The Ashes 1975

The first Ashes series I remember with any clarity took place forty years ago. The early part of the 1975 summer was memorable for the inaugural World Cup, about which I have waxed lyrical more than once. The previous winter had introduced England to the twin pace threat of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson. Now they were bringing their brand of cricket to these shores to thrill teenagers like me, just developing my enthusiasm for cricket.

Australia defeated England in the World Cup semi-finals (through the unfamiliar swing of Gary Gilmour) and gave the West Indies a cracking contest in the final. There followed a four-Test series for the little red urn which would give the home nation a chance for revenge.

England were thumped 4-1 Down Under but at last did end the series on a high, thanks to an innings victory at Melbourne. Even without a sulking Geoff Boycott and John Snow, the tourists turned the tables thanks to a captain’s innings by Mike Denness and Peter Lever’s 6-38. Nevertheless, the Aussie squad staying on from the one-day showpiece was pretty formidable.

Rick McCosker was a very useful opener, Ian Chappell a combative skipper and brother Greg one of the best batsmen in the world. Doug Walters was an old-school, smoker, drinker and gambler yet he ended with a Test average of 48, extremely high back in the Seventies. Rod Marsh was another character, whose wicketkeeping was just as strong. And then there was the bowling. Apart from ‘Lilian Thomson’, Max Walker was a fine exponent of swing and Ashley Mallett offered skilful off-spin.

That’s not to say England were weak. We had world-class players such as Alan Knott, Derek Underwood, Snow, opener Dennis Amiss and all-rounder Tony Greig, so a useful series was in the offing. However. from their standpoint, it didn’t get off to a promising start.

At Edgbaston, Denness won the toss and fielded. Australia notched 359, then on day two, Lillee and Walker ripped England apart. Following on, it was Thomson’s turn to claim a five-for and it was all over by the fourth morning. The match was also memorable for Graham Gooch’s debut. After some great performances for Essex, the 21 year-old was thrust into the Test side – and bagged a pair!

Gooch was retained at Lord’s but there were changes elsewhere. Barry Wood opened, Amiss dropped down to four, while debuts were handed to the grey-haired bespectacled David Steele and Kent all-rounder (as he was then) Bob Woolmer. More significantly, Mike Denness made way for new captain Tony Greig. The result was an honourable draw. Edrich, Greig and Knott nullified the threat of Chappell’s seam attack, and even Gooch scored 6 and 37.

At Headingley, left-arm spinner Phil Edmonds played his first Test, and there were recalls for Yorkshire pair John Hampshire (for Gooch) and Chris Old. England were on top at stumps on day four but were denied the chance to level the series by the infamous pitch vandalism by supporters of imprisoned East End villain George Davis. He may have been, as the ubiquitous graffiti proclaimed ‘innocent, OK’ but cricket fans were horrified that someone could ruin an excellent Test match by digging holes on a length making the pitch unplayable.

I’m not sure whether it was the result of the lost day at Leeds but the fourth Test at The Oval was allocated six days. As such it became the longest first-class game in England. A second-wicket partnership of 277 between McCosker and Ian Chappell took the visitors beyond 500, then the pacemen left Greig’s men to follow on 341 behind. Things looked as grim as the late August weather. However, second time around, England took control. Woolmer, promoted to five, responded with 149, four others passed fifty, and they left the Aussies no time to reach their target.

The series ended 1-0 to Australia, but England had regained some confidence. Gooch’s time would come again and David Steele’s quiet determination and resilience struck a chord with the British public, earning him the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award! Australia would destroy the West Indies the following winter, a result which in turn would lead to Clive Lloyd’s all-pace strategy and a new world order in the sport for years to come.
I doubt whether 2015 will create another watershed in world cricket but hopefully there’ll be plenty of drama and excitement for me and all those teenagers out there looking for new sporting heroes, whatever the nationality.

England v India - Dravid and Botham the Stars of the Past

In the past four decades, India have played 30 Tests in England and have won only four. Nevertheless those victories have come at opportune times, contributing to series victories in 1986 and 2007. Of course 2011 witnessed India's humiliating 4-0 drubbing, more humbling than even England's Ashes debacle last winter. When looking back over the nine series played in this period, there have been great batting performances from both sides, but it is with the bowling that England have dominated. This is apparent when selecting my teams of the past forty years.

ENGLAND: Graham Gooch will always be remembered for his 333 against India in 1990, and nobody has scored more than the 1134 runs he accumulated against this opposition in England across ten Tests. Michael Vaughan, though, boasts a superior average, at 75.83. His 910 runs were scored in only seven matches, including two scores of 190+ in 2002. Even Mike Atherton has a decent record at home to India but Gooch and Vaughan are my openers.

