The Ashes threaten to go to the wire this summer, but it was a very different story 30 years ago when a new-look Australia romped to a 4-0 victory. Under Allan Border they were a tough, uncompromising unit who established a template which Australian sides carried into a new era of dominance. In contrast, England under David Gower were a shambles. In six Tests, 29 players were selected and there was a mid-series mass defection to an unauthorised tour of South Africa. Richard Whitehead recalls a summer of contrasting fortunes for the two captains.
There are plenty of contenders for the unwanted title of the worst summer in the history of English cricket, but special pleading can be made for 1989. Consider the evidence. The Ashes – won in 1985, defended successfully in 1986-87 – were surrendered 4–0 to a resurgent Australia. A new-broom chairman of selectors became the subject of public ridicule after choosing 29 players in six Tests. And a substantial number of that group decided mid-series they would prefer to embark on an unauthorised tour of South Africa – and earn a ban from the international game – than continue to represent their country.
England began as firm favourites with the bookies, newspaper correspondents and pundits. The absence of the injured Ian Botham at the start did not disturb the consensus. The Australians, who lost strike bowler Carl Rackemann to injury before the First Test, were fatally underestimated, even back home. “I wouldn’t give a XXXX for Australia’s chances of regaining the Ashes,” said Jeff Thomson.
As so often, the spotlight fell on the two captains. David Gower and Allan Border had also led their sides four years earlier, but much had happened to each since then. As he raised a replica Ashes urn to the cheering crowds at The Oval in 1985, Gower had looked set for a long reign. But he was sacked less than a year later, after a 5–0 drubbing in the West Indies was followed by a home defeat by India.
His return after a shambolic summer of four captains in 1988 was intended to signal the start of a new era. Ted Dexter had been appointed chairman of selectors, thus uniting two of England’s most charismatic post-war batsmen in an alliance intended to produce a more exciting brand of cricket. That may have been the PR spin, but the truth was rather more complex. It emerged later that Dexter and manager Micky Stewart had wanted Mike Gatting – sacked at the start the previous season – to return as captain, only to be overruled by Ossie Wheatley, chairman of the Test and County Cricket Board’s Cricket Committee. As the teams headed for Headingley and the First Test, Gower may have believed he had been the No. 1 choice, but it was not the case.
Border had plenty of reason to feel a little insecure. Although his team had slowly begun to improve since the nadir of home defeat by England in 1986-87, Test wins were still rare and he knew that he could not afford another failure. And so he joined forces with coach Bobby Simpson to produce a detailed plan for winning back the Ashes. Part of the strategy was to be as uncompromising off the field as on it. Four years earlier, Border had been pilloried in the Australian media for being too friendly with his opponents. That was about to change. “From the moment he arrived he set out to be as mean as possible,” wrote Gower. “He was mean to the opposition, to the press and indeed to his own players. He sledged pretty fiercely, too, which is something that normally doesn’t bother me too much, although on this tour it was hyper-unfriendly.”
Gower thought the pre-match atmosphere at Leeds was as tense as he could recall. Both sides knew a result was virtually guaranteed, and with it a psychological advantage, as well as a precious lead. It transpired that the opening day of the series, on June 8, set a rough template for what would happen until the final day at The Oval two and a half months later. Denied the services of off-spinner John Emburey, whom he had wanted in the XI, Gower gambled by putting Australia in and saw his seam attack of Phil DeFreitas, Neil Foster, Phil Newport and Derek Pringle blunted by opener Mark Taylor, playing only his third Test. Australia batted on until Saturday before declaring on a thumping 601 for seven.
Even so, England responded well enough, and when the final day dawned no one expected anything but a draw. “Unless Allan Border translates brave words into action and then receives inspired support from his widely scored bowlers, the first Cornhill Test match will quietly expire at 5.30pm this evening,” wrote Alan Lee in that morning’s Times. Instead, Australia declared for a second time and then exploited England’s anxiety to bowl them out for 191 in 55 overs. Emerging from a dressing-room throbbing to music from a ghetto blaster turned up to 11, Border said: “We haven’t won a lot of Test matches over the past two years, so this was fantastic”. Gower admitted: “They outperformed us in all departments.”
There was a graphic demonstration of the pressure Gower was under on the third evening of the Second Test at Lord’s, when he marched out of a press conference to attend a West End performance of the musical Anything Goes. The catalyst was a question from his former team-mate Phil Edmonds, who was working for a Sunday newspaper. “Why did you bowl everyone from the wrong end?” Gower returned on Monday morning to complete a superb century, greeted by the sort of ovation which showed that – as a batsman at least – he was still highly regarded by the public.
But with Australian seamer Terry Alderman establishing a stranglehold over the England batting, it did not prevent them sliding to a six-wicket defeat. “[Gower] has been outgunned by Border, who is looking a captain of real authority,” wrote Mike Selvey. “He shows a flair and executive ability that Gower seems to lack.”
Botham was back at Edgbaston, and England did at least manage to dismiss Steve Waugh for the first time, but Australia remained in control, even if the weather ensured there was no chance of them going 3–0 up.
It was a brief respite. While Australia grew stronger, England were falling to pieces. In the course of the Fourth Test at Old Trafford, Gower had to deny a story in the News of the World claiming he would resign if England lost. His tense relationship with Stewart worsened when he came off the field to discover that the manager had spent the session in a meeting with Dexter. “If you’re going to manage, bloody well manage,” said Gower acidly. And on the Saturday afternoon he responded to some low-key jeers from the crowd with a behind-the-back V-sign. It was picked up by ITV cameras and featured on the news that evening. Gower was incandescent, slamming the phone down on Dexter when he suggested a public apology, and summoning ITV reporter Mark Austin to his hotel for a fractious meeting.
All that paled, however, on the final day. Not only did a now rampant Australia win back the Ashes with a nine-wicket victory, but it emerged that 16 English players – nine of whom has taken part in the series, three in this match – had signed for a rebel tour of South Africa that winter. In England, such a huge story rather overshadowed the loss of the Ashes and the all-round excellence of Australia’s performances. It was undoubtedly Border’s triumph. “He, and his manager Bobby Simpson, have schemed and plotted this moment all summer,” wrote Selvey in The Guardian. In his Wisden match report, Don Mosey reminded Almanack readers that Border was the first Australian captain since Bill Woodfull in 1934 to regain the urn on English soil.
At Trent Bridge there were two more England debutants: Lancashire opener Mike Atherton and Derbyshire fast bowler Devon Malcolm (or “Malcolm Devon” as Dexter later referred to him). It made no difference. Powered by an Ashes-record opening stand of 329 (“OPEN ALL HOURS” was the Daily Star headline), Australia won by an innings and 180 runs – the seventh-biggest victory in Ashes history. Taylor, an unknown at the start of the tour, continued his Bradmanesque form with 219. When he was finally out, stumped off Nick Cook, he returned to the dressing-room to a rocket from Border. “You’re a bloody idiot – you might never have a better chance of making a triple-century.”
John Stephenson, the Essex opener, and Alan Igglesden, the Kent seamer, were the latest debutants for the sixth and final match at The Oval, where England somehow staved off another defeat.
The aftershocks of the 1989 Ashes series rumbled on for years. Gower was sacked as captain, replaced by Gooch (who had averaged 20 in the series) and then, to his astonishment, left out of the squad to tour the Caribbean that winter. Unlike Gower, Gooch forged a close working relationship with Stewart, revolutionising the way the England team was managed. Results improved, if not spectacularly, and not at all against Australia. Border continued as Australia captain until 1994, ushering in a new era of dominance for a country that had been in the doldrums at the start of his reign.
Wisden: The blog 