When Chappell decided the mind and body could take no more, he opted to skip the Ashes series in the 1981 English summer. The mythology of Botham’s Ashes also has an Australian side to the story, not least that of the man who would lead the A??ussies in England, Kim Hughes. The preceding Australia summer of 1980-81 is the background to that England tour, how the Australians came to take the squad they did, and how competing factions would influence the outcome of an Ashes Test series which has long since entered English cricketing folk lore.

All this seemed some way off on the first day of September 1980 when the Centenary Test had just reached its conclusion. Following the drawn Test’s post-match ceremonials, BBC’s Peter West spoke to both captains on the Lord’s balcony.  Bearing the facial expression of a man contemplating imminent root canal surgery rather than a future tour as captain, Greg Chappell responded to West’s enthusiastic probing about a full 6 Test Ashes summer ??in 1981:

“We’re looking forward to it. Hopefully, God willing and everything else, I might be back again for another tour next year. But, you know, I’m playing each season by ear at the moment, so I see how I go in the Australian summer next year and worry about (The Ashes series) April, May next year�? At which point Peter West said �?em>I think a player who might just accompany you is a man who has got the man of the match award�?/em> before summoning Kim Hughes over from his spot on the balcony. Chappell, almost lugubrious by that time, walked away with his English counterpart Ian Botham as Peter West focussed his attention on The Golden Boy himself. The juxtaposition of Chappell’s world-weariness with Hughes??�?boyish exuberance in this post-match segment is filled with pathos given what we know of the fortunes of both men in the year that followed.

Botham, on the day of his reappointment as England captain for the upcoming winter tour to the Caribbean, was much more upbeat than Chappell, who looked both resigned and exhausted. The England captain’s comparative levity is striking when contrasted with Chappell, even though Botham had been through the wringer in a summer where he had experienced his first serious downturn in form as an international player during the series defeat?? against West Indies.

Chappell had good reason for his dark mood. Awaiting him on the return home for the 1980/81 season was a daunting schedule.  By the conclusion of the Australian summer, Chappell and his Australian side would have completed a passage in their careers in which a single 100-day period contained 8?0 days of cricket, many of which would include back-to-back limited overs games over weekends.

The composition of the Australian team for the 1980-81 season would take on, in part, a strangely early 1970s tint, with the return?? of one of Ian and Greg Chappell’s favourite larrikins. Having apparently signed off from international cricket at the conclusion of the 1977 Ashes series, Doug Walters came back into the fold for the 1980-81 home summer.  Nudging 36, he would put on hold his position as an executive for the company distributing Symonds cricket bats and don the Baggy Green once more. This time, though, he would cover his straggly, lank hair with helmet and visor while at the crease, giving him the appearance of an ageing village cricketer. There was nothing of the village slogger about his batting, though, as he ended the summer with 397 runs at 56.71, inc??luding a century against New Zealand in the final Test of the three-match rubber in Melbourne.

Alongside Walters, Lillee, Marsh, Pascoe and skipper Greg Chappell, were players who had become the Australian “establishment�?in the absence of those big boys who had played at night for Packer during 1977-78 and 1978-79.   John Dyson, Graeme Wood, Allan Border, Bruce Yardley and Rodney Hogg had a?ll made their Test and ODI bows during the interregnum. Another, the incumbent vice-captain Kim Hughes, had begun his Test career on the last overseas tour before the split, the 1977 Ashes series in England. Together with Geoff Lawson, who debuted against New Zealand at Brisbane in the first half of the 1980-81 summer, the old and the new were uncomfortably welded together into the new, unified Australian team, a side led by a man who was increasingly wearying of the demands of his office.

The first red ball assignment of the season was a three-match Test series against New Zealand, which the Australians won comfortably by a 2-0 margin. Chappell’s men romped home by 10 wickets in the humidity of Brisbane in the 1^st  Test. In a low scoring affair, where the Kiwis managed just 225 and 142, Lillee was at his best with a second innings 6-53. Moving westward for the 2^nd Test in Perth, the New Zealand batting again looked feeble as they tumbled to 196 and then 121 in the second innings.  Lillee, Pascoe and Hogg had softened up the opposition batting, enabling Jim Higgs to take a second innings haul of 4-25 with his leg-spin. With the 3^rd Test resulting in a draw, the Australians took the series with apparent comfort. On the final day, however, Geoff Howarth’s men shut up shop chasing 193 for victory and eventually closed ??on 128-6, thus saving themselves from a 3-0 series defeat.

With the World Series Cup running parallel alongside the Tests the schedule was already beginning to make its imprint on mind and limb. The ODI tri-nation season began on 23 November in Adelaide with the home side taking on New Zealand. This was followed up with Chappell’s team then taking a trip to Sydney for the game with India on 25 ?November.