Kevin Pietersen's record is also excellent. He amassed 878 runs at almost 80 between 2007 and 2011, the highlight being his unbeaten 202 in the Lord's success almost exactly three years ago. Ian Bell played in the same seven Tests, collecting 694 at 52.87, a touch higher than David Gower's average. However, the former England strokemaker appeared twelve times and made 833 runs. At this point, I have to confess I have ignored a batsman who has an average of 260 at home to India! Nevertheless, he fails to make my team because David 'Bumble' Lloyd scored those 260 runs in only two games, albeit including an unbeaten 214 forty summers ago. Although Matt Prior has a century to his name, Alec Stewart's 423 runs at 52.87 between 1996 and 2002 earns him the gloves.

Perhaps surprisingly, Ian Botham's career batting average of 80.87 is the best of anyone in the last nine England v India rubbers. He never liked touring the subcontinent but he made up for it by destroying India on home territory, with bat and ball. 647 runs and 29 wickets at 27 make for an exceptional set of all-round statistics. His 11 catches also put him second behind Gooch amongst non-wicketkeepers in this period.

Bob Willis claimed one more victim than Beefy; 30 at an average of 24.16. Mike Hendrick is an under-rated England stalwart. History has been less kind to him than, say, Botham and Willis, but his swing and seam in '74 were as dangerous as anybody's. His match figures of 7-71 did as much as Lloyd's double-century to beat India by an innings in that game at Edgbaston. In '74 and '79 he took 26 wickets at under 17 apiece. Moving forward to more recent times, Stuart Broad's series average of 13.84 in 2011 is even more special, and he makes my fantasy XI alongside Jimmy Anderson. While the latter's average of 27 is not spectacular, his wicket tally of 35 is unsurpassed on the England side.

INDIA: The visitors, of course, have had their fair share of superstars even if some didn't quite reproduce their form for India in England. Gambhir, Bedi, Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh spring to mind. It's no surprise that Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid have more runs to their name than anybody else on either team. Dravid collected 1376 runs at 68.80 and was India's sole beacon of excellence in that disastrous 2011 series. Three of his six centuries came in that run of four heavy defeats. Some of his runs came as an opener, so he starts alongside the legendary Sunil Gavaskar. In 13 Tests between 1974 and 1986, he made 1008 runs at 46.

SRT represented his country 17 times in Test matches in England and his average of 54.31 more or less matches his career record around the world. Saurav Ganguly scored fewer runs (960 to the Little Master's 1575) but 65.35 makes for a superior batting average. He was player of the series in 1996 and led his country with a 128 to an innings defeat of Hussain's side at Headingley in 2002. My middle-order is completed by Dilip Vengsarkar. He and Gavaskar did so much to keep Indian innings afloat in the 1970s and early '80s, as witnessed by his rearguard 157 at Lord's in '82 and 102 not out in the Headingley victory four years later.

MS Dhoni pips Faroukh Engineer to the wicketkeeper slot, but not by much. India's all-rounder line-up pretty much begins and ends with Kapil Dev. Ravi Shastri had his moments in England but his spin bowling netted him a mere 11 wickets at over 70 apiece! Kapil's average of 39.18 is nothing to write home about but he did claim 43 wickets with his fast bowling and score 638 runs at 35.44 with the bat. His only century came in his last appearance in 1990 but his most memorable innings was an 89 in 55 balls at Lord's in 1982. It merely delayed the inevitable defeat but it did make England bat again and give Botham and Willis something to fret about for an hour or so.

None of India's great spinners set the world alight over here, but Anil Kumble gets a place in my team because of his 36 wickets. Chetan Sharma (16 wickets at 18.75 in 1986) and Praveen Kumar (15 at under 30 in 2011) have decent records in single series but my India XI is completed by Zaheer Khan. 31 wickets at under 28 represents a decent return over eight Tests, and his nine wickets at Trent Bridge seven years ago earned him the MOTM award.

In summary;
ENGLAND: Gooch, Vaughan (*), Pietersen, Gower, Bell, Stewart (+), Botham, Broad, Anderson, Hendrick, Willis
INDIA: Gavaskar, Dravid, Tendulkar, Vengsarkar, Ganguly (*), Dhoni (+), Kapil Dev, Kumble, Zaheer Khan, Kumar, Sharma

Aussies maintain their Old Trafford run

I know the Third Ashes Test is only two days old, but England's chances of winning look rather slim after the performances of Michael Clarke, Smith, Rogers, Haddin and the latest late-order batting sensation Mitchell Starc! Whichever direction the pitch faces, Australia haven't lost an Ashes contest at Old Trafford since 1981, although it wasn't one of the venues four years ago.

