Bob Willis – The Man who Won in ‘81

I was startled when I read of Bob Willis’ death at just 70. Along with characters such as Geoff Boycott, John Snow, Clive Lloyd and Greg Chappell, the England fast bowler was a mainstay of the period when I first developed my love of cricket. 

I was also surprised to learn that, even 35 years since his retirement, RGD’s 325 Test wickets have been surpassed by only three England players: Botham, Broad and Anderson. That’s quite an achievement for a man with very dodgy knees in an era of a gruelling county schedule and limited Tests.

I don’t really remember him as a giant of the Seventies and Eighties. His career tally 899 first-class victims sounds mighty impressive in the current world of central contracts but back then that was par for the course. Fellow quickie Snow took 1,174, Ken Higgs 1,536 and John Lever an astonishing 1,722. Yet when he was fit he was rarely out of the England attack. 

After surgery on both knees in 1975, he wasn’t particularly prolific for Warwickshire but he courageously bowled himself back into the national limelight, along with a promising all-rounder called Ian Botham, at a time when several top stars defected to World Series Cricket. Speaking of Botham, Bob Willis is also strongly associated with the ’81 Ashes triumph but by then he was no longer certain of his place, even in a struggling team. 

Graeme Dilley, Chris Old, Mike Hendrick were competing with Willis for three specialist pace slots and, with England 1-0 down after the opening Tests, missing the previous county fixture through illness put his selection in jeopardy. At 32, with his crude, lengthy run-up, described at the time as resembling a goose gathering speed to take off, he wasn’t a favourite of mine but credit where credit’s due. At Headingley, a wicketless first innings was followed by one of the most unlikely but destructive spell of fast bowling ever produced by an Englishman. Botham may have given his side hope after his hit-and-hope slog the previous afternoon but it was the Willis 8-43 which won that match, providing the foundation for the memorable series success which bears Botham’s name.

I’d also forgotten that Willis skippered England in 18 Tests and 29 ODIs in the wake of Brearley’s temporary stint and Botham’s failure to lead but he finally called it a day in ’84 just before the West Indies whitewashed us 5-0. As well as his formidable tally of wickets he achieved them at fewer than three runs per over and a Test average of barely 25, superior to any of our top seamers then or any time since, including Botham, Broad and Anderson. His bouncers, too, were just as lethal as anything sent down by Lillee or Roberts. True his batting was rubbish and he may not have succeeded in today’s T20 tournaments, but in retrospect the obituaries are spot-on; he was a cricketing legend.

I didn’t hear him very often as a commentator but had a sneaking regard for his acerbic comments in the Sky studio. He played the role as cricket’s grumpy equivalent of Craig Revel Horwood to perfection, the pantomime villain who tells it as it is. He was there doing his miserable monotone thing during the summer which is why as an ignorant viewer I was taken aback by news of his demise. His mass of curls may have been tamed decades ago but I will always remember him 38 years ago ripping out Ray Bright’s stump, then with both arms raised continuing his rip-snorting all the way to the Leeds pavilion. RIP Goose.

Cricket in the SPOTYlight

In my younger days, one of the television highlights of the year was the BBC Sports Review of the Year. Broadcast live every December, I would enthusiastically wallow in nostalgia, loving the ‘goosebump’ moments from that year’s sporting events as well as the compilations of ‘funnies’ and special guests in the Beeb’s studio, watched by rows of mostly blokes in blazers.

This weekend, the programme will be hosted in the huge Genting Arena in Birmingham, complete with Oscars-style production values and a substantial audience expected to be wearing more dinner jackets and posh frocks than beige blazers. Amongst the many awards to be presented will be two of the more traditional ones: the overall BBC Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY) and its Overseas equivalent.

The former has, since 1954, been determined by a public vote, be it by names submitted on a postcard or the current instant online method. By and large, those chosen have been worthy winners although BBC viewers have occasionally served up surprises.

