Photo by Allsport Hulton/Getty Images. Raymond Illingworth enjoyed a fine game for Yorkshire against the Australians at Sheffield in 1968.
It may be Australia versus England this week in the first Ashes Test in Perth, but Yorkshire and the Aussies have a deep history too.
From overseas signings – Darren Lehmann the obvious one, Jess Jonassen will join our women’s team in 2026 – to coaches to first-class tour matches and pre-season tours, there’s plenty to look back on and look forward to when it comes to the link between our great county and England’s biggest foe.
Ahead of Friday’s opener at Optus Stadium, we are looking back on two specific games.
The first is Yorkshire versus the Australians – the famous three-day first-class win of 1968 at Bramall Lane in Sheffield.
The second, which isn’t anywhere near as famous, came on a pre-season tour of Perth in early 2000 – Yorkshire versus a Gosnells Invitation XI.
In 1968, the Australians were in England for a summer Ashes series which ended 1-1. The fourth Test was drawn at Headingley, incidentally.
Yorkshire, meanwhile, were in the midst of a golden period in the 1960s. They were on course to win their third successive Championship title and the last of six achieved in that particular decade.
Picture by Adrian Murrell/Allsport UK/Getty Images. Geoffrey Boycott top-scored in Yorkshire’s first-class win over Australia in 1968.
In between the second and third Tests at Lord’s and Edgbaston – between June 29 and July 2 – the Australians would face county cricket’s juggernaut in a tour match in the Steel City of Sheffield, where they would come a cropper at the hands of a Fred Trueman captained White Rose.
Yorkshire didn’t just win, they steamrollered their visitors, captained by Bill Lawry and including names such as Redpath, Walters, Inverarity and Ian Chappell. They won by an innings and 69 runs.
That was the last of six first-class wins for Yorkshire against the Aussies, four of which were at Bramall Lane and the first coming in 1878.
In the first innings, Geoffrey Boycott top-scored with 86 in 355-9 declared, well supported by 56 for Doug Padgett and a middle order 69 not out for the contest’s star man Raymond Illingworth.
In reply, the Australians were bowled out for 148 and, following-on, 138.
Illingworth’s off-spin accounted for four wickets in each innings, skipper Trueman three in each innings and Richard Hutton two in each. They were the only three Yorkshire wicket-takers, with a run out per innings coming in addition.
Illingworth’s first wicket of the contest was his 50th of the season.
Pix: Matthew Lewis/SWPix.com. Anthony McGrath toured Perth with Yorkshire ahead of the 2000 English summer.
In March 2000, Yorkshire were preparing for a landmark campaign. It was the first summer of the two-divisional structure in the County Championship, and the county would be in the top division of nine.
Preparing for the season, they travelled to Perth for an eight-game tour. The results of three of those games are not recorded, but five are, including a three-day draw against Western Australia’s Second XI at the Richardson Park venue.
Chris Rogers captained the home side in that fixture, while Shaun Marsh also played. The latter would later go on to play for Yorkshire in 2017.
However, the most interesting game of the tour came against a Gosnells Invitational XI, a 50-over tie on March 18 at Sutherland Park.
The fixture finished in a tie, with both sides finishing on 250.
Yorkshire finished with 250-5, some scorecards even suggesting a declaration.
Opener David Byas top-scored with 114 retired out, supplemented by 57 for Richard Blakey and 46 for the county’s current head coach Anthony McGrath.
Picture by Ben Duffy/SWPix.com. Yorkshires captain David Byas hit a century on tour against a Gosnells Invitation XI.
The Gosnells XI included notable names such as Ian Ward, Adam Hollioake and former Yorkshire all-rounder Jeremy Batty. His younger brother Gareth was in the White Rose team that day.
Ward opened with 44 and Batty contributed 33 as Gosnells finished on 250-7, with Ryan Sidebottom contributing 3-35 and James Middlebrook two wickets.
Yorkshire went on to finish third in Division One that summer, behind second-placed Lancashire and champions Surrey.