In the '70s and early '80s it was all England in Manchester when it was all pavilion and railway wires in the background. In 1972, John Snow and Tony Greig starred in an 89-run triumph, despite the efforts of Aussie legends Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh. Five years later, Lillee was badly missed although it proved more of a spinner's wicket. Bob Woolmer's 137 and Derek Underwood's 6-66 in the second innings set up a nine-wicket victory. In 1981, of course, Ian Botham was on fire. He and Bob Willis helped dismiss Kim Hughes' side for 130 , but Lillee and Terry Alderman restricted the home side's lead to 101. Botham's sensational 118 in 102 balls, daring to thump Lillee's bouncers into the stands, extended the margin to more than 500. Despite Graeme Yallop and Allan Border scoring centuries, that proved 103 too many.

Four years on and the Green Baggies were beginning to rebuild under Border's captaincy. Nevertheless, Old Trafford saw them suffer another first innings mauling thanks largely to Mike Gatting's 160. However, Captain Grumpy produced one of his trademark rearguard actions, his unbeaten 146 staving off all that spinners Emburey and Edmonds could throw at him. In 1989, international cricket was changing, and Australia were challenging the West Indies for top dog status, and England were in the firing line.

At Manchester David Gower chose to bat but, despite Robin Smith's defiant century, England were bowled out for under 300. A solid Aussie batting line-up laid the foundation for an easy win, but a heroic 142-run seventh wicket stand between Emburey and Jack Russell almost saved the match. Almost. The 1993 Old Trafford Test was the Ashes opener, and was to become famous for not one, but two dismissals in particular. Gatting b Warne 4 doesn't quite tell the whole story, but that was the moment the cricketing world recognised the genius of a new leg-spinner as he delivered the Ball of the Century! Shane took anoher sevcen wickets in the game, and Merv Hughes claimed eight for himself, too. Facing a target of 500+ in almost two days, Graham Gooch advanced to 133 when he was given out 'handled ball', still one of the few instances in Test history. England finally succumbed by 179 runs as the Aussie attack fought against the clock to bowl them out.

The winning margin was even greater in '97, when Steve Waugh's two hundreds almost beat England on their own. Oh, and we shouldn't forget the seventeen wickets shared by that wonderful pairing of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne. Eight years passed before the nations met once more under Lancastrian skies. Despite Manchester's reputation, rain hadn't seriously threatened results, and so it proved again, but this was to produce a memorably tight finish in a series renowned for them. Michael Vaughan's 166 and Simon Jones' 6-53 put the home team inthe driving seat before Strauss and co rubbed Aussie noses in it even further, declaring with the visitors 422 in arrears. Batsmen came and went but Ricky Ponting held firm. Harmison, Hoggard, Flintoff and Giles tried their best but Ponting's 156, then the last-wicket pairing of Brett Lee and McGrath, did enough to secure a draw, 52 runs short of an improbable victory.

So, moving on to this week and in the era of my cricketing interest, the Old Trafford roll call reads 3 wins apiece with 2 draws. Michael Clarke must hope that the unbeaten record at this grand old ground extends well beyond three decades.

England v New Zealand - Stars of the Past 2

Last time, I cast an eye back over the last forty years' Test series between England and New Zealand and selected what I considered to be the best Black Cap XI to have toured this country. Now it's the turn of the home nation. Such is England's dominance in this period that there is no shortage of batsmen with 50+ averages and bowlers with equally impressive statistics.

Richard Hadlee and Dion Nash apart, NZ's new-ball attack has been so mediocre that England's openers have often made hay. Back in the '70s, Geoff Boycott and Dennis Amiss gave their side some useful starts but I have chosen Graham Gooch and Mike Atherton. They each enjoyed an average approaching 60, with Gooch accumulating a shade under a thousand runs. The batting order was pretty fluid twenty-odd years ago and the archetypal opener Gooch made his highest score against NZ, 210, at number three in an innings victory at Trent Bridge in 1994. Then captain, Atherton made 101 in the same game.

