Leather On Willow

I've been watching some Test Cricket recently - and of course when you are watching England in action your thoughts eventually turn to the Ashes series of 1981. Let's recap. It was a 6 Test series. The series began with Ian Botham as England captain. Australia won the first Test at Trent Bridge. The second Test at Lords was drawn during poor weather, but Botham made 0 in each innings and resigned the captaincy. There was a major debate as to whether he should remain in the side, eventually decided in his favour, but only just. The third Test at Headingley was perhaps the most famous, and certainly the most cataclysmic, cricket match of all time. Australia batted first and made 401-9 declared, though Botham recaptured some bowling form taking 6-95. England then batted pathetically, and although Botham made 50, the total score was a mere 174, leaving England 227 behind. They were forced to follow on and were collapsing again, reaching 105-5 when Botham came in for his second innings. They lost another two wickets progressing the score to 135-7.(ie they had only 3 wickets left and were still 92 behind) On the 4th day however, Botham took the fight to the Australians, clubbing the bowling all round the ground and reaching his 100 off 87 balls. He was supported by the tail-end bowlers and managed to advance the score to 356 all out (Botham 149 not out). It still looked very bleak for England, as they only had a lead of 129. Enter Bob Willis - as he rode the wave of euphoria which Botham had created, he turned in a furious bowling performance taking 8-43, bowling Australia out for 111 and winning by 18 runs. It was only the second time in history that a team following on had won a Test Match. As if that one match hadn't provided enough excitement to last a lifetime, the fourth Test at Edgbaston contrived almost to emulate it, and Botham equalled his Headingley performance for jaw-dropping amazement. On this occasion the Australians had very comfortably reached a position where they needed only 142 to win with 9 wickets to spare. They still seemed comfortable when Botham came into the attack, needing 45 with 5 wickets in hand. Botham took 5 wickets for 1 run in 28 balls and England won by 29 runs. England won the 5th test as well - Botham a bit low-key - he took 5 wickets and scored 118 in one innings (including a world record 6 sixes in a single Test innings). The sixth Test was drawn and England won the series 3-1 Extraordinary