HUW TURBERVILL: After being dismissed by Martin Johnson, wins at The Gabba and the MCG delivered a 2-1 series win for England and captain Mike Gatting
“Ian Botham took 22 off one Merv Hughes over. Beefy was at his belligerent best and Merv was not a great bowler yet. It was a mini-battle that saw the English lion put the Australian kangaroo to the sword.”
Chris Broad was England’s outstanding player in the winter of 1986/87, scoring three Ashes centuries and a succession of match-winning contributions in the two one-day tournaments they won in Australia. Yet he acknowledges (in his quote above) how Botham’s blistering batting in the first Test at Brisbane defined the series.
Hughes bore the brunt of it. He’d been a surprise selection ahead of Geoff Lawson, but he’d eased off the takeaways and was fulfilling a lifelong dream of facing England in an Ashes series. He started encouragingly, dismissing Mike Gatting, Allan Lamb and John Emburey.
Botham, though, was going so well that David Gower said during their fifth-wicket stand of 118: “I should be telling you to calm down, but I’m having too much fun.”
Hughes sensed the chance to keep Australia in touch, though, when John Emburey was out with the tourists’ total on 351.
Botham had other ideas, however, and had taken a shine to the Victorian’s bowling. Approaching his hundred, he took two off the first ball of the over to go to 99. Never one to take a cautious approach, he then hammered Hughes back over his head on the up for two, to reach three figures.
The nightmare was not over for the moustachioed bowler. A swashbuckling six soared over deep square-leg. Bob Willis, commentating on Channel Nine, purred: “People should savour every moment they can to watch this player; they only come once in a lifetime.”
Hughes later revealed his thoughts at the time. “I can’t let him get away with that,” he said to himself. “Not wanting to be taken lightly, I let him have a bouncer next ball. He hooked it again. The ball struck the fence at midwicket with such force that it bounced most of the way back to the middle. ‘Well done, Merv, nice thinking,’ I screamed silently to myself. ‘For God’s sake, pitch the next one up’. The result was the same, another four through the same area. Botham then completed the over with a rasping drive over mid-on.
“It was hard to watch,” said Hughes’s team-mate, Steve Waugh. “A mauling like that can ruin a career.”
Botham went on to make 138 from 174 balls, with four sixes and 13 fours. It was his first hundred in 21 Tests, and The Melbourne Age called him King-Kong.
Allan Border, the Australian captain, admitted: “The couple of hours that Botham batted was a key moment in the entire series. It went from bad to worse for us and set the tone for the tour.”
That England completed a seven-wicket win in Brisbane was remarkable enough, particularly after the way that they had started the tour; that they should finish it by taking the Test series 2-1, and making a clean sweep of the two one-day competitions as well was almost beyond belief. England had not exactly travelled with any degree of optimism. Indeed Wisden said: “England flew from Heathrow carrying the prayers rather than the aspirations of their countrymen.”
Merv Hughes was not yet in his pomp
They had won the 1985 Ashes 3-1 under Gower, but then lost 5-0 in the West Indies. Mike Gatting assumed the captaincy but results did not improve, with England suffering defeats to India (2-0) and, for the first time at home, New Zealand (1-0).
After they had conceded the Ashes in 1985, Australia also initially struggled. They lost a series at home to New Zealand for the first time as well, and then also went down in the return rubber. They regained some confidence, however, after drawing 0-0 in a three-Test series in India (the first match was tied) before hosting England. David Boon, Geoff Marsh, Dean Jones and Border all made hundreds.
England would have preferred longer than a month to rest before the Australia campaign, and they began dismally, losing to Queensland and Western Australia. “There are only three things wrong with this England team – they can’t bat, can’t bowl and can’t field,” wrote The Independent’s Martin Johnson. Yet they were to prove Johnson horribly wrong.
Broad was understandably still proud of his feats 23 years later when I phoned him in the spring of 2010. He was at home, recovering from a hip operation, and had just put the phone down after speaking to his son Stuart, who had been toiling in Bangladesh in the second Test.
“I had played for England in 1984, but not since, so I was excited – it was every English cricketer’s dream to go to Australia and play in the Ashes,” he said. “It was my first tour, but it became the high point of my career.