His opening partner in that game was Alec Stewart, who played up and down the order over the years, not always as wicket-keeper. However, it's in that role that he appears in my fantasy team at number five. He scored plenty of runs but his average of 35 was poor by his standards. Above him I have gone for David Gower and Allan Lamb. The former scored more centuries at home to NZ than anyone else (four) on his way to 982 runs. His first and last innings against New Zealand were in three figures. The combative South African Lamb suffered from inconsistency but was a common sight in the England side during the 1980s, and he seemed to enjoy Black Cap bowlers, striking 521 runs in eight Tests. The top order is completed by another ex-captain, Keith Fletcher. The Essex man appeared only three times against NZ, all during the 1973 tour. However, he notched more than 300 runs in impressive style.

Ian Botham is an obvious choice as all-rounder, taking more wickets than anybody else (37 at 20.51) and almost 400 runs, too. Tony Greig and Andrew Flintoff pushed him hard with the willow but Both was without parallel swinging the ball around. Phil de Freitas was no slouch with the bat but his claim to my number eight position rests with the 27 wickets he garnered in only five matches at 23, which gave him the edge over Andy Caddick and James Anderson. After considering Steve Harmison and Devon Malcolm I had to select Bob Willis as my principal strike bowler. 32 wickets at under 16 apiece is a magnificent record. He opened his Test account against NZ with 5-42 at The Oval in 1978, and captured nine victims at the same ground five years later, albeit in a losing cause.

Two spinners performed particularly well in Tests between the two countries. Phil Edmonds delivered hundreds of overs in the 1980s but the relatively unsung Nick Cook, now better known as an umpire, took seventeen wickets in his first two Test appearances thirty summers ago, starring in victories over a useful side boasting Howarth, Crowe and Hadlee. His next thirteen Tests yielded only 35 wickets as he struggled to hold down a regular spot as England's slow left-arm merchant.

Interestingly, none of the current squad make my team of the past forty years, but I wouldn't mind betting James Anderson and a few of the batsmen pushing their way into contention in the coming weeks. To summarise, my 1973-2003 eleven is: Gooch, Atherton(*), Gower, Lamb, Stewart (+), Fletcher, Botham, De Freitas, Edmonds, Cook, Willis.

England v New Zealand - the story so far

In the forty-odd years I've been following cricket, England have played only 29 Tests at home to New Zealand and sadly 2013 will add only two more to the total. In this period, the visitors have managed a mere four victories yet they was sufficient to win two out of the nine series contested since the start of 1973.

In that year, a Geoff Boycott century and eight wickets from Geoff Arnold clinched the three-Test rubber with an innings triumph at Headingley while five years later England enjoyed a 3-0 whitewash. The First Test contained some very slow scoring, typified by NZ's second innings in which spin duo Geoff Miller and Phil Edmonds wheeled away for 68 overs, conceding just 55 runs! 21 year-old David Gower struck the game's only hundred en route to a 7-wicket success, then Boycott's batting and Ian Botham's bowling wrapped up an innings defeat. Botham (again) and Willis flattened Mark Burgess's side for 67 in the Lord's finale to complete the summer rout.

In the 1980s, New Zealand were a very different proposition, featuring the likes of Richard Hadlee, Martin Crowe, John Wright, Lance Cairns and Doug Bracewell's uncle John. Thirty years ago, England won three out of four, but in Leeds, ten wickets for Cairns and solid first innings batting from Wright, Edgar and Hadlee out-performed another Gower century to run up a five-wicket consolation prize. Three years later, England failed to win any of the three Tests played. Mike Gatting's side managed two draws but lost the series at Trent Bridge where it was Hadlee's turn to claim a ten-for, alongside a fine 68.

The 1990 series spanned the announcement of Richard Hadlee's knighthood and I recall seeing the newly-named Sir Richard amble onto the pitch at Chelmsford in the Essex tour match. Surely never has a twelfth man being cheered so heartily by an opposing crowd! In the Tests, things didn't go his way although in the Edgbaston decider, his 5-53 set up the chance of a 345-run chase to take the series 1-0. However, Devon Malcolm took 5-46 and victory went instead to Graham Gooch's team.

Gooch may have been in his 40s by 1994 and the captaincy had transferred to Mike Atherton, but the Essex man's 210 was the decisive factor in an innings victory at Trent Bridge, which proved to be the only decisive result of that three-match series. However, in 1999 New Zealand achieved the rare feat of beating England not once but twice in an away rubber. England edged the First Test thanks to that memorable 99 not out by nightwatchman Alex Tudor. However, a new Cairns, Chris having replaced dad Lance in the side, turned the series on its head. In the second game, he claimed eight wickets en route to a nine-wicket win then in the fourth his 5-31 and rapid-fire 80 laid the foundation for a decisive 83-run victory, and embarrasmment for Nasser Hussain and co. Five years on, and Fleming was still captain and in top form with the bat. Nevertheless that wasn't enough to prevent a rapidly-improving England dominating the series 3-0. Trescothick, Strauss and Harmison shone for the home side that year.

