The England cricket team toured Australia in 1986/7 and retained the Ashes with a 2-1 series win.
Battle for the ‘Wooden Spoon’
Both England and Australia begun this series at a low ebb. England had lost 5-0 against the West Indies the previous year, then lost 2-0 and 1-0 to India and New Zealand respectively during the England summer. Australia, during the same period, had badly lost two series against New Zealand (2-1 and 1-0), and drew two series against India. Although Australia escaped with an historic tie against India in September 1986, India always looked a better side, and were very unlucky to draw a match they should have won in Melbourne in December 1985.
Considering the losses that both teams had sustained, it was only natural that many felt this series was merely a battle for Test cricket's Wooden spoon. Although Australia managed a tie in Madras, many commentators felt that Australia's batting had strengthened somewhat. The performances of Victorian batsmen Dean Jones and the new opening pair of David Boon and Geoff Marsh had been noted. Young NSW all-rounder, Stephen Waugh, was also beginning to make his presence felt, although certainly not to the level that many expected him. The bowling was still problematic, although Bruce Reid had begun to perform well.
So when England began their tour in October 1986, they were immediately in trouble as they lost against Queensland by 5 wickets. They especially had trouble with Dirk Tazelaar, a tall, left arm bowler, who took 4/34 in the first innings. England's batsmen seemed hopelessly out of form, although Ian Botham managed to hit an ominous 86 off 67 balls, including eleven fours and four sixes - one six shattering a window at long-off. When fielding, England's woes continued, with many catches dropped despite some effective bowling.
A morale boosting 5 wicket victory against South Australia followed. Allan Lamb and tour debutant James Whitaker hit centuries while spinner John Emburey found form. It also marked the end of a depressing run of fourteen losses for the England team at first class level (including Test and tour matches). Parkinson, another left-arm fast bowler, took 5/87 in England's first innings. Experts began to question England's vulnerability against left arm quicks.
The tour then began to fall apart again with an embarrassing performance against Western Australia. Rain ensured the match ended in a draw, but England would have easily lost had the rain stayed away. Five catches were dropped in the first innings as Australian opener Geoff Marsh scored 124 in 345 minutes. Two left-arm quicks, Chris Matthews and Bruce Reid, took four wickets each as England collapsed for 152. Marsh then batted 246 minutes for his 63 in the second innings as Western Australia looked for a declaration. The match ended with England 6 for 153 and desperately avoided defeat. David Gower, a very important member of the England lineup, had been dismissed for a zero in both innings. Captain Mike Gatting, vice captain Allan Lamb and backup opener Wilf Slack had also been dismissed for zero once each during the match.
Australia therefore approached the 1st Test as clear favourites. Martin Johnson of The Independent wrote that the English team "had only three things wrong with them - can't bat, can't bowl, can't field". Australia selected two left arm fast bowlers - Bruce Reid and Chris Matthews (both from Western Australia) - to take advantage of the clear problem the English batsmen had with this sort of bowling.
1st Test, November 14, 1986 – November 19, 1986 (Brisbane Cricket Ground, Woolloongabba, Brisbane)
England won by 7 wickets
England's achievement in winning this match, especially against the backdrop of their early tour form, was remarkable. For Australia, with such high hopes against the "old enemy", the loss was depressing and indicated yet again that Australia's young side still had a long way to go before they could be competitive.
Ian Botham punishes Merv Hughes during the first test
England's first innings was dominated by Ian Botham's 138 off 174 balls. He was especially severe on Australian Bowler Merv Hughes, playing in only his second Test. Important also were the return to form of Gower (51) and Captain Gatting (61). A rain-shortened first day meant that Australia was 1-33 by the start of day 3. Australia's first innings was effectively ended by Kent seamer Graham Dilley, although all the bowlers were effective in either taking wickets or restricting runs. Geoff Marsh continued his good form from the previous tour match, scoring 56 in 205 minutes.
Unfortunately, Australia's first innings fell 8 runs short of avoiding the follow-on. Their second innings was dominated by Marsh's 110 off 392 minutes (by the end of this innings, Marsh had batted 1188 minutes - nearly 20 hours - in four innings against England). England's bowling was dominated by Emburey's 5/80, who conceded less than 2 runs per over. Australia was bowled out for 282 and England easily knocked off the runs required for a well-deserved victory.
