Test Cricket Tours - England to Australia 1986-87

Test Cricket Tours - England to Australia 1986-87

Tour of Australia 1986-87 Captain : Mike Gatting

England’s sixty-seventh Test tour.

(October 1986 -

February 1987)

33rd Test playing tour of Australia

(previous tour 1982-83)

A comment by journalist Martin Johnson of The Independent that the touring team had just three problems (it “can't bat. can't bowl and can't field”) attracted a lot of attention but was quickly disproved. Having retained the Ashes, by winning two Test matches and narrowly losing the last, England went on to win the two limited-overs tournaments : the Perth Challenge and the B & H World Series Cup.

Mike Gatting became leader in the summer of 1986 after David Gower had lost every Test match in two series against the West Indies in 1984 and 1986.

Botham's contributions to the Test series seem slight apart from his 138 in the First Test at Brisbane and five first innings wickets at Melbourne; but these were the two matches that England won to retain The Ashes. Chris Broad with three centuries was England's most successful player.

Phil Edmonds had at first refused to sign his tour contract because it prevented him from writing about the tour, but then relented. Ian Botham, who was writing a column for The Sun, also hesitated before signing for what he intended to be his last England tour. Edmonds was admonished by TCCB officials for humorous comments made on the TV show Wogan the day before the tour party left England.

Other England tours

Previous Test tour

West Indies 1985-86

Next Test tour

Pakistan 1987-88

Next tour of Australia

1990-91

Members of the Test tour party (16)

Opening batsmen: Bill Athey,Chris Broad, Wilf Slack

Middle-order batsmen Mike Gatting, David Gower, Allan Lamb, James Whitaker.

Wicket-keeper: ‘Jack’ Richards, Bruce French

All-rounders: Ian Botham

Slow bowlers: Phil Edmonds, John Emburey

Fast bowlers: Gladstone Small, Graham Dilley, Phil DeFreitas, Neil Foster

C W J Athey	Yo	29	RHB

I T Botham	Sm	30	RHB RFM

B C Broad	Nt	29	LHB opener

P A J DeFreitas	Le	20	RHB RFM

G R Dilley	Kt	27	RF

P H Edmonds	Mx	35	SLA

J E Emburey	Mx	34	OB vice-captain

N A Foster	Ex	24	RFM

B N French	Nt	27	second WK

M W Gatting	Mx	29	RHB captain

D I Gower	Le	29	LHB

A J Lamb	Nth	32	RHB

C J Richards	Sy	28	RHB WK

W N Slack	Mx	31	RHB opener

G C Small	Wk	25	RFM

J Whitaker	Le	24	RHB

County representation:

County sides:

Ex - Essex (1)

Kt - Kent (1)

Le - Leicestershire (3)

Mx - Middlesex (4)

Nth - Northamptonshire (1)

Nt - Nottinghamshire (2)

Sm - Somerset (1)

Sy - Surrey (1)

Wk - Warwickshire (1)

Yo - Yorkshire (1)

Average age of team at time of first Test match

(14 November 1986) :

29 yrs 5 months

Test Appearances made before the tour

Gower 86, Botham 85, Gatting 48, Lamb 46, Edmonds 41, Emburey 37, Dilley 22, Foster 14, Athey 8, Broad 5, French 5, Slack 3, Small 2, DeFreitas 0, Richards 0, Whitaker 0.

Team Officials

Peter Lush	Team Manager
Micky Stewart	Cricket manager
Laurie Brown	Physiotherapist
Peter Austin	Scorer

At the TCCB meeting of 1 August 1986 Peter Lush and Micky Stewart were appointed managers for the tour and Mike Gatting was made captain.

Selectors

The selectors met at Lord's on 8 September.

Voting members were Peter May (chairman), Alan Smith, Fred Titmus, Phil Sharpe, Mike Gatting (captain) and Doug Insole (Chairman of the Cricket Committee of TCCB).

Also present were : Peter Lush (manager), Micky Stewart (assistant manager), Raman Subba Row (chairman of Cricket Council), and Donald Carr (Secretary of TCCB).

Selection

Unavailable : Graham Gooch (family reasons), Peter Willey (knee injury) ; Phil Edmonds (until the day before selection)

Thirty-four players were asked whether they were available.

Tour party announced : 9 September 1986.

On 11 September Gooch offered to act as stand-by for the tour. However, the reserve (in case Lamb's knee operation was unsuccessful) was Robert Bailey (Nth), 22.

Time between selection and departure from England

30 days

(9 September - 9 October)

Travel

London Q Brisbane

The team flew from Heathrow Airport, London, on Thursday 9 October

They landed in Brisbane on 11 October.

Time spent in Australia

127 days

(11 October - 15 February)

On-tour selection panel

Mike Gatting (captain), John Emburey (vice-captain), Peter Lush (manager), Micky Stewart (.

David Gower was added to the committee before the First Test.

Reinforcements

None. Both Bruce French (at Hobart) and Wilf Slack (at Devonport) collapsed with a mystery virus during the Tasmania tour and had to be rushed to hospital. Both made a speedy recovery.