Perhaps the greatest of them all came in 1975 when, after being called up by England to face the intimidating Aussie attack of Lillee and Thomson, cricketer David Steele saw off allcomers to take the SPOTY prize. Just as well, because the Ashes were lost but, while he scored consistently without once reaching three figures, the England batsman’s prematurely grey hair, schoolmasterly specs and shy-but-solid character endeared himself to the viewing public in an extraordinary way. Two years later he was largely forgotten but the name David Steele will forever be engraved on one of the trophy’s plinth shields.

In 64 years, only three other cricketers have taken the main award, and only two others placed second or third. In 1956, Jim Laker triumphed on the back of his 19-wicket achievement against Australia, then in 1981 and 2005, further Ashes accomplishments received SPOTY recognition, to the benefit of Ian Botham and Andrew Flintoff. Geoff Boycott and Graham Gooch are the additional pair to claim the minor prizes. Since cricket accepted self-imposed exile on Sky, becoming a minority sport in the process, the chances of a cricketer winning SPOTY have decreased sharply. I can’t imagine even Alastair Cook, Jimmy Anderson or Joe Root making Sunday night’s shortlist of six. Only another outstanding Ashes or World Cup performance could end the drought. 2019 perhaps?

But what about the Overseas Personality prize? Well, cricket hasn’t fared much better. Of course, individual sports are more suited than team games to such awards. While tennis and athletics have dominated in recent years a mere three cricketers have been selected by the judges (not public). The award was introduced in 1960, too late for Garry Sobers’ 365. However, the West Indian did receive the accolade in 1966, shared with World Cup footballer Eusebio.

It was another 28 years before Brian Lara erased the record, and a few others, making him a shoo-in for the BBC’s 1994 award. Then, in 2005, to balance Flintoff’s SPOTY and Ashes triumphs, the trophy went to the brilliant Aussie spinner Shane Warne, whose individual performances in defeat eclipsed even Freddie’s. However there has never been space in the panel's affections for superstars such as Dennis Lillee, Viv Richards (defeated in his vintage year of ’76 by gymnast Nadia Comaneci), Imran Khan, Sachin Tendulkar or Muttiah Muralitharan.

So could a cricketer win in 2018? Despite there being a Winter Olympics, Commonwealth Games and football World Cup, I reckon those charged with deciding these things must surely consider the claim of Virat Kohli. After such a stonking year for him personally, making loads of runs in all formats while shouldering the burdens of India’s captaincy and expectations, It is surely time for cricket to take centre stage once again on BBC Sport’s gala night of glory.

Ashes First Test - Smith and Bancroft keep their heads down

After all the fuss about Ben Stokes and now Johnny Bairstow’s peculiar mode of greeting friends and rivals, Australia can point to a statistic which simply reads Played 1, Won 1.

Their undefeated Gabba sequence now extends back a remarkable 29 years to 1988 when Viv Richards’ all-conquering West Indies made mincemeat of Allan Border’s side. England’s last win at Brisbane was two years previously, featuring a century by Ian Botham, a name so redolent of a bygone age that he now resorts to advertising a circulation-boosting device.

Much of the 2017 version was played in an Eighties vein, too; all short-ball strategies and scoring rates below three runs an over. For the first three days, there wasn’t a great deal between the sides. After England decided to bat, relative Test newcomers Stoneman, Vince and Malan each passed fifty and at 246-4 seemed fairly comfortable on day two. However, three wickets promptly  fell in three overs and Joe Root’s team could barely reach the 300 mark.

Australia endured a worse start but the mighty Steve Smith held the innings together with an excellent unbeaten 141, with vital support from the recalled Shaun Marsh and Pat Cummins. The skipper’s Test average has crept to a stunning 61 and has converted half his 50s into hundreds. For all Root’s undoubted world class, the Yorkshireman’s stat is only just above one in four. When England batted again, he succumbed in typical style, advancing to 51 before falling leg-before to Hazlewood. Nevertheless, he was still the top scorer, and the four-man Aussie attack this time restricted the batsmen to a mere 195.

When David Warner and debutant Cameron Bancroft, sensibly wearing his helmet while Bairstow kept wicket, safely saw their side to stumps on day four, any hope of an England revival was dashed. To rub it in, the openers then took their partnership to 173 and inflict a ten-wicket drubbing. 