“The selectors would chop and change so much in those days – one bad Test at home and you could be dropped. So I liked being on tour. You knew you’d be involved in up to five Tests, and then have time to rest and prepare, rather than having to shoot off to play a Benson & Hedges Cup game with your county the next day.
“I don’t know how confident we were – we had confidence as individuals, but we didn’t know how we’d perform as a unit. There was not the professionalism that there is now. There was little planning and no analysis. There was no single plan as to how we were going to win the series, it was just a reliance on individuals to play as well as they could. [Team manager] Micky Stewart’s role was to organise practice and pre-match preparation – he was also a shoulder to lean on for Gatting, but he was no strategist.”
Emburey also praised Stewart’s approach when I spoke to him: “He let senior players have their head. It was his first tour as manager and he knew the importance of getting them on board – letting the players have space. It would have been very difficult for him to rein in Lambie, Gower and Botham because they wouldn’t have responded. If he’d tried to stop them going out, he might have lost them, so he had to communicate and work with them.
“It was tough early on, but Martin Johnson wrote us off prematurely and we turned it on when it counted.”
England had three weeks to prepare for the first Test, and even though that gave them just 12 days of first-class cricket before the Tests compared to 24 in 1965, it was arguably fortunate that they did not have longer.
Graham Dilley took 16 wickets across the series
Gladstone Small was on his first tour and was the third member of the squad I spoke to. “Gatt was very relaxed,” he said. “As long as you performed he would give you a little leeway to enjoy yourself. We made an awful start, though. We were beaten by the pineapple growers of Queensland, the peanut farmers of Sydney and the wine growers of Adelaide. Thankfully it was proper touring in those days, so we had time to find our form.”
Botham also admitted enjoying a party a little too much at the headquarters of the White Crusader team in the America’s Cup in Perth during the match against Western Australia, the final fixture before the first Test.
When the match started, England physio Lawrie Brown tried to sober him up by saying he needed to work on a fictitious ankle injury. Finally, Botham was forced to go in at 69 for 6, only to forget his bat as he walked out to the middle.
The relationship with the media had also changed. Gatting said: “We had three girls from a tabloid paper fly out to try to trap one or two of the boys just before the first Test. We got wind of it so Micky took on the heroic task of chatting to them in the hotel bar for two nights before the first Test so we knew where they were.”
Gower’s form and state of mind was also a concern, and he admitted he had become disengaged after losing the leadership. He was also disappointed not to be appointed vice-captain, that position going instead to Emburey. It manifested itself in Gower’s approach to the tour. His teammates nicknamed him ‘Fender’ after former captain, Percy Fender; he was being ludicrously depicted as a Champagne-guzzling toff in the mini-series about the Bodyline tour that was being broadcast on Australian television at the time. Gower recalls in his autobiography drinking the local rum with Botham, courtesy of the Bundaberg Cricket Association, revealing how he was “dragged, giggling and groaning, back to the team bus”.
Small added: "Beefy buzzed us in a helicopter in Bundaberg. We were enjoying ourselves a little too much."
It was fortunate that Gower pulled himself round, and ‘regained [his] self-worth’ during a train journey across the Nullabor Plain, between South Australia and Western Australia, which he described as ‘therapeutic’. It came as a welcome change, he said, “as the itinerary for that tour was such that I could have won Mastermind with Australian airport lounges as my special subject.” He was subsequently co-opted on to the selection and tour committees.
Early drinking deeds aside, England were glad to have Botham back. He had returned to play in the sixth Test of the summer after serving a three-month ban for admitting he had smoked cannabis. He was not completely content – he was smarting about what he saw as the shabby treatment of Viv Richards and Joel Garner by Somerset – but he had his wife, Kathy, with him on the entire tour, following his unhappy time in the Caribbean the winter before. Gatting made him the seam attack leader/mentor.
Finally, on the eve of the first Test, it was time to get serious. "The night before the Brisbane Test," said Small, "the Big Man, Beefy, who had been culprit No.1, said, ‘Right, the party is over.’ We’d had our fun and games, now all the senior payers came together."
Gatting was not convinced by all the negativity surrounding the party as they flew down under. He said: "I had a basic confidence in the side. All that stuff about ‘worst team to leave England’s shores’ – how could it be when you had Botham, Gower, Lamb and Phil Edmonds?"