2nd Test, November 28, 1986 – December 3, 1986 (WACA Ground, Perth)
Match Drawn
David Gower’s first innings 136
3rd Test, December 12, 1986 – December 16, 1986 (Adelaide Oval, Adelaide)
Match Drawn
Highlights of Broad’s and Gatting’s first innings second wicket partnership
4th Test, December 26, 1986 – December 28, 1986 (Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne)
England won by an innings and 14 runs
Botham’s final five-wicket haul of his test career
The embarrassing failure of Australia in losing this match so completely also marked their 14th Test in succession without a victory. By any statistical analysis, Australia had reached their all-time historic "low" when the match ended. Having reached this point, the only way for Australia was up. Chris Broad became the third English batsman, after Jack Hobbs and Wally Hammond, to score hundreds in three consecutive Ashes Tests.
5th Test, January 10, 1987 – January 15, 1987 (Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney)
Australia won by 55 runs
This match will always be remembered as "Taylor's match". When the team for the Test was announced, the Australian selectors had included the name of Peter Taylor from NSW. Thinking that a mistake in names had been made, the Australian media besieged the home of the talented young NSW opener Mark Taylor, thinking that he had been selected to play his first Test. Although history shows that Mark Taylor had a substantial Test career later on, the selectors had made no mistake in the name. NSW off-spinner Peter Taylor had impressed some selectors (especially Greg Chappell) with his all-round abilities during the previous season's Sheffield Shield final. Considering Peter Taylor's limited first-class experience, the selection was risky. Given the state of Australian cricket at this point, and the fact that the Ashes had already been lost, such a selection could be considered desperate. The selection was so shocking that the media quickly dubbed him "Peter Who?", and he became something of a celebrity leading up to the match. Spectators voiced their opinion too on the first day of the match. "Aussie Selectors couldn't pick Bill Lawry's Nose" declared one banner. No doubt these same spectators would have been cheering 5 days later as this unlikely player received the man of the match award.
The Australian first innings was dominated by Jones' 184 not out - his first century of the season and only his second Test century. Jones was lucky not to be out for 5, as video replays seemed to indicate that he had been caught behind. Australia managed 343 in the first innings, with Jones featuring in some very important late-wicket partnerships.
Given the dominance of England's batting throughout the season and the limited nature of Australia's bowling, both sides were stunned as England stuttered to 3/17 in their first innings, with Merv Hughes finally providing the venom he had been promising. Hughes, still inexperienced at this point, was one of the players the selectors stuck with despite his poor form. England recovered somewhat through the strokeplay of Gower and an almost embarrassing 69 from John Emburey (who kept falling over when playing the sweep shot). But it was debutant Peter Taylor taking 6/78 off 26 overs that ran through the middle order, including the dangerous Ian Botham.
Geoff Marsh at short leg making Peter Taylor's debut test match even more memorable
Australia's second innings began badly again, then recovered slightly while Jones and Border were batting, then slumped again to 7/145. Steve Waugh (73) partered Peter Taylor (42) in a 98 run partnership that, in the end, proved to be match-winning. Waugh, still potentially "the next big thing" and in front of his home crowd, was an attractive stroke-maker while Taylor, on the other hand, had little natural strokeplay but relied upon his concentration. John Emburey, the English Off Spinner, was taking every advantage of the wearing pitch with 7/78 off 46 overs.
With 320 to win on a wearing pitch, England applied themselves against the inexperienced Australian attack and aimed for victory. Gatting, out for 0 in the first innings, took England to 5/233, but was out caught and bowled to All-rounder Steve Waugh for 96. With the pitch getting worse, England put off thoughts of victory and worked to draw the match. John Emburey batted for over an hour for his 22, but fell with only two overs remaining to give Australia its first victory in 14 Tests. Leg Spinner Peter Sleep finished with 5/72 - his only 5 wicket haul in Tests.
The Series in Context
After the completion of one of England's most successful tours of Australia, many thoughts turned to the future and how certain players might fare.
Despite his stunning debut, Australian Off-Spinner Peter Taylor never dominated a Test match in the same way again. Apart from a brave 54 not out against Pakistan a few years later and 87 against New Zealand in 1990, Taylor's overall Test record was mediocre. His lack of form also translated into his First class performances, and he was once in the unusual situation of being selected to play for Australia in One-day matches while being dropped by NSW for Shield Matches. He eventually moved to play for Queensland where his form did not improve. Taylor was, however, an integral part of Australia's one-day dominance in the late 1980s. He eventually retired from the game and, for a brief period, became a national selector.