So can we learn anything from this result? While Jake Ball is not certain of keeping his place, basically it boils down to England dismissing Steve Smith early on and relying on Anderson and Broad to bowl diligently and cannily. No shit, Sherlock! Could be worse; they could be bowling to Virat Kohli’s Indian centurions. Seeing that Anya Shrubsole is the only cricketer to make the BBC Sports Personality of the Year shortlist, maybe we should give the Somerset medium-pacer a chance in the Adelaide game instead of Ball and another Taunton favourite, Craig Overton? Perhaps not, but great to see her World Cup-winning performance rewarded in this way.

Roebuck v Richards: The 1986 Somerset Spat revisited

I was reading David Hopps’ article on ESPN Cricinfo yesterday, dredging up my own memories of that awful period thirty years ago when Somerset CCC was racked by an internal civil war.

The late Seventies and early Eighties were great periods to be a Somerset supporter. After years in the wilderness, the county were propelled to the forefront of county cricket, alongside Essex where I actually lived. Much of our success was down to the triumvirate of Ian Botham, Viv Richards and Joel Garner, all brought into the side as promising youngsters rather than established international stars. One-day trophies were won although the County Championship remained infertile ground.

In 1985, we actually finished bottom of the league, then a single-division format, won by Middlesex. We won just one of our 24 three-day fixtures although, to be fair, most games were drawn in those days. The 1985 debacle had been despite excellent seasons for Richards and Botham (with the bat) but the England all-rounder was captain and understandably took the flak.

He was replaced as skipper by the thoughtful opener, Peter Roebuck but 1986 wasn’t much better, as Somerset ended in sixteenth place. The ex-Millfield schoolboy enjoyed an excellent summer with the bat while Viv and Botham definitely weren’t at their best. They could be relied upon for star performances in the televised limited overs matches but when it came to the Championship, their hearts rarely appeared to be in it, especially in a struggling side. They certainly didn’t have a galvanising effect.

Roebuck identified the big stars as being a problem rather than the solution. A young Kiwi batsman called Martin Crowe was being courted by Essex and he was keen for the Somerset members to get in quick. The scene was set for a big showdown in Shepton Mallet in November 1986, the issue being who would be the overseas players for 1987: young Crowe or the old-stagers Richards and Garner?

I recall backing the Roebuck argument. Don’t get me wrong. I loved Viv. He was, and remains, one of my all-time sporting heroes. I’ve never seen a batsman like him. But Somerset needed a new strategy of building a new team around Crowe and Botham, with Roebuck guiding the troops from the front. The captain got his way, but the water were muddied when the flamboyant Botham promptly quit in support of his West Indian teammates.

His loyalty to friends was admirable but there was a bigger picture. The newly-published Roebuck diaries reveal Richards to be a bully and Botham too much of an egotistical playboy to make for a happy dressing room. I’m not saying Peter Roebuck was perfect, and rumours and charges of decidedly dodgy advocacy of personally-delivered corporal punishment caught up with him in 2011 resulted in suicide. However, he was a great servant of the county. Only four men have scored more County Championship runs for Somerset, and Viv isn’t one of them!

It was a difficult autumn for Somerset supporters but at least our first-class cricket improved in 1987. Crowe scored more than 1,600 runs at 68, with Roebuck, Felton and Hardy also topping 1,000. A young Steve Waugh also played two matches, scoring two centuries. Whatever happened to him?! With the ball, Vic Marks – later to be another excellent cricket journalist – continued to top the wickets table, while Garner’s pace was replaced by Adrian Jones and Neil Mallender, who both enjoyed a fine season. Meanwhile, Botham was a big-money signing for Worcestershire, Garner was sadly lost to county cricket for good and Richards switched to the Lancashire League before returning with Glamorgan in 1990. Roebuck himself ceded the captaincy to Marks in ’89 and stayed on as batsman until 1991.