Steve Waugh scored 310 runs in five Tests
An Australian rebel tour to South Africa that winter had deprived the official side of Terry Alderman, Rodney Hogg and Carl Rackemann, and they also left out Lawson – because he had played only two first-class games in 10 months. Instead they opted for Hughes and the two left-armers, Bruce Reid and Chris Matthews. The seamers had only nine Test caps between them. "The attack was really inexperienced," said Lawson. "I said to the selector, Greg Chappell, ‘Mate, I’m not pushing my own barrow here, but you’ve got it wrong’.”
They had indeed, as England won their first Test in 11 matches.
To confound their errors in selection, Australia won the toss and put England in, and at the end of day one the tourists were 198 for 2. Although they lost Lamb, for 40, and makeshift opener Bill Athey, for 76, without adding to that score the following morning, Gatting, with 61, and Gower, 51, built a platform for Botham, who hit England’s highest Test score at the Gabba.
Waugh felt Gower being dropped on nought by Matthews at slip was the turning point.
“The inexperience of the Australian faster bowlers clearly showed, fortunately for us,” said Gatting.
Australia made 248 in reply, Graham Dilley taking 5 for 68.
Then, following on, for the first time at home since 1965/66, they scored 282, Marsh holding up England up with 110. Emburey took 5 for 80, passing 100 Test wickets. England then reached their victory target of 75 with only three wickets down.
“The Australian media had been over-confident after their result in India,” said Broad. “They felt England were not going to be a threat. Maybe we caught them cold. Botham’s innings was crucial. Gone was the bored, crabby team-mate of 1984; instead he was tremendously supportive, continually positive and resolutely determined to come out on top."
Emburey said: “After that first Test, we went out and had T-shirts printed with ‘Can’t bat, can’t bowl, can’t field’ on them to get back at Martin. He later had to admit that, while it was the right sentiment, he’d applied it to the wrong side.
Waugh conceded: “The dismissal of England’s chances had been ridiculous when you consider they had players of such class as Lamb, Gatting, Gower, Botham and Dilley, while we really had only one proven performer in Border.”
He was particularly impressed with Botham and Gower. “According to the press, they were having a fun time, drinking wine and Champagne and pulling off pranks whenever they pleased. They, like all great players, have the ‘X factor’, that indefinable quality that sets them apart.”
While England had upped their game for the Tests, their approach to the state matches was still not what it might have been, judging by the subsequent eight-wicket defeat against New South Wales at Newcastle, in which they were dismissed for 82 in the second innings. However, they maintained their Test form with a draw at Perth.
Jack Richards claimed 16 dismissals for the tourists
They won the toss and made 592 for 8 declared, their second highest total in Australia, and the first time an England captain had declared in Australia since Ray Illingworth in 1970/71.
Broad announced himself with 162, England’s highest score at Perth. He struck 25 fours and shared an opening stand of 223 with Athey, who made 96. It was England’s best first-wicket partnership for 39 Tests.
Gower, with 136, and Surrey wicketkeeper Jack Richards, with 133 in only his second Test, then took England out of reach. It was the latter’s only Test century, and he dominated the stand of 207 with Gower. He fell just two runs short of the highest score by an England wicketkeeper against Australia: Alan Knott made 135 at Trent Bridge in 1977.
I tracked Richards down for The Sunday Telegraph ahead of the 2002/03 Ashes. He was – bizarrely – the director of a Rotterdam shipping firm, living in Antwerp. “As a Cornishman, it was enough for me to play in one Test,” he said. “After Brisbane, my nerves disappeared.”
Australia did just enough to make the game safe, reaching 401, with Border scoring 125 to help his side avoid the follow-on with No.11 Reid. When Botham caught Marsh, he emulated Garry Sobers by completing a Test treble of 1,000 runs, 100 wickets and 100 catches.
England tried to set up a victory by scoring 199 for 8, but erred on the side of caution. Australia needed 391 on the final day, and although the pitch had sizeable cracks, the hosts finished on 197 for 4.
“Perth was an absolute belter,” said Broad. “It was perfect for me as a batsman – pure pace and bounce. Once you were through the new ball, it was help-yourself. It was a fantastic stand with Athey to be involved in.
