs , ending with an unbeaten 105 , with 11 fours in 172 minutes . He earned plaudits among cricket pundits on Australian soil . Former leading Test batsman Alan Kippax opined that " Australia has unearthed a new champion " , claiming that he was finer than Jack Gregory and saying that " few batsmen I have watched have had his ability to blend beauty and power " . O ' Reilly said that Miller ' s century was " one of the best hundreds ever got against me " . The Services were forced to follow on and were bowled out for 339 to fall to another innings defeat . The Services struggled against the leg spin of Colin McCool , who took 11 wickets in a drawn match against Queensland . The hosts were 5 / 186 in pursuit of 190 for victory when time ran out and saved Hassett ' s team . In the final match against Tasmania , the Services came as close as they would to a victory on Australian soil . After taking a 97 - run first innings lead , they set Tasmania 292 for victory and the hosts held on for a draw with only wicket in hand . They were 9 / 166 when time ran out . Johnson was involved in another administrative dispute during the Australian leg of the campaign . Cec Pepper , whom teammates Keith Miller and Dick Whitington regarded as one of the best all rounder s in the world and a certainty for Australian Test selection , appealed for leg before wicket against Australian captain Don Bradman in the match against South Australia . The appeal was turned down and Pepper complained to the umpire , prompting Bradman , who was also a member of the Australian Board , to lodge a complaint about Pepper . Pepper was subsequently never selected for Australia . Cricket historian Gideon Haigh said that " Johnson was clearly upset by the affair , and also by the failure of the [ national ] selection panel [ Bradman among them ] . . . to send Pepper , second only to Miller as a cricketer in the Services XI , to New Zealand " . Johnson tried to intercede on Pepper ' s behalf to no avail , although the other board members claimed that no directive had been given to the selectors to exclude Pepper . This capped a poor end to the long and taxing Australian Services campaign . As the military men played poorly in Australia , the national selectors concluded that their achievements against England must have been against weak opposition , and only Hassett and Miller were selected for the Australian tour of New Zealand .