The Twelfth Man 2020

1981: I was a spotty 18 year-old at home in Codsall (Staffordshire). I had sat my A-levels a month earlier and was feeling rather low with my desire to find a job and the shadow of three million unemployed looming. Unlike the children of today I had BBC coverage to console me  - but when Boycott was out LBW in the second innings on the Monday afternoon I, like many, thought that was that. I went outside into my parents’ back garden to bowl at the coal bunker wall but luckily I took my small radio to listen to the last rites of the match. That’s when the fun started! I continued listening until Botham got his 50 and decided it was time to return to the television. I sat there until the end of play and vividly remember my father coming home from work and describing what had happened. He said it would only delay the Aussies winning. My youthful answer was that I thought we are going to win this! On the Tuesday morning I selfishly informed my mother that I was not able to help with her visit to the supermarket. I was going to watch the cricket until its conclusion and said again I thought we had a good chance of winning. At 56-1 (wanting 130 to win) I was concerned but still thought a few quick wick- ets would even things up.  I remember dashing to the kitchen at the lunch break to ensure I would be back in time for the re- sumption. As a ‘Bear’ (Warwickshire fan) I was encouraging Bob Willis on - asking why does he not appear to bowl like this for us?  Strange- ly, I remember moments of fielding:- Gatting appearing to fall down forwards to scoop up a catch to dismiss Lillee and, what I still think as perhaps the most pressurised catch I can recall, Dilley catching Marsh just inside the boundary. (If that had been 2019 it would have been 6!) The effect of that win has forever linked me to Botham - he had been down and out after the previous Test match and here he was, showing the doubters how he could turn things round. It gave me hope that perhaps my job search would improve - but that’s another story. 2019: Fast forward to August 2019. I now lived in West Yorkshire and told my two daughters that I would try to get tickets for the Ashes, their first ever Test match.   I went online, getting tickets for the Saturday and then luckily had a thought - what if the Sat- urday was weather interrupted? - and also purchased tickets for the Sunday. Tickets in the family stand for both days, being baked in the wonderful sunshine! Returning home on the Saturday evening my younger daugh- ter said she had been pretty bored and my elder saying she thought it ‘okay’.  Amazingly, I asked if they didn’t want to go back for the Sunday but luckily, with the weather forecast being so good, my elder decided for her sister that we would go. On the way to the ground my elder asked me what chance do Eng- land have? I said, ‘normally no chance, but with the weather so good, perhaps a 1 or 2% chance.’ At the lunch break we befriended an Australian supporter in the queue for the water cooler (not something we usually as- sociate with Headingley!). As we parted I said I thought they would win and the Aussie said it would be close, so I casually said “ok, we will - by one wicket”! Back in the stand, when the 9th wicket went my elder asked if we could still win. I said that Ben Stokes had the ability to do it but I could not work out how he could do it. (I was at Edgbaston 2005 when we won by 2 runs - on that day we expected to win at the start of the day - here was the opposite.) I said if we could get the target to less than 50 then perhaps it might get interesting, and if we got to less than 20 I would start to fancy our chances. My boss at work texted me to say he had put a bet on a tie! He has a good track record with bets but must admit I wanted that unlikely win for England. The last hour of play has been well documented elsewhere but I remember that after Stokes had hit the winning boundary I lifted my daughters in turn into the air with joy - yes, I did cry tears of joy. We sat there in our seats for over an hour after play chatting about what we had seen. I said that I didn’t anticipate I would buy them Test match tickets for next year because they are highly unlikely to see such a day’s play in a long time. Little did we know that this year is unlikely to see any interna- tional cricket at Headingley. We befriended an Australian supporter in the queue... As we parted I said I thought they would win and the Aussie said it would be close, so I casually said “ok, we will - by one wicket”! I WAS THERE… WCLS member, Dave Whittingham recalls being at home in 1981 and at the ground in 2019 Features