“It was touch and go if Australia would save the game. The cracks were quite wide, but Border’s hundred was magnificent. You could tell how much saving the follow-on meant to him. He was absolutely delighted and didn’t disguise that.”
Emburey was full of praise for England’s openers. “We didn’t have Graham Gooch on that tour, which everyone said was a huge loss, but the partnership Broad struck up with Athey came off.”
Gatting blotted his copybook for just about the only time on the tour when he overslept and missed the team bus on the first day of the match against Victoria. Tour manager Peter Lush “severely reprimanded” him, which most agreed was an over-reaction.
It did not affect Gatting, who made a century in the third Test at Adelaide, which was also drawn. England were without Botham who had torn an intercostal muscle, ending a sequence of 29 Test appearances against Australia.
Australia won the toss and made 514 for 5 declared, Boon scoring 103 and Jones 93. England replied with 455 on a benign pitch, Broad making 116 and Gatting 100. It was England’s record seventh successive time they had scored 400-plus against Australia. The hosts then had their only scare of the game, losing Boon and Jones cheaply, but went on to make 201 for 3 declared. Border reached 100 not out, his 21st Test century and his seventh against England.
The tourists finished on 39 for 2 to complete a match aggregate of 1,209 runs for 20 wickets. It had been mostly cool and cloudy over the five days and it was not an enthralling encounter: one spectator even did her ironing on the boundary’s edge on the fifth day.
“We responded well to their big score, and I was delighted to score another century,” said Broad. “I suppose Australia got themselves into the best position of the series so far, but it was always going to be a draw. It was a good wicket, but there was not quite as much pace as Perth. The ball came nicely on to the bat, but without the same zip.
“I mark pitches now for the International Cricket Council. I’d have given Perth very good and Adelaide good. Adelaide stayed the same throughout, which is the criticism aimed at modern pitches.”
If Australia believed they were a match for England now after those last two Tests, they threw the series away at Melbourne in the fourth Test, starting on Boxing Day. England won by an innings and 14 runs within three days to retain the Ashes. Gatting, on his first tour as captain, had followed in the footsteps of Arthur Chapman, Len Hutton and Mike Brearley in defending the urn abroad.
Border had said, in a pre-match interview, that to resurrect their chances in the series, Australia had to play boldly. Maybe that explained their adventurous approach after England had won the toss.
They collapsed to 141 all out with Botham and Small taking five wickets each, the former equalling Richard Hadlee’s record of 27 five-wicket hauls in Tests.
Waugh called it an “abysmal showing”, and said: “The worst part of our display was that Botham took five wickets on his reputation alone... long hops were nicked to the keeper or chopped on to the stumps; it was the presence and aura of a great cricketer that had us spellbound.”
Broad said: “Australia threw it away, but we caught well all tour – Richards, Botham, and led by the unsung hero Athey, at short-leg or short midwicket.”
Gatting was pleased that his hunch over Small had proved correct. He said: “Graham Dilley came up to me 20 minutes before I had to toss up and said, ‘I’ve done my knee in’, and we had to choose between Gladstone and Neil Foster. We chose Gladstone and after his first over, he’d hardly hit the mown track – one down the leg side, one wide on the off. I thought, ‘I’ve picked the wrong one here’.”
Small recovered in style, though. “It was my first Test in Australia and I’d been having a good tour. I was the leading wicket-taker on the tour despite missing the first three Tests. My confidence was up.
“I didn’t think I was in the team, so I took part in the normal warm-up, then went back to the dressing room and started to mix the drinks. Gatt walked past and said, ‘Stoney, leave that, you’re playing’. There was no time to get nervous.
“Crucially I’d played for South Australia the previous winter, so I had a taste and feel for the country; I had played at all the grounds, and I’d got Boonie [one of his five victims] out a couple of times when he was playing for Tasmania.
Dean Jones went past the 500-run barrier
“Both had a side strain, but he said, ‘We’re 1-0 up in the Ashes in Australia with two to play, there’s no way I’m missing it’, so the doctor stuck a couple of jabs in him.
