Quote:
Originally Posted by welderman
I was in Australia in 1986, when the aussie press were slagging of the the English Squad..Bill Athey and Jack Richards..{Bill who and Jack who}.Check your records, Both played their part...
P.S I was at the Sydney cricket Ground when Allan Lamb scored 18 0ff 5 balls, and lying on Bondi Beach when Beefy opened the batting in Perth {without a helmet} and scored 76 in around 40 balls...
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This was the last series win by England v Australia for 18 years. England possessed very experienced middle order players, their openers, Athey and Broad, exceeded expectations, the England seam attack outperformed the raw and relatively unblooded Australian seamers (only Bruce Reid really bowled well for Australia) and John Emburey demonstrated that an orthodox right arm finger spinner can be highly effective in Australian conditions.
After a really disappointing 1985 tour of England, the Aussies had devoted care and effort to rebuilding and they were quite confident. But the tone was set on the first day of the first test: Ian Botham put on his serious head and played (for me) the most polished and mature innings of his career. His shot making was superb, his scoring rate very quick, but every shot was authentic and full of concentration. His 138 was the bedrock of the England 456 and sent a message that Australia's bowlers held no fears for the England batting. So much of cricket is played inside the heads of the batsman and the bowler in their personal duel, and Botham seemed invincible that day, getting out in the end to the very first loose shot of his intensely disciplined innings. The innings also demonstrated the huge importance of a good start, of being prepared inside your head; Botham did not say "Lets stop talking and play some cricket." He said nothing; he let his bat do the talking.
We need some of this from our team now.