W. G. Grace them against Australia, and was an automatic selection for England at home, but his only Test-playing tour of Australia was that of 1891–92. Grace's most significant Test was England v Australia in 1882 at The Oval. Thanks to Spofforth who took 14 wickets in the match, Australia won by 7 runs and the legend of The Ashes was born immediately afterwards. Grace scored only 4 and 32 but he has been held responsible for "firing up" Spofforth. This came about through a typical piece of gamesmanship by Grace when he effected an unsporting, albeit legal, run out of Sammy Jones.
Don Tallon with the Australian cricket team in England in 1948 came to the crease with Australia at 6/225 after Hassett and Bill Brown had gone in quick succession, joining Johnson in the middle. Johnson struggled to score, while Tallon did so freely in the last hour. After Johnson fell for four at 7/246, Lindwall then joined Tallon and the pair survived to the close of play. England were well placed when Australia ended at stumps on 7/258 with Tallon on 25. Tallon had dominated the scoring late in day, making 25 of the 33 runs added. The crowd was optimistic about England's position and some immediately camped outside the turnstiles