The Ashes elbow injury after the decisive Third Test. Australia came into the next Ashes series in England as favourites to retain the Ashes. Although England won the first Test in Cardiff, Australia won comfortably in the second Test at Lords. In the next two Tests, the Australian batsmen struggled, being bowled out for 136 in the first innings at Edgbaston , with England proceeding to win by eight wickets. This was followed by Australia being bowled out for 60 as Stuart Broad took fastest five wickets and finished the spell with 8 for 15 in the first innings at Trent Bridge,
First Test, 1948 Ashes series him, taking nine sixes from his bowling in one 82-minute passage of play. Of the team that took to the field for the MCC, Len Hutton, Bill Edrich, Denis Compton, captain Norman Yardley, Laker and Jack Young were also selected for the First Test. Hutton scored 52 and 64 in the MCC match but nobody else managed to pass 26 in either innings. Young had bowled 55.2 overs in Australia's only innings, taking 4/155. Opener Jack Robertson was left out after scoring six and a duck, and Cyril Washbrook, who had played against Australia in the 1946–47 series, partnered Hutton.