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The Ashes: England's winter of content
England’s winter tour of Australia in 1986/87 had just about everything an England cricket nut could possibly wish for – a wonderfully brutal swansong from Ian Botham, the Ashes retained and of course the traditional player’s Christmas party which saw one of the England touring party dressed in deeply offensive fancy dress.
Mike Gatting’s squad of players was described early on in the tour by one hack as “having only three things wrong with them – can’t bat, can’t bowl, can’t field”. Considering England’s form had been ordinary in the run-in to the trip down under (lost 5-0 to the West Indies the previous year, then during the English summer they managed to lose 2-0 to India and 1-0 to Richard Hadlee, sorry New Zealand) things weren’t looking too rosy for the tourists as they prepared themselves for the First Test in Brisbane.
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Both teams could be said to be going through one of those transitional periods people like to talk about when they can’t bring themselves to say, “they’re not much cop”. Australia were still on a downer after losing the holy trinity of Greg Chappell, Rodney Marsh and Dennis Lillee, and England were without their premier batsman, Graham Gooch.
Back in the day, cricket fans got their winter cricket fix, not in the shape of live pictures courtesy of cable or satellite TV, but through telephone line quality radio broadcasts, courtesy of Test Match Special. There’d be brief TV highlights – oh what a treat it was for cricket fans to see Richie Benaud in a light blue safari jacket at 00.05am greeting them with “Morning everyone” – as you lay motionless on the sofa, trying not to drift off.
Speaking of drifting off, the opening day of the First Test at Brisbane saw England battle their way to 198-1 at stumps. Even back then when Test Cricket was played at a funereal pace, this was like pulling teeth. Indeed, watching the highlights actually felt like watching a full day’s play. From an English point of view losing just one wicket was especially heartening as Australia had won the toss and put the Poms in.
The character of the game was transformed on the second morning when, after losing a couple of quick wickets, the colossus that is I.T. Botham strode to the wicket and proceeded to do what he liked doing best, “murdering” the Australian bowling attack, as commentator Tony Greig put it. He smashed 13 fours and four sixes in his violent 138. The bowler to suffer most was Merv Hughes, who haemorrhaged 22 runs in an over, seeing Botham go from 97 to 119. Graham Dilley, bowling with lovely control took 5-68 in the first innings and Emburey’s five-for in the second dig, did the damage for England with the ball as England ran out victors by second wickets.
The second Test in Perth saw Chris Broad begin his incredible run with the bat that series, scoring a big hundred as did David Gower and Jack Richards on what was to prove an absolute road of a wicket. The Australians replied with a big score in kind, with Allan Border replying with a typically stubborn captain’s innings.
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The tour had turned the corner. England’s prematurely written-off squad were actually starting to enjoy themselves both on and off the pitch. Ian Botham in his role as the team’s elder statesman said that it was his most enjoyable tour, and his positive effect on the younger players such as Phil DeFreitas was a major contributory fact to the tour’s success. When you compare it to the misery of the previous winter in the Caribbean, when England took an absolute battering both on and off the pitch, you can see why Botham views it with such fondness.
This was as rock and roll as an official England cricket tour got, with Elton John throwing the team parties, delivering crates of Champagne to the locker room and DJ-ing at post-match celebrations. It’s a long way from modern players’ ice baths, mung bean diets and poring over laptops at the close of play.
Following another run glut at Adelaide, another ton for the run-hungry Chris Broad, and ultimately another draw, the team then moved onto the showpiece Boxing Day Test Match at Melbourne. Both teams knew that something had to give. Unfortunately, the one thing that did give was Ian Botham’s body, as he was diagnosed with a ripped intercostal muscle, which is probably as painful as it sounds. Christmas had come soon – 364 days soon to be exact – the Australian batsman must have thought, as Botham lolloped up to the crease with slightly less zeal than usual. Wrong. In the words of Botham “They just kept nicking it” as Botham took 5-41 and Gladstone Small 5-48, as Australia were skittled for a mere 141.
In reply the Broad run-machine crunched into gear once more and equalled Wally Hammond and Jack Hobbs record of scoring hundreds in three consecutive Test Matches. This was a true match-winning innings, giving England a very healthy lead of 208 runs. Australia were bowled out a second time for 194 giving England a win by an innings, and more importantly the Ashes series victory which was celebrated long into the night. And the next few nights.
The final Test at Sydney provided a consolation victory for Australia – something England would become painfully familiar with throughout the following decade.
After the serious stuff was over, England then went onto win two ODI series, the Perth Challenge, staged to celebrate Australia defending the America’s Cup and the World Series Cup, the highlight being Allan Lamb thrashing an unlikely 18 off Bruce Reid’s final over to see England over the line.
From that point, England went into decline and the Australian team dragged itself up by its bootlaces to dominate the Ashes, and indeed World cricket right up until the memorable 2005 series in England when the home team finally wrestled back the precious Urn from the Aussies’ grasp. However, that 86/87 tour featuring a rag-tag group of written-off players and Botham’s final hurrah will always have a place in every England cricket fans’ heart.