“It was typical Melbourne, it had been rainy and drizzly on Christmas Day, and nice and breezy on the first day, so it was a no-brainer to put Australia in. The Boxing Day crowd at Melbourne could be a little fiery – they were probably a bit hungover, and the notorious Bay 13 was in operation. Gatt must have had a sense-of-humour failure as he stuck me down there. I got about halfway down and started being pelted with apples, oranges, chicken legs and bits of hot dog.
“I took a bite out of an apple, and said, ‘Thanks for that mate, I forgot to have my breakfast’. That raised a cheer and got them on my side a bit, and I then took five wickets to shut them up even more.”
A crowd of 58,000 had watched Australia’s capitulation, but there was only 20,000 on day two as England built a match-winning lead. They were 95 for 1 at the end of the first day, with Broad on 56. “I was standing in the old dressing rooms, and I told myself, ‘Right, Broady, we need to score a few more here’. Other times I’d just gone out and batted, but I knew we had to build a bigger lead.
“Unlike the other two centuries, I was nervous in the 90s. I’m sure the MCG had something to do with it. It was a fantastic atmosphere there, like a bullring.”
Broad reached 112, his third hundred in successive Tests, an achievement equalled for England against Australia only by Jack Hobbs, Walter Hammond and Bob Woolmer.
Gatting passed 3,000 Test runs in his 40 while Lamb made 43. England had been 163 for 1, however, so Australia had fought back to restrict them to 349.
Australia fared little better with the bat second time round, though, making only 194, with Richards completing nine dismissals in the match to equal England’s record against Australia.
It was time for England to party again, with the worlds of cricket and pop intertwining. ‘“Behind the scenes was astonishing,” said Broad. “There was Elton John, Phil Collins and George Michael all making appearances. Botham was close to Elton, calling him EJ the DJ.”
Botham said: “Elton was wonderful for me. I was able to discuss fully with him all the problems I’d suffered at the hands of the media knowing that his experiences with the tabloid press meant he knew exactly what I was talking about.”
Emburey recalls a particularly memorable New Year’s Eve: “We had a party at Graeme Fowler’s house in Perth, and Elton took care of the food and music. I remember his new silk suit getting absolutely covered in Champagne. Once he’d worked his way through our music, he sent his driver back to get his own music. Everywhere we went – Perth, Sydney, Melbourne – he seemed to have a concert. He’d had an operation on his throat so had stayed on in Australia. He was a lovely person, and he loved his sport.
“Botham’s family also came out and we all went back to his apartment. That’s how different Ian was – out of our league financially. If his family was over, he’d get a suite and pay for it. We didn’t hold back on having a few drinks on the tour. We partied like it was our last bloody tour.”
Defeat was hard to take for Border, and an Australian journalist asked him after the defeat: “So Allan, how does it feel to be the worst captain of the worst Aussie side ever?”
No wonder he had become known as Captain Grumpy. Keith Miller wrote: “Sleeves rolled down, scruffy beard. Hand on his chin. He looks more like an escapee from a Ned Kelly gang movie.”
Border admitted: “It was probably the lowest point for Australian cricket in my experience. We’d had some pretty ordinary performances for a few years. I’ll never forget being in the sheds at the MCG when we were drowning our sorrows. Pat Cash was winning the Davis Cup for Australia on TV. Speaking at the tennis, the Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke said, “It’s a pity there weren’t more Pat Cashes at the MCG today”. There was this stunned silence and I thought a few beer cans would fly at the screen. Even the PM was having a go. After a thousand beers, we promised ourselves that it had to stop there and we made a pact that it wouldn’t ever be that bad again.”
It was time for England to trek to the west coast once more, for the Perth Challenge, a four-team tournament devised to celebrate the staging of the America’s Cup, 12 miles away in Fremantle.
England appeared unstoppable in all forms of the game by now. They beat Australia, despite Jones’ 104. Then, thrillingly, they defeated West Indies, who had inflicted such misery on them in recent times. It was a fine win because the lively Perth pitch was deemed perfect for the pacemen from the Caribbean. The irrepressible Broad then struck 97 against Pakistan, before England overcame the same opponents in the final.
There was more humiliation for Australia, who suffered three straight defeats, and in particular for one-day specialist Simon Davis. He discovered how Hughes had felt in the Brisbane Test, as Botham hit him for 26 in one over. “We knew we couldn’t stop Botham because he had complete control of the situation,” said Waugh.