With the 1^st Test against New Zealand completed in three days on November 30, Australian bags were then packed for the trip back east to Melbourne for more white-ball fixtures on 6 & 7 December.  After Australia had beaten New Zealand by 4 wickets at the MCG in the second of those games on 7 December, they moved right across to the western edge of the continent for the 2^nd Test match at Perth on 12 December. At this point of the season, however, the Australians were just about half-way through the demands of the international summer, with a three-Test series ag??ainst the visiting Indians to come plus more one-dayers. Years later Chappell reflected on the upsurge in playing time demands which had followed the Packer schism:

“The first season after WSC we were playing alternate Test matches against West Indies and England.  Bruce Laird had his hand broken against the West Indies and couldn’t play against England. We couldn’t understand why England would get the benefit of what West Indies had done. We were playing Test matches intertwined with one-day games, there was no flow to the season, adjusting from one format to another. We played all the double-headers in the one-day matches– Saturday and Sunday we were playing two days in a row. It was hard enough from the playing point of view but exceedingly demanding from a captaincy point of view. Two one-day games in a row were physically and mentally more demanding than a Test match. The workload on key players was immense, and towards the end of the season they were pretty much exhausted.”

After completing one Test series against Ne??w Zealand in Melbourne on 30 December the Australians began another against India in Sydney on 2 January. The home side won by an innings and 4 runs thanks to the captain’s sublime 204. Exhaust??ed or not the old wafting punches and clips through the leg-side pervaded an innings in which 27 boundaries were struck. A 172-run partnership with Dougie Walters was a reminder of a time when the demands were not quite so onerous.

Once again, an attack consisting of Lillee, Pascoe, Hogg, and Jim Higgs proved too formidable for the visiting team. After the 1^st Test there followed a three-week surfeit of one day cricket which resulted in both Australia and New Zealand qualifying for the World Series Cup finals. The 1^st final was scheduled for 29 January in Sydney before which the Test series wit?h India resumed for the second five-day game in Adelaide on 23 Janua??ry.

The 2^nd Test was noteworthy for Kim Hughes�?highest Test score: a sublime 213 which would silence the doubters, not least of which was Ian Chappell in the Channel 9 commentary box, who had suggested that Hughes�?future sele?ction was in doubt. Following the conclusion of the Test match in Adelaide the focus would turn once more to the white ball format for a scheduled 5-match finals series. Already seething at the imposition of a quintet of games to decide the Benson & Hedges World Series Cup, Chappell was close to physical and mental collapse by the time that New Zealand won the first of the games on 29 January.

Despite pulling a game back and thrashing the Kiwis at Melbourne two days later, there came another the following day on 1 February, again at the MCG, which would strain Tr??ans-Tasman relations to near breaking point.  Perhaps not?? since Bodyline in 1932/33 have events on a cricket field been so prominent in deciding relations between two countries.  In bald statistical terms Australia won the match and went 2-1 up in the final series. Statistics, though, cannot convey the turn of events that suffocating Melbourne afternoon.

In summary, the home side chalked up 235/4 batting first in conditions so hot that Trevor Chappell described them as a �?em>bloody oven�?/em>. In reply, New Zealand arrived at the final ball of their allotted 50 overs on 229-8, effectively meaning that they could, at best, tie the game by striking the last ball of Trevor Chappell’s over for six.  Greg Chappell then instructed his younger brother to bowl the final ball underarm at Bruce McKechnie. To the clear disdain of the skipper’s old pal Rod Marsh behind the stumps �?‘no mate, no�?– Chappell the younger complied with the instructions of his elder brother, a man who had up to that point taken on a stature in Australian public life which was almost princely.

At the game’s end, following Bruce McKechnie’s hurled bat, the Australians tried to make immediate sanctuary in their dressing room. There followed a harangue from selector Sam Loxton before they even arrived there. So crushed was Loxton, who had just seen his old school values publicly soiled, that he burst into tears.  Loxton’s emotive eruption was largely confined to players and those in close proximity to the dressing room. The final verdict �?and most damning – was delivered from the pulpit of Channel 9 that night by the Sage of Penrith himself, Richie Benaud, who delivered a headmasterly sermon, the target of which was Greg Chappell:

“I think it was a disgraceful performance from a captain who got his sums wrong today, and I think it should never be permitted to happen again. We keep reading and hearing that the players are under a lot of pressure, and that they’re tired and jaded and perhaps their judgment and skill is blunted. Perhaps they might advance that as an excuse for what happened out there today. Not with me they don’t. I think it was a very poor performance, one of the worst things I have ever seen done on a cricket field. Goodnight.”