The last time New Zealand came to these shores was in 2008, by which time Daniel Vettori and Michael Vaughan were the opposing leaders. The opener was a weather-affected draw, remembered best for some typically rumbustuous striking by Brendan McCullum and Jacob Oram. Ross Taylor thumped a magnificent 154 at Old Trafford and Vettori's 5-66 put his side in a great position after day two. However, Monty Panesar delivered a devastating 6-37 to reverse fortunes and 106 from Andrew Strauss helped finish things off with a day to spare. England had really hit their stride by Trent Bridge, where the series finale was hopelessly one-sided. Jimmy Anderson (7-43) in the first innings and Ryan Sidebottom (6-67) in the second gave the big-hitters no opportunity to show their talents and the winning margin was an innings and nine runs.

What about the forthcoming contests? Well, I simply can't see New Zealand troubling England, especially with Tim Southee struggling with injury. Vettori, of course, remains out of the picture, too, so the home team ought to win comfortably. I'll focus on some of the best individual players to have participated in England-NZ Test matches in the next blog.

England's century sequence but Banger takes the biscuit

Alastair Cook's latest match-winning century made it five matches in a row when an England opener has reached three figures in an ODI. The captain, along with Ian Bell and the now-retired Pietersen have made a remarkable sequence, and one which can have been beaten rarely of at all.

In fact, only 21 England players have ever made hundreds as opening batsmen since one-day internationals began forty years ago. Cook has done it five times now, all bar one within the past twelve months, and two of them in successive games against Pakistan earlier this year. The Test skipper, Andrew Strauss has also struck five ODI centuries from the front. Of these, remarkably three were scores of 150+, two of them against Bangladesh. The best of the lot was that magnificent 158 in the World Cup tie against India in 2011.

Also on five is Nick Knight, a regular opener back in the late '90s. He never quite made it in Test cricket but the Essex and Warwickshire man was a great strokemaker who never seemed to rush. Averaging over 40 in his 100 games showed he was one of the best in the business for several years. Like Cook, he once scored hundreds not just in consecutive games but on successive days. In 1996, his 113 against Pakistan at Edgbaston was followed immediately by his carrying his bat for 125 when he ran out of partners in a run chase.

Throughout the 1980s, Graham Gooch always seemed to be there opening the batting with AN Other (Boycott, Stewart, Knight, Broad, etc, etc), white helmet gleaming and black moustache bristling. In 122 one-day innings, he accumulated 8 hundreds, six of them in a winning cause and four against Australia. At the start of his career, ODIs tended to be 55 overs aside before the innings were shortened. One of his best was an undefeated 129 in 118 balls in he West Indies 26 years ago. The run chase was timed perfectly, if nail-bitingly, to win off the last ball. What was even remarkable was that this was achieved against the mighty Malcolm Marshall and Joel Garner, who collectively conceded 121 runs in 19 overs, profligacy almost unheard of in those days!

However, one England opener stands tall and proud ahead of all other English openers, just as he does now. Well, he would if his ankle was fully healed! Marcus Trescothick achieved three-figure scores no fewer than 12 times at a rate of almost one in ten innings. That's a ratio bettered by very few top players in the world (De Villiers, Tendulkar and Kohli) and it brings home how he has been greatly missed by England in the last six years. Curiously his four highest innings were each scored in a losing cause as nobody could stay with him. It wasn't a matter of slow scoring on his part, either, because his career strike rate was around 85, better than the likes of Ponting, Gibbs and even Chris Gayle!

Tres hit hundreds against all the top nations apart from New Zealand, with Ireland thrown in for good measure, Against South Africa in 2003, he was one of both openers to complete centuries in the same match (Vikram Solanki was the other) but his highest was 137 out of a total of 240 against Pakistan at Lord's in 2001, where his side lost tantalisingly by just two runs. He was out to a slog sweep going for the winning six, caught by a certain 21 year-old Shahid Afridi. Whatever happened to him?! We can only imagine how many more tons 'Banger' would have crashed in the England cause, but the current left-handed opener, Cook, will almost certainly overhaul the Somerset man in the next few years. He has played a mere 47 ODIs and, provided injury or sudden loss of form don't intervene, he will be up there with the world's best. Sachin is unassailable and Jayasuriya probably out of reach (28 hundreds as opener, but in more than 400 matches) but Saeed Anwar (20), Ganguly and Gayle (19 apiece) are there for the taking.