By the time of Davidson's return, England had retained the Ashes 2–1 after annihilating Australia by an innings in consecutive Tests. Prior to this, Australia had not lost by an innings since 1938, let alone twice in a row. The Surrey finger spin pairing of Jim Laker and Tony Lock had led the decimation, taking 38 of the 40 wickets of dry dusty wickets doctored for their use. In Australia's match against Surrey before the Tests, the pair had taken 19 wickets as the tourists lost to a county side for the first time since 1912.