In retrospect, this was not only a divisive but decisive period for county cricket. The traditional power of ‘old duffers’ – in Somerset, Yorkshire and elsewhere – was in decline, and player power was beginning to grow in the domestic as well as international game. Roebuck and Botham were never reconciled before the former’s death in South Africa and the latter remained a feisty personality. His fame grew in indirect proportion to his performances over the next several years and, for all his success at Taunton, I consider him over-rated, certainly in the second half of his career. I do have sympathy with Peter Roebuck, as much a Somerset legend as anyone. However, when you look around the County Ground, you see the Garner Gates, Richards Gates and the Sir Ian Botham Stand, but nothing for the captain who tried to put his club ahead of people. That’s the way of sport!

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.

Ashes Superteams

With a new Ashes series about to launch, it must also be time to look back and select my England and Australia fantasy teams from the past forty years, based on performances in Tests between the two on these shores.

For the home team, Graham Gooch may have scored the most runs in Ashes series from 1975 onwards but that owes more to longevity (25 matches) than dominance with the bat. Terry Alderman left his mark in the '80s and so my openers are Geoff Boycott and Andrew Strauss. They belong to very different eras, which makes the Yorkshireman's average of 64 in ten matches even more remarkable.

The middle-order comprises David Gower, Kevin Pietersen and Tim Robinson. Gower's 1445 runs at 45 speak for themselves, while KP's impact in recent seasons also earns him a place. Robinson may be a surprise but he averaged just over 50 in the 1985 and 1989 series either opening with Gooch or at number three. He served Nottinghamshire well for two decades but his finest international moments came against the Aussies.

Unusually I've gone for two all-rounders but of course both have their careers defined by their achievements in two Ashes series in particular. Ian Botham went from zero to hero in 1981, especially with the bat but throughout his career it's the 79 wickets at under 27 apiece which stand out. Andrew Flintoff is another whose legendary status owes more to one summer than a decade's service to his country. Strangely, while 2005 saw him bowl superbly alongside Jones, Hoggard et al but across nine Ashes Tests, his batting record of 602 runs at 37.62 eclipses his bowling stats. My wicketkeeper is not Alec Stewart, whose Ashes record is modest, but Alan Knott. Back in the '70s and early '80s, Knotty combined supreme tidiness behind the stumps with an excellent average of 40.82, beefing up the late-order when it mattered.

Opening the bowling with Botham (1981 vintage) has to be Bob Willis, who also starred in that summer as well as others. His average in 11 games is a mighty 21.42, including four 'five-fours'. Simon Jones played only in the 2005 contest but his 18 wickets at 21 are too impressive to ignore, and so there's no room for Gough, Caddick, Dilley, Hoggard or Anderson, although I wouldn't mind betting the latter will come into the reckoning in 2013. My spin option is John Emburey. The Middlesex offie contributed 43 wickets back in the '80s.

I found selecting the Aussie XI much easier, although I had to leave out skippers past and present Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke. Not because they have been rubbish in England, but owing to superior performances from the embarrassment of batting riches Australia have enjoyed in the past thirty years or so.

Mark Taylor (1584 runs in 18 Tests) and 1970s star Rick McCosker open the innings, followed by another ex-captain Allan Border. His 2,082 runs at more than 65 apiece are spread across 25 Tests, bridging the last Aussie fallow period in the early '80s and the world-leading age which emerged a decade later. Dean Jones was in prolific form in 1989 but the Waugh twins were even sharper thorns in English sides for many years. Mark averaged almost 50 but Steve's record is second to none: seven centuries, an average approaching 75 and a deserved reputation for brilliant leadership. He is my captain just ahead of Border, and he and his brother can share 'filler' roles with the ball, too.

Ian Healy beats Adam Gilchrist and Rod Marsh to the gloves but thye four frontline bowlers are automatic choices. Shane Warne claimed an amazing 129 Ashes wickets in England alone and it is easy to forget how good he was for the losing side in 2005. His partner in crime Glenn McGrath stands second in terms of wickets (87 in 14 Tests) and also for his average. Anything under 20 at this level is incredible but Mac's 19.34 is narrowly outshone by Terry Alderman's 19.33. In 1981 and 1989, the Perth swing and seam merchant weaved magic on English pitches, taking at least 40 wickets in both series, still a record. The line-up would not be complete without Dennis Lillee. He may not have been as fast as in the 1972 series (outside the scope of this exercise) but in 1981 he was still a master of his craft and was unlucky to finish on the losing side, as Warney did in 2005.