Chris Broad also suffered from lack of consistency after this series. Despite his wonderful run of centuries, he never again dominated a bowling attack the way he did during this tour. He scored 116 against Pakistan in the infamous December 1987 Test, then 139 against Australia again in the Bicentennial Test match. However, Broad eventually finished with just 1661 Test runs at an average of 39.54. His final Test was during the 1989 Ashes series, where he scored 18 and 20 at Lords.
A number of other England players failed to live up to their potential from this series. Gladstone Small played only 17 Tests and took 55 wickets at 34. Young keeper CJ Richards found that the selectors preferred Bruce French when he returned to England, and was then given a hard time while playing for Surrey. Richards retired before he turned 30, having played only 8 Tests. His 133 at Perth remains his only Test century.
Philip DeFreitas, in his debut tour, eventually turned into an effective bowler for England, though he was never able to live up to the "Black Botham" tag that some had given him. Graham Dilley was another who served England well until his final Test in 1989.
A number of Australians were able to learn from this series and were able to transform themselves into better players as a result. David Boon's Test career was written off after this series, with English author Christopher Martin-Jenkins wondering who would partner the effective Geoff Marsh in future. Boon, of course, played 107 Tests while the dour Marsh was eventually dropped after 50 - Boon ending up the better batsman. Dean Jones lived up to his promise for a while, but was eventually worn down by Richard Hadlee. Steve Waugh, after a long period of time, finally began to deliver on his ability and was one of Australia's most important players in the 1990s. Australia's bowlers, notably Geoff Lawson, Merv Hughes and Craig McDermott, all returned to form and were integral parts of future teams that defeated England in 1989, 1990-91, 1993, and 1994-95. Bruce Reid's performances improved markedly, but back injuries limited his Test Career.
For Australia, Greg Ritchie and Dirk Wellham never played for Australia again, while left arm fast bowler Chris Matthews made only one more appearance. All rounder Greg Matthews remained a far better batsman then a bowler, and probably deserved to play more Tests overall based on his batting average.
Battle for the ‘Wooden Spoon’
Both England and Australia begun this series at a low ebb. England had lost 5-0 against the West Indies the previous year, then lost 2-0 and 1-0 to India and New Zealand respectively during the England summer. Australia, during the same period, had badly lost two series against New Zealand (2-1 and 1-0), and drew two series against India. Although Australia escaped with an historic tie against India in September 1986, India always looked a better side, and were very unlucky to draw a match they should have won in Melbourne in December 1985.
Considering the losses that both teams had sustained, it was only natural that many felt this series was merely a battle for Test cricket's Wooden spoon. Although Australia managed a tie in Madras, many commentators felt that Australia's batting had strengthened somewhat. The performances of Victorian batsmen Dean Jones and the new opening pair of David Boon and Geoff Marsh had been noted. Young NSW all-rounder, Stephen Waugh, was also beginning to make his presence felt, although certainly not to the level that many expected him. The bowling was still problematic, although Bruce Reid had begun to perform well.
So when England began their tour in October 1986, they were immediately in trouble as they lost against Queensland by 5 wickets. They especially had trouble with Dirk Tazelaar, a tall, left arm bowler, who took 4/34 in the first innings. England's batsmen seemed hopelessly out of form, although Ian Botham managed to hit an ominous 86 off 67 balls, including eleven fours and four sixes - one six shattering a window at long-off. When fielding, England's woes continued, with many catches dropped despite some effective bowling.
A morale boosting 5 wicket victory against South Australia followed. Allan Lamb and tour debutant James Whitaker hit centuries while spinner John Emburey found form. It also marked the end of a depressing run of fourteen losses for the England team at first class level (including Test and tour matches). Parkinson, another left-arm fast bowler, took 5/87 in England's first innings. Experts began to question England's vulnerability against left arm quicks.
