The Hollow Crown by Mark Peel

Author:Mark Peel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pitch Publishing
Published: 2020-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

The Age of Instability: 1980–89

BREARLEY’S success looks all the more impressive when compared to the fate of his successors during the 1980s. At a time when England had David Gower, Graham Gooch, Mike Gatting, Ian Botham, John Emburey, Phil Edmonds and Allan Lamb in their prime, it seems incredible to think that their record should be such a dismal one, with only 19.2 per cent of their games ending in victory, the worst of any decade bar the 1940s when England was recovering from the ravages of war. None of the seven captains post-Brearley in this decade were able to bring any consistency/stability to the team. The rigours of county cricket, the surfeit of injuries, the chaotic selection system, two rebel tours to South Africa, the hedonistic lifestyle and the casual approach to practice all played their part, alongside the deficiencies of many a captain.

Following the failure of the veteran Keith Fletcher to impose himself on England’s tour to India in 1981/82, he was sacked by the new chairman of selectors Peter May, and Bob Willis became the first fast bowler to captain England since Gubby Allen. It said much for Willis’s staying power that he remained a leading wicket-taker during his two years in charge, but the effort he expended on his bowling compromised his captaincy, and after a dismal tour to New Zealand and Pakistan in 1983/84 he was relieved of his responsibilities.

He was replaced by David Gower who was a throwback to the Golden Age with his debonair charm alongside his elegant batting and chivalrous approach to the game. His batting helped him win the Ashes in 1985, the prelude to presiding over a calamitous tour to the West Indies the following winter when he suffered a second 5-0 whitewash by his opponents. It wasn’t merely the margin of defeat which grated, but also the manner in which it came about, especially the slipshod approach to practice, and for this Gower was deemed responsible. He lasted only one further match in charge before he was discarded for his vice-captain, Gatting, only then to be restored to favour against Australia in 1989. It proved to be an unhappy second coming as England lost 4-0 to Australia, and even the phlegmatic Gower was rattled by the intense press scrutiny. At the end of a disastrous summer, he wasn’t only replaced as captain but was also omitted from the team to tour the West Indies.

In contrast to Gower, Gatting was a man from the ranks with a bullish personality and a fierce determination to win. Despite losing his first two series against India and New Zealand in 1986, his stock rose considerably when retaining the Ashes in Australia, but, with Botham’s powers very much on the wane, England lost to Pakistan both at home and away in 1987. The series in Pakistan followed an acrimonious one in England, and Gatting’s simmering discontent with the officiating boiled over in an unseemly confrontation with umpire Shakoor Rana in the second Test at Faisalabad.

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