“At the time we didn’t realise what we’d achieved,” said Jack Richards. “We certainly didn’t think England would have to wait this long again. But it’s wrong to say we won just because Australia were weak. Look how we did against the brilliant West Indies in the Perth Challenge on one of the world’s fastest wickets.”
Gatting was having an impressive tour, first leading England to the Ashes, and now the Perth Challenge. “His man-management was brilliant,” said Botham. “He understood we were all different and that we had our strengths and weaknesses, and he found a way of bringing out the best in us.”
Broad agreed: “He was my kind of captain. Get up and go, and he loved a challenge.” Stewart added: “Gatting was red, white and blue through and through – so was I. He was determined. Loved playing the Australians; loved stuffing them.”
“You need the right people – strong characters: Botham, Gower, Lamb –proven performers,” said Gatting. “Bill Athey was very aggressive – up and at ’em, with a Union Jack tattooed on his arm. Chris Broad never gave it away. Phil and John gave me control, and the fielding made a huge difference.”
The tour schedule was not proving popular with England, however, despite their success, and they finally arrived in Sydney, usually the preferred destination of tourists in Australia, in the 13th week.
As it happened, Australia enjoyed the venue more, taking the fifth Test by 55 runs. It was their first win in 14 matches and signalled the start of the revival that Border had promised. Coach Bobby Simpson flogged them into shape, and their fitness played a big part in them winning the 1987 World Cup, beating England at Calcutta in the final. It was a far steelier side that destroyed England in 1989.
Instrumental in their victory was the previously unheralded Peter Taylor, or ‘Peter Who?’, as the media dubbed him. The 30-year-old off-spinner had played only six first-class games, and just one that season; with only one opening batsman, Marsh, in the squad, there was speculation that the wrong Taylor had turned up, and it should have been future captain Mark, making a strong case for selection with New South Wales.
The hosts won the toss and made 343, with Jones scoring 184. It was Australia’s highest score at Sydney for 42 years, although he was fortunate not to have been given out caught behind before he had scored. Small maintained his form, 5 for 75. For once Broad, Athey and Gatting all fell cheaply, and it was thanks to Emburey’s 69 that England made 275, Taylor justifying his selection with 6 for 78. He then hit 42 in Australia’s second-innings 251, with Waugh scoring 73; Emburey took 7 for 78, his best Test figures.
He and Edmonds, who also played in every Test, gave England great control, taking 33 wickets between them, with Australia scoring at barely two runs per over against them. By contrast, Greg Matthews, who played in the first four Tests, took 2 for 295.
England had a chance of victory when Gatting was going well, but when he fell for 96, in the second over of the final 20, Peter Sleep, with 5 for 72, showed a ruthless touch.
“Australia weren’t as poor as people seem to remember,” said Emburey. But Broad said: “It was a dead rubber, and history often shows that the side who wins the series loses that last match as there is nothing to play for. That said, we should have won it. It was our only blip on the entire tour.”
While the hosts’ batting had been steady (Jones had scored 511 runs at 56, Border 473 at 52.55 and Marsh 429 at 42.9), only Reid (20 wickets at 26 apiece) had been a consistent threat with the ball.
Elton John joined the England celebrations
There was now a danger of a tired England team being unable to lift themselves for the marathon World Series. There were 12 group games again, with England playing Australia and West Indies four times each.
Australia, indeed, did have the better of England, beating them in three of those encounters. But Gatting’s men won a thriller at Sydney, when a previously subdued Lamb needed 18 off the final over from Reid, and won it with a ball to spare to make up for his limp Test series.
England managed to beat West Indies three times, though, including the final must-win game in Tasmania. Gower admitted: “Having to wind up again for the World Series after we retained the Ashes was difficult. We went to play West Indies in Devonport, where the temperature was freezing, and the stadium better suited to a game of Icelandic football.”
Fortunately Broad delivered again: “I remember sitting next to Greg Matthews, and he said, ‘You’ll never get another opportunity to win everything again in this country’. That comment stayed in my head. I pulled a hamstring but I batted on to score 76 in a low-scoring game.”
Australia clinched their place in the best-of-three finals by beating West Indies at Sydney.