If I had to pick a combined Ashes superteam, I reckon only Boycott, Knott and Botham would represent England but let's hope Boycs and Beefy wouldn't have to bat together....

England: Boycott, Strauss (*), Robinson, Gower, Pietersen, Botham, Flintoff, Knott (+), Emburey, Jones, Willis.
Australia: Taylor, McCosker, Border, M Waugh, Jones, S Waugh(*), Healy(+), Warne, Alderman, Lillee, McGrath

And after the forthcoming clash, might these sides need adjusting? Time will tell, but more likely to be Cook, Prior, Root or Anderson than Hughes, Watson, Starc or Lyon, methinks!

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 in India - England's Best XI

Last time I selected the best India Eleven in Test matches against India over the past forty years. Now it's England's turn, and there have been plenty of headaches because of all the candidates in almost every position.

Generally speaking, Graham Gooch has been England's most consistent opening batsman in this period, although Alastair Cook threatens to replace the moustachioed master. However, India was never his favourite hunting ground. Instead, there are three men who each played only five Tests in India and who each averaged more than 50. Two of them will be my openers with the other at number three. First up is former captain Andrew Strauss, who enjoyed two successful short series dating back six years. At Chennai in 2008 he even managed two hundred in the same match, only to finish on the losing side. His partner is Tim Robinson, the doughty Notts opener who earned 29 England caps before the West Indian quicks blew him away. In only his second Test, at Delhi in 1984, he compiled a match-winning 160.

Lancashire and Durham's Graeme Fowler was a dashing left-hander whose highest score was the 201 made in the victory at Madras (as was) in 1984. In the next game, he scored a patient 69 - and never played another Test! Nevertheless he is in my team, alongside the man who also scored a double-century in that Madras draw, Mike Gatting. Arguably England's least successful captain of all time, Gatts has scored more runs (862) in India than anybody in the past four decades, spread over 13 Tests. At number five is Paul Collingwood. He made hundreds in each of the 2006 and 2008 series, although neither was in the winning cause.

Two all-rounders make it into this fantasy team but each enjoyed considerable success in India with both bat and ball. Ian Botham's career zenith is often cited to be the Ashes 1981, but in the following winter, his batting was even better. He made 440 runs in eight innings, culminating in 142 at Kanpur. His other hundred came in the Golden Jubilee Test two years earlier. The most successful England touring captain was Tony Greig. Not only did he lead his side to a memorable series win in 1976-77 but he also contributed 724 runs and 21 fairly cheap wickets over ten Tests in the 1970s.

Few wicket-keepers made their mark in India but Alan Knott did at least provide some consistently useful late-order runs in the Greig era. That leaves three specialist bowling spaces. Derek Underwood took 54 wickets at 26.51, making him easily our best spinner in an era when India boasted several world-class slowies. Competition for the other seamer spots is particularly fierce. Jimmy Anderson has done quite well in recent times, and two Yorkshire stalwarts, Chris Old and Matthew Hoggard, each captured more than 20 Indian victims at under 24 apiece. Nevertheless, two ohers fared even better. Left-arm swing merchant John Lever took 10-70 on his debut at Delhi in 1976, as England won by an innings. He averaged under 14 in that triumphant series and finished with 32 wickets at under 20 in India. Sadly for him, his pace and swing were less successful elsewhere. He was brought back after a five-year international hiatus in 1986, versus India again, but this defeat was his final appearance in England colours. Bob Willis also enjoyed considerable success there, taking 32 at 22.37, taking most of the wickets left by Lever on that 1976-77 tour.

To summarise: Strauss, Robinson, Fowler, Gatting, Collingwood, Botham, Greig (*), Knott, Underwood, Willis, Lever.

But will this list change in a few months' time? Cook, Trott, Prior, Finn, Anderson et al could all be in with a chance. It should be a great series.