The tour then began to fall apart again with an embarrassing performance against Western Australia. Rain ensured the match ended in a draw, but England would have easily lost had the rain stayed away. Five catches were dropped in the first innings as Australian opener Geoff Marsh scored 124 in 345 minutes. Two left-arm quicks, Chris Matthews and Bruce Reid, took four wickets each as England collapsed for 152. Marsh then batted 246 minutes for his 63 in the second innings as Western Australia looked for a declaration. The match ended with England 6 for 153 and desperately avoided defeat. David Gower, a very important member of the England lineup, had been dismissed for a zero in both innings. Captain Mike Gatting, vice captain Allan Lamb and backup opener Wilf Slack had also been dismissed for zero once each during the match.
Australia therefore approached the 1st Test as clear favourites. Martin Johnson of The Independent wrote that the English team "had only three things wrong with them - can't bat, can't bowl, can't field". Australia selected two left arm fast bowlers - Bruce Reid and Chris Matthews (both from Western Australia) - to take advantage of the clear problem the English batsmen had with this sort of bowling.
1st Test, November 14, 1986 – November 19, 1986 (Brisbane Cricket Ground, Woolloongabba, Brisbane)
England won by 7 wickets
England's achievement in winning this match, especially against the backdrop of their early tour form, was remarkable. For Australia, with such high hopes against the "old enemy", the loss was depressing and indicated yet again that Australia's young side still had a long way to go before they could be competitive.
Ian Botham punishes Merv Hughes during the first test
England's first innings was dominated by Ian Botham's 138 off 174 balls. He was especially severe on Australian Bowler Merv Hughes, playing in only his second Test. Important also were the return to form of Gower (51) and Captain Gatting (61). A rain-shortened first day meant that Australia was 1-33 by the start of day 3. Australia's first innings was effectively ended by Kent seamer Graham Dilley, although all the bowlers were effective in either taking wickets or restricting runs. Geoff Marsh continued his good form from the previous tour match, scoring 56 in 205 minutes.
Unfortunately, Australia's first innings fell 8 runs short of avoiding the follow-on. Their second innings was dominated by Marsh's 110 off 392 minutes (by the end of this innings, Marsh had batted 1188 minutes - nearly 20 hours - in four innings against England). England's bowling was dominated by Emburey's 5/80, who conceded less than 2 runs per over. Australia was bowled out for 282 and England easily knocked off the runs required for a well-deserved victory.
2nd Test, November 28, 1986 – December 3, 1986 (WACA Ground, Perth)
Match Drawn
David Gower’s first innings 136
3rd Test, December 12, 1986 – December 16, 1986 (Adelaide Oval, Adelaide)
Match Drawn
Highlights of Broad’s and Gatting’s first innings second wicket partnership
4th Test, December 26, 1986 – December 28, 1986 (Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne)
England won by an innings and 14 runs
Botham’s final five-wicket haul of his test career
The embarrassing failure of Australia in losing this match so completely also marked their 14th Test in succession without a victory. By any statistical analysis, Australia had reached their all-time historic "low" when the match ended. Having reached this point, the only way for Australia was up. Chris Broad became the third English batsman, after Jack Hobbs and Wally Hammond, to score hundreds in three consecutive Ashes Tests.
5th Test, January 10, 1987 – January 15, 1987 (Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney)
Australia won by 55 runs
This match will always be remembered as "Taylor's match". When the team for the Test was announced, the Australian selectors had included the name of Peter Taylor from NSW. Thinking that a mistake in names had been made, the Australian media besieged the home of the talented young NSW opener Mark Taylor, thinking that he had been selected to play his first Test. Although history shows that Mark Taylor had a substantial Test career later on, the selectors had made no mistake in the name. NSW off-spinner Peter Taylor had impressed some selectors (especially Greg Chappell) with his all-round abilities during the previous season's Sheffield Shield final. Considering Peter Taylor's limited first-class experience, the selection was risky. Given the state of Australian cricket at this point, and the fact that the Ashes had already been lost, such a selection could be considered desperate. The selection was so shocking that the media quickly dubbed him "Peter Who?", and he became something of a celebrity leading up to the match. Spectators voiced their opinion too on the first day of the match. "Aussie Selectors couldn't pick Bill Lawry's Nose" declared one banner. No doubt these same spectators would have been cheering 5 days later as this unlikely player received the man of the match award.
The Australian first innings was dominated by Jones' 184 not out - his first century of the season and only his second Test century. Jones was lucky not to be out for 5, as video replays seemed to indicate that he had been caught behind. Australia managed 343 in the first innings, with Jones featuring in some very important late-wicket partnerships.