Fixtures/Results

*Because of the Pope's visit to Sydney, the match against New South Wales was transferred from Sydney to Newcastle.

a	Bundaberg	Queensland Country XI	Drawn
b	Lawes	SE Queensland Country XI	Won 58 r
c	Brisbane	Queensland	Lost 5 w
d	Wudinna	South Australia Country XI	Won 9 w
e	Adelaide	South Australia	Won 5 w
f	Kalgoorlie	Western Australia Country XI	Won 117 r
g	Perth	Western Australia	Drawn
h	BRISBANE	AUSTRALIA First Test	WON 7 w
i	Newcastle*	New South Wales	Lost 8 w
j	PERTH	AUSTRALIA Second Test	DRAWN
k	Melbourne	Victoria(Menzies Memorial Match)	Won 5 w
l	ADELAIDE	AUSTRALIA Third Test	DRAWN
m	Hobart	Tasmania	Won inns 96 r
n	Canberra	Prime Minister's XI	Won 4 w
o	MELBOURNE	AUSTRALIA Fourth Test	WON inns 14 r
p	§ Perth	Australia(B & H Challenge)	Won 37 r
q	§ Perth	West Indies(B & H Challenge)	Won 19 r
r	§ Perth	Pakistan(B & H Challenge)	Won 3 w
s	§ Perth	Pakistan(B & H Challenge)	Won 5 w
t	SYDNEY	AUSTRALIA Fifth Test	LOST 55 r
u	§ Brisbane	West Indies (1st ODI)	Won 6 w
v	§ Brisbane	Australia (2nd ODI)	Lost 11 r
w	§ Sydney	Australia (3rd ODI)	Won 3 w
x	§ Adelaide	West Indies (4th ODI)	Won 89 r
y	§ Adelaide	Australia (5th ODI)	Lost 33 r
z	§ Melbourne	West Indies (6th ODI)	Lost 6 w
a’	§ Melbourne	Australia (7th ODI)	Lost 109 r
b’	§ Devonport	West Indies (8th ODI)	Won 29 r
c’	§ Melbourne	Australia (1st ODI final)	Won 6 w
d’	§ Sydney	Australia (2nd ODI final)	Won 8 r

† not first-class

§ One-day internationals

Time spent in Australia before First Test: 34 days

(11 October - 14 November)

Test appearances on tour

(v Australia 1986-87)

5 - Athey, Broad, Emburey, Edmonds, Gatting, Gower, Lamb, Richards

4 - Botham, DeFreitas, Dilley.

3 -

2 - Small.

1 - Whitaker.

0 - Foster, French, Slack.

Match appearances

T Test match

o one-day international

x other match

W won L lost D drawn

N no result A abandoned

u unknown result

a’

b’

c’

d’

C W J Athey

I T Botham

B C Broad

P A J DeFreitas

G R Dilley

P H Edmonds

J E Emburey

N A Foster

B N French

M W Gatting

D I Gower

A J Lamb

C J Richards

W N Slack

G C Small

J J Whitaker

R E S U L T S

England’s six previous Test tour results

Highlights

• Chris Broad scored three centuries in successive Tests and was England's Man of the Series.

• England's innings of 592-8 declared in the Perth Test included three hundreds (Broad, Gower, Richards) and was their second highest scored in Australia.

• Gladstone Small played in only the last two Test matches but took 5 wickets in an innings in both.

• As well as The Ashes, England won the B & H Perth Challenge and the World Series Cup.

Tour Summary

	F	W	L	D	Aban
Test Matches	5	2	1	2	-
Other first-class matches	6	3	2	1	-
†Minor matches	5	4	0	1	-
§ One-day internationals	14	10	4	0	-
All Matches	30	19	7	4	-

F Fixtures W Won L Lost D Drawn T Tied Canc Cancelled Aban abandoned

Return to England

Sydney Q London Heathrow

Emburey remained in Melbourne with his Australian wife's family, and Small in Adelaide with his fiancee. Edmonds, Botham and Lamb all took holidays in Australia, and Gower in Singapore.

The remainder of the team flew home from Sydney on 15 February and arrived next day at Heathrow Airport where they were met by the Minister of Sport, Richard Tracey.

Despite all the success, Gatting criticised the administrators for committing them to such an arduous tour.

Time away from England

130 days

(9 October - 16 February)

Finances

Accounts of the tour

"Battle for the Ashes" by Michael Carey & Bill Frindall (Daily Telegraph, 1987)

""Cricket XXXX Cricket" by Frances Edmonds (Kingswood, 1987).

“Triumph in Australia" by Mike Gatting (Queen Anne Press, 1987)

"Grand Slam (England in Australia 1986-87)" by Christopher Martin-Jenkins (Simon & Schuster, 1987)

"Ashes to Ashes" by Peter Roebuck (Heinemann, 1987)

"Clean Sweep" by Peter West (W H Allen, 1987)

Postscript

For the match against Victoria Mike Gatting overslept and arrived at the Melbourne Ground twenty minutes late. Gower led the side in his absence. Gatting was "severely reprimanded" by tour manager Peter Lush. In a year’s time the two would be standing together against charges of abusing the umpire at Faisalabad on the tour of Pakistan, though ultimately the incident cost Gatting his job.