Botham's Ashes - the Forgotten Tests

As England make it to the top of the tree in fine style, people are looking back to other occasions when they seemed invincible. Frankly there aren't any in my living memory but times a-plenty when they showed courage in adversity, particularly against the Australians. 2009, 2005, 1986 and of course 2001, 'Botham's Ashes'.

Out come the video clips of the bearded all-rounder, knowing his side had nothing to lose in the face of an innings defeat at Headingley, slogging the ball to all corners. Not a lot of finesse, just head up, have-a-go joie-de-vivre which could have ended up in Sehwag-esque disaster. His unbeaten 149 was followed by Bob Willis' amazing 8-43 and the series was level.

However, that wasn't really Botham's finest hour in that series. The innings may have changed the course of the match and the series but Headingley didn't witness the best of his bowling and batting. The following game, at Edgbaston, was a low-scoring affair in which nobody managed even a 50. England struggled to 189 against Terry Alderman, but Kim Hughes' Aussies took a lead of only 69, with John Emburey's off-spin doing most of the damage. The home side fared little better second time around, and Australia needed just 151 to win. Surely they wouldn't blow such an easy target twice running?

Allan Border, then aged 26, was at his most miserly, but even after he departed on 40 with the score on 105-5, Australia must still have been favourites to go 2-1 up. Enter Botham. He steamed in, that wide chest delivery and whoosh - he took the last five wickets for 11 runs and it was England who won by 29 runs and now led the series.

Two weeks later, the action moved north to Old Trafford and the Fifth Test began thirty years ago this week. It was a good August. I remember seeing bits of the game live, some on highlights, from a family holiday in SW Wales. Coe and Ovett were swapping middle-distance world records seemingly every other day, Sussex and Notts were slugging it out for the County Championship and now Brearley's England were confident of winning the Ashes. However, the previous two victories had been very tight so anything could happen.

Mike Brearley won the toss and decided to bat. However, Lillee and Alderman each claimed four wickets and only a gritty 69 from Chris Tavare and an unbeaten half-century by debutant bowler Paul Allott enabled England to pass 200. Botham was out first ball. However, Australia's batting was more like India 2011, and were all out for 130, blitzed early on by Bob Willis. England's second innings slipped to 104-5 and things were not looking too rosy.

The Aussies had only four front-line bowlers, including the then unknown Mike Whitney, called up in desperation from club cricket. Lillee, one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, had to bowl 46 overs in that innings, and Alderman trundled in for 52, but they seemed to be doing their jobs well until Ian Botham came in at his usual number seven. At Leeds, his batting had been all brute force and large dollops of luck. This time, his strokeplay was both exhilarating and classical. Ably supported by Tavare (three boundaries in seven hours!!) 'Beefy' scored 118 in only 102 balls, then almost unheard of in Test cricket. He struck six sixes, including audacious hooks off the masterful Lillee before succumbing to a caught-behind off Whitney. The pair had put on 149 for the sixth wicket, and then Knott and Emburey advanced the score beyond 400, setting the Aussies more than 500 to win, with almost two days remaining.

It sounded impossible - and was - but this time the tourists didn't fold up and die like Dhoni's lot this week. The openers may have gone cheaply but Graeme Yallop in particular was in an adventurous mood, making 114 in 125 balls. At the other end, Border got his head down and defended brilliantly for seven hours while plundering seventeen fours when the ball dropped slightly wide or short. Unfortunately for the Aussies, nobody could stick with him long enough to achieve the draw or even an unlikely victory. They managed 402 all out, losing by 103 runs.

The Sixth Test at The Oval was a closer affair with centuries scored by Border (again), Boycott and Australian newcomer Dirk Wellham, and 'ten-fors' for both Lillee and that man Botham.

Those two players, with Allan Border and top wicket-taker Alderman, were the stars of a truly memorable Test series, up there with the 2005 Ashes as a thrilling clash of two well-matched sides. However, when remembering 1981 and watching footage of Headingley, fast forward to Edgbaston and Old Trafford to see the very best of Ian Botham. You won't be disappointed.