cyberdad wrote:
Last time when "England ruled the waves" in cricket they were captained by the brilliant mind of Michael Brearley and spear headed by the pace of Bob Willis/Iam Botham and Dereck Randall/David Gower dominated the batting top order.
England's demise as a test team coincided with the appointment of Mike Gatting in the late 1980s much the same way the West Indies fell into an abyss when Richie Richardson was appointed captain of their previously world beating team in the early 1990s.
That's essentially true about Gatting. He came across as a rather oikish, not very bright sort of character. Old-school cricket followers who remembered the side being led by the likes of Cowdrey, Dexter, MJK Smith and Brearley himself, must have been horrified and maybe reflected that the 'democratization' of the game might not be an entirely welcome development.
Gatting, to be fair, did get off to an excellent start with a surprise series win in Australia in 1986-7 (though some might say that Chris Broad won that series single-handedly!). But he was unable to build on that as the side stumbled on through the late 80s and early 90s.
Gower was also deficient as England captain in the mid 80s. He always came across as too dilettantish and playboy-like for the role. There were good series wins in India (1984-5) and against Australia (1985), but I also recall his foolish 'sporting declaration' against the West Indies in the second test (1984), when he set the opposition 344 to win on the final day, and seemed surprised when they knocked off the runs for the loss of only one wicket, showing contempt for England's powder puff attack. That put the Windies 2-0 up after two matches, and was psychologically devastating. Needless to say, they won the series 5-0, and when Gower's side was blown away in the Carribean in 1985-6 (5-0 again), that was the end of him as captain.
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10 Aug 2019, 1:29 am