Botham had gone a little quiet with the bat since the first Test, but once again he rose to the occasion. Opening by now, he thumped 71 from 52 balls in a rain-reduced game at Melbourne, and then took 3 for 26 in an eight-run win at Sydney. England had managed their clean sweep – the third game was not needed.
Broad was named International Player of the Season after making 487 runs in the Tests at 69.57, and another 559 in 14 one-day internationals.
“John Edrich said to me at The Oval at the end of the previous summer, ‘Enjoy yourself – the crowds will be hostile but they will appreciate good cricket’,” said Broad. “I was hit on the neck by an apple in a one-day match at Perth. I turned round and all I could see was a huge sea of smiling faces. On the other hand, going out to the wicket, or acknowledging a big score, the crowds were very generous.”
It was an unforgettable tour – certainly the one that left a big mark on me as a teenager. Channel Nine’s presentation was in stark contrast to the rather restrained coverage we were used to on the BBC – with Daddles the Duck waddling across the screen when a batsman failed to score, that fabulous music. New Horizons (from an Australian programme called ‘Bluey’, apparently) and even live play from overseas Tests on BBC Television.
Everything about the country seemed different – hence also the fascination of British viewers with the Australian soap opera Neighbours, which started showing on BBC1 in 1986.
Frequent visitors to Australia in the England party may have noted that the societal creep away from the United Kingdom was continuing. The Australian Act had removed the right of appeal from the British Privy Council, making the High Court the final court of appeal in Australia. It also removed the remaining rights of the UK parliament to pass laws for Australia.
None of that worried Small, though, who said: “It was the most enjoyable tour I went on. Not only because we won, but because of the involvement of characters like Elton John.”
Emburey said: “I had two tours to Australia [1978/79 and 1986/87] – and we won on both. So I was lucky to enjoy more success than most against them. I also played at home in 1981 and 1985 – great Ashes-winning sides – but beating Australia in Australia was a bigger thrill.”
Ian Botham was a big presence on and off the field
Maybe there was just one dissident. Despite his successful tour, Richards had already decided to leave the game – and he suggested that the amateur ethos that had bugged Ray Illingworth and his colleagues years earlier had not entirely dissipated. “I didn’t want to have to rely on the decisions of amateurs to stay at the top. There was too much old school tie. I’ll never understand why that Ashes team was dismantled. Players like Small, Broad and myself did not play much again, although Lamb, who had a mediocre tour, continued.”
Already the team had a different feel to it the following winter when England played a one-off Test at Sydney in early 1988 to celebrate the bicentenary of Australia as a nation. The Ashes were not at stake, and only five of England’s starting XI had played in the Tests the year before, with Gooch, Gower and Botham (playing for Queensland instead) unavailable.
When the match unfolded, however, certain aspects stayed the same – Gatting was still in charge, Broad scored another century, and England were on top. The match ended in a draw, though, and it was compared unfavourably to the 1977 Centenary Test. Broad’s fourth hundred in six Tests in Australia – all on separate grounds – ended when he was bowled off his body by Waugh and he flattened his leg stump with a swing of his bat. It was a moment that has stuck to him. He was fined £500 by Lush and issued a stern warning.
England won the toss and made 425, which was disappointing after they had been 245 for 2, Broad scoring 139.
Australia limped to a very slow 214 in reply, with Dilley and Eddie Hemmings – the hero of Sydney five years earlier – taking three wickets each. Boon’s 184 led them to safety in the follow-on, however, as they made 328 for 2.
“Smashing my stumps down is obviously quite a memory,” Broad admitted, “but I can also recall promoting the game in Australia as they felt cricket needed a bit of a boost. We did little snippets to the camera, and there was more media interest than the year before.”
He made another century, his sixth, in his next Test in Christchurch, but that was to be his last. The hero of 1986/87 played in only 25 Tests.
“I’d like to think I would have had a longer international career these days,” said Broad. “Those kind of selectorial issues were partly why a lot of players went on rebel tours to South Africa.
“That Ashes win should have a springboard for sustained success. On paper, it was an incredibly strong side, but we should have had a lot more success in the 1980s with all those talents.
“Gatting did a fine job on that tour – he was a real players’ leader – so why did England only win two Tests out of 23 under his leadership? You can’t blame everything on facing a fantastic West Indies. It was appalling, a real mystery.”
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