Editing Colin Blythe (section)

===Test match debut===
[[File:Sydney Cricket Ground, Saturday 14 December 1901 - by unknown photographer (3063952301).jpg|thumb|right|The [[Sydney Cricket Ground]] on the second day of Blythe's debut Test match, 14 December 1901.]]
The good impression that Blythe had made during his first two seasons led to his selection for an [[English cricket team in Australia in 1901–02|English team to tour Australia]] organised by [[Archie MacLaren]].{{efn|MacLaren's tour was a privately organised one. The [[Marylebone Cricket Club|MCC]] had agreed to organise the tour which was to have been led by [[Lord Hawke]]. Hawke found it difficult to convince the best amateur players to join the tour and MCC abandoned their tour in May 1901. MacLaren was then approached by the [[Melbourne Cricket Club]] to lead his own tour party. MCC went on to organise its first England tour [[English cricket team in Australia in 1903–04|in 1903–04]] after MacLaren had been unable to raise a private team.<ref name=tctaus01>[https://web.archive.org/web/20200929101154/http://test-cricket-tours.co.uk/page_3103857.html England to Australia 1901–02], Test Cricket Tours. Retrieved 25 January 2020. (Archived at the [[Wayback Machine]], 21 September 2020.)</ref><ref name=times14may01>The proposed English team for Australia, ''[[The Times]]'', 14 May 1901, p. 12. ([https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS201648302/TTDA?u=nl_earl&sid=TTDA&xid=06c68c18 The Times Digital Archive] {{subscription required}}. Retrieved 25 January 2020.)</ref><ref name=br82>Baker & Rosewater, p. 82.</ref>}} Two of the leading English professional bowlers, [[Wilfred Rhodes]] and [[George Hirst]], were refused permission to join the tour by [[Yorkshire County Cricket Club|Yorkshire]], so MacLaren chose Blythe and several other promising cricketers.<ref name=sc38-39>Scoble, pp. 38–39.</ref><ref name=down68-74>Down, pp. 68–74.</ref> Kent allowed Blythe to join the tour but withheld his winter pay. Scoble suggests that he enjoyed the tour and "took part fully in the social aspects",<ref name=sc39>Scoble, p. 39.</ref> including playing his violin with the ship's band during the voyage to Australia.<ref name=carlaw75>Carlaw, p. 75.</ref> In his first game of the tour, he took five for 45 against [[South Australia cricket team|South Australia]], and when he made his [[Test cricket|Test match]] debut on 13 December 1901, he took three for 26 in the first innings and four for 30 in the second,<ref name=sc39/><ref name=croudy14>Croudy, p. 14.</ref> ''The Times'' reporting that he "bowled splendidly".<ref name=times17dec01>Cricket: Mr MacLaren's team v Australia, ''[[The Times]]'', 17 December 1901, p. 12. ([https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS201648529/TTDA?u=nl_earl&sid=TTDA&xid=a2bcf3cd The Times Digital Archive] {{subscription required}}. Retrieved 25 January 2020.)</ref> After his performance, in what was to be the only England Test victory of the tour, Blythe was presented with a gold pocket watch engraved with his bowling figures.<ref name=sc39/><ref name=down73-74>Down, pp. 73–74.</ref>

Blythe took four for 64 in the first innings of the second Test, but after this his performances fell away and he took only six wickets in the last three Tests, hampered after splitting a finger on his left hand. He generally conceded few runs, but Australian pitches did not favour his bowling style, and the injury to his bowling hand meant he could not turn the ball as much as usual.<ref name=dale17-18>Dale, pp. 17–18.</ref><ref name=sc39-40>Scoble, pp. 39–40.</ref> ''Wisden'' suggested that Blythe worked hard, albeit in a weak bowling attack,<ref name=wis03aus>[http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/153658.html England in Australia, 1901–02], ''[[Wisden Cricketers' Almanack]]'', 1903. London: [[John Wisden & Co]]. Retrieved 25 January 2020.</ref> and his 18 Test match wickets were taken at an average of 26.11.<ref name=croudy14-15>Croudy, p. 14–15.</ref> His health benefitted from the tour, and he returned physically stronger than before.<ref name=sc40>Scoble, p. 40.</ref>

No longer required to train before the season at the Tonbridge Nursery, Blythe was successful in the 1902 season, when he was assisted by a wet summer which led to a series of [[Sticky wicket|damp, rain-affected pitches]].<ref name=sc40-41>Scoble, pp. 40–41.</ref><ref name=croudy15-16>Croudy, pp. 15–16.</ref> He took 127 wickets at 15.47, including his best figures so far, eight for 42 against Somerset,<ref name=sc40-41/> and finished second in the Kent bowling averages.<ref name=wis04coy>[http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/154786.html Charles Blythe], Cricketer of the Year, ''[[Wisden Cricketers' Almanack]]'', 1904. London: [[John Wisden & Co]]. Retrieved 25 January 2020.</ref> Although he was not chosen to play for England against the [[Australian cricket team in England in 1902|touring Australians]],<ref name=croudy15-16/> ''The Times'' wrote that his performance during the season was "far in advance of anything he has previously done for the county".<ref name=times1sep02>The Kent Averages, ''[[The Times]]'', 1 September 1902, p. 9. ([https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS151448353/TTDA?u=nl_earl&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=4a564021 The Times Digital Archive] {{subscription required}}. Retrieved 24 August 2021.)</ref>