Given the dominance of England's batting throughout the season and the limited nature of Australia's bowling, both sides were stunned as England stuttered to 3/17 in their first innings, with Merv Hughes finally providing the venom he had been promising. Hughes, still inexperienced at this point, was one of the players the selectors stuck with despite his poor form. England recovered somewhat through the strokeplay of Gower and an almost embarrassing 69 from John Emburey (who kept falling over when playing the sweep shot). But it was debutant Peter Taylor taking 6/78 off 26 overs that ran through the middle order, including the dangerous Ian Botham.
Geoff Marsh at short leg making Peter Taylor's debut test match even more memorable
Australia's second innings began badly again, then recovered slightly while Jones and Border were batting, then slumped again to 7/145. Steve Waugh (73) partered Peter Taylor (42) in a 98 run partnership that, in the end, proved to be match-winning. Waugh, still potentially "the next big thing" and in front of his home crowd, was an attractive stroke-maker while Taylor, on the other hand, had little natural strokeplay but relied upon his concentration. John Emburey, the English Off Spinner, was taking every advantage of the wearing pitch with 7/78 off 46 overs.
With 320 to win on a wearing pitch, England applied themselves against the inexperienced Australian attack and aimed for victory. Gatting, out for 0 in the first innings, took England to 5/233, but was out caught and bowled to All-rounder Steve Waugh for 96. With the pitch getting worse, England put off thoughts of victory and worked to draw the match. John Emburey batted for over an hour for his 22, but fell with only two overs remaining to give Australia its first victory in 14 Tests. Leg Spinner Peter Sleep finished with 5/72 - his only 5 wicket haul in Tests.
The Series in Context
After the completion of one of England's most successful tours of Australia, many thoughts turned to the future and how certain players might fare.
Despite his stunning debut, Australian Off-Spinner Peter Taylor never dominated a Test match in the same way again. Apart from a brave 54 not out against Pakistan a few years later and 87 against New Zealand in 1990, Taylor's overall Test record was mediocre. His lack of form also translated into his First class performances, and he was once in the unusual situation of being selected to play for Australia in One-day matches while being dropped by NSW for Shield Matches. He eventually moved to play for Queensland where his form did not improve. Taylor was, however, an integral part of Australia's one-day dominance in the late 1980s. He eventually retired from the game and, for a brief period, became a national selector.
Chris Broad also suffered from lack of consistency after this series. Despite his wonderful run of centuries, he never again dominated a bowling attack the way he did during this tour. He scored 116 against Pakistan in the infamous December 1987 Test, then 139 against Australia again in the Bicentennial Test match. However, Broad eventually finished with just 1661 Test runs at an average of 39.54. His final Test was during the 1989 Ashes series, where he scored 18 and 20 at Lords.
A number of other England players failed to live up to their potential from this series. Gladstone Small played only 17 Tests and took 55 wickets at 34. Young keeper CJ Richards found that the selectors preferred Bruce French when he returned to England, and was then given a hard time while playing for Surrey. Richards retired before he turned 30, having played only 8 Tests. His 133 at Perth remains his only Test century.
Philip DeFreitas, in his debut tour, eventually turned into an effective bowler for England, though he was never able to live up to the "Black Botham" tag that some had given him. Graham Dilley was another who served England well until his final Test in 1989.
A number of Australians were able to learn from this series and were able to transform themselves into better players as a result. David Boon's Test career was written off after this series, with English author Christopher Martin-Jenkins wondering who would partner the effective Geoff Marsh in future. Boon, of course, played 107 Tests while the dour Marsh was eventually dropped after 50 - Boon ending up the better batsman. Dean Jones lived up to his promise for a while, but was eventually worn down by Richard Hadlee. Steve Waugh, after a long period of time, finally began to deliver on his ability and was one of Australia's most important players in the 1990s. Australia's bowlers, notably Geoff Lawson, Merv Hughes and Craig McDermott, all returned to form and were integral parts of future teams that defeated England in 1989, 1990-91, 1993, and 1994-95. Bruce Reid's performances improved markedly, but back injuries limited his Test Career.
For Australia, Greg Ritchie and Dirk Wellham never played for Australia again, while left arm fast bowler Chris Matthews made only one more appearance. All rounder Greg Matthews remained a far better batsman then a bowler, and probably deserved to play more Tests overall based on his batting average.
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