The Twelfth Man 2020

14 15 Border bowled by Old. Until Ben Stokes’ arrival the match had been a true roller-coast- er with many ebbs and flows of fortune. On a frustrating rain-interrupted first day England had Australia at 25 for 2, only for them to recover to 179 all out. On a beautiful second day England were astonishingly dismissed for 67 when no-one could muster runs of any sort against Cummins, Hazelwood and Lyon. When Australia began again, 112 ahead, on only the second afternoon England’s bowlers were quick to make some- thing of a dent in their superiority. 82 for 3 at tea became 171 for 6 at the close, thus giving the home side a faint glimmer of hope that if they could contain the overall lead to around 300 it might just offer a chance. On the Saturday it cost another 75 runs for those four wickets, taken by Archer and Stokes. A target of 359 seemed something of a stretch, but on the other hand there were two and a half days to get them. England lost early wickets but Root and Denly steadied the ship….and then Stokes came in. The rest, as they say, is history. Rating: Botham 6 - the spoils of victory shared with the ageing Bob Willis Stokes 10 - not just his legendary second innings but other vital contributions with the ball The context of the series In the 1981 series the third Test at Headingley was pivotal. Be- fore it, England were in danger of surrendering the series of six matches. Certainly by the end of the third day at Leeds, with a loss at Trent Bridge and a poor draw at Lord’s behind them, they were staring down the barrel of the gun. It is there- fore no exaggeration to say the Botham innings and what fol- lowed it from Willis, turned the situation on its head. Just two weeks’ later, with innovative Sunday play at Edgbaston, Botham was again to the fore but this time with the ball, taking 5 for 11 in Australia’s second innings. Then at Old Trafford, he was back again, clubbing 118 in England’s second innings to take the match away from Australia who were 101 behind on first innings. By contrast, with the series now already won by Eng- land, the Oval Test was a drawn anti-climax but Dennis Lillee had the last laugh taking 7 for 89 in the first and 4 for 70 in the second innings. The 2019 win at Headingley, almost entirely the work of Stokes alone, was enough to keep England in the series at that point. It came after a loss at Edgbaston and a draw at Lord’s they might otherwise have won but for loss of time due to the weather. But then came a defeat at Old Trafford that assured Australia of retaining the Ashes they had won in the whitewash on home soil in 2017-18. Still playing for honour, England took the fifth Test at the Oval to earn the consolation of denying Australia a first series win in England since 2001. A series drawn at 2-2 was a fair reflection of a pretty even, enthralling contest played mostly in good spirit on both sides. Rating: Botham 10 - a one-man turn-around in England’s fortunes brought the Ashes home Stokes 5 - his lion-hearted contributions throughout were not enough to compensate for others’ failings Overall: Botham 23 Stokes 25 A treasured book...Brearley’s account of 1981 covers all the story including those odds on the Headingley scoreboard BETWEEN TWELFTH MEN A round-up of events in the cricket world since the 2019 Magazine South African batsman Hashim Amla announced in August that he would be retiring from interna- tional cricket after a ca- reer spanning 15 years. Moeen Ali announced in August that he would be taking a break from all forms of cricket after be- ing dropped from the Eng- land team following a de- feat in the First Test of the Ashes series. Less than a month before, Moeen had been part of England’s World Cup winning team. Seam-bowler Josh Shaw will leave Yorkshire for Gloucestershire after sign- ing a three year contract. Shaw, 23 years-old, had struggled to find regular first-team cricket with Yorkshireandhadanumber of loan spells with Glouces- tershire in recent years.