What had caused what Chappell refers to as his Melbourne �?em>brain-snap�?that February day? It seemed the writing had been on the wall all season, although a brush with officialdom on the morning of the game brought things to the surface. Prior to the start, with temperatures nudging 40c, Chappell sought out ACB chairman and chair of selectors Phil Ridings regarding a possible reduction in the overs due to the heat. When Ridings denied, stating that this was only possible because of inclement weather, Chappell replied �?em>Phil, this is far from clement�?

Moreover, as captain, the phone could be ringing from 6am right through until midnight. Chappell was, he remarked, a �?em>sitting duck�?with nobody on hand to help him shoulder the burden. Looking back on events in 2020 he mused �?em>I was struggling. I was struggling to sleep. I was struggling to eat, and it was really affecting my ability to perform. It all bubbled up at the MCG on February 1�? As the final delivery of the New Zealand innings came round, Chappell formulated his get-out plan. He had clearly had enough and recalls thinking “You know what? I’ve had a gutful of this. These people (the administrators) aren’t listening�?and adding, in reference to the underarm “I wonder if they’ll take notice of this?�?    

The final match of the World Series Cup �?won by Australia, thus ensuring a pyrrhic series victory �?is almost forgotten, apart from the sporting welcome given to the incoming Chappell from opposing captain Geoff Howarth as he made his way to the crease. Winning the fourth final and making the score 3-1 overall obviated the need for the dreaded fifth final game. The immediate and most significant cricketing upshot of the fiasco was the swift rewriting of the laws governing underarm bowling.?? Courtesy of Si?r Donald Bradman, the underarm was outlawed from the World Series Cup rule book. Additionally, the 5-match final series was thrown overboard, with the powers that be opting instead for a best of three format.

That the Australians were immediately rattled by the underarm incident is perhaps obvious by their capitulation to Kapil Dev in the final Test of the summer against India which ended on 11 February. Chas??????????????????????????ing a modest 143 the home side were bundled out for 83, an ominous sign of things to come later in the year in England.

Worse was to follow. On 11 March Greg Chappell, perhaps predictably, announced that he would not tour Engla?nd, choosing to stay at home for �?em>business reasons�?/em>.  For a man who would later admit that he was �?em>just gone�?/em> that 1980-81 summer, this was a tour too many. Len Pascoe would sit out the Ashes tour, too, having opted to have surgery on his troublesome knee.  Spinners Bruce Yardley and Higgs would not make the selectors�?cut either although, oddly, slow left armer Ray Bright did. Somewhat controversially given his excellent ?summer with the bat, veteran campaigner Doug Walters was finally put out to grass, although the man himself had never considered himself a �?em>certainty�?/em> for the Ashes tour given his meagre record in England.

Jeff Thomson was another not selected for Ashes duty, while Graeme Yallop would return at the expense of Walters. Rookie Dirk Welham secured his birth, whereas the dashing David Hookes did not.  While Greg Chappell would pursue his business interests and rejuvenate mind and body, the leadership of the team passed to the new guard in the form of Kim Hughes, while his deputy for the trip Rod Marsh �?the man who would not be king �?simmered in resentment.

Storm clouds were hovering over the Australian team as they arrived in England in May 1981, both meteorologically and metaphorically. A team that had experienced the trauma of the underarm and its aftermath was still coming to terms with Greg Chappell’s decision not to tour, while the senior members of t??he old guard still standing, Lillee and Marsh, gave qualified support at best to his chosen successor Kim Hughes, a man they regarded as little more than an interi?m leader.

The experience of Kim Hughes as captain of Australia has g?arnered a body of literature in itself.  Geoff Lawson and Mike Whitney have most prominently attested to the shocking lack of cohesion and team spirit in England in 1981, while even those close to Lillee and Marsh squirm in discomfort when pressed on the issue.

The effects of the Australian summer of 1980-81 are manifold, but perhaps the ultimate cricketing casualty was the career of Kim Hughes, who was ultimately undone partly ?through his predecessor’s waning desire for extensive touring, a habit whi??ch would continue until Chappell had himself retired and Kim Hughes was driven into cricketing obscurity and replaced by Allan Border.

Greg Chappell has since remarked that his actions that Melbourne afternoon four decades ago were a �?em>cry for help�?– such was the anxiety that had enveloped him.  With hindsight, Greg Chappell realised just how unfit for leadership he was at that time, exhausted as he was from the relentless treadmill of international cricket. He has even stated that he would not have demurred had the ACB removed him from his post in the aftermath of the underarm, even adding that this would have come as a relief.  Speaking in 2020 he recalled �?em>I wasn’t even aware until that day and almost until that moment just how strung-out I was and how unfit to captain Australia I was�?/p>

In 2021 we know more about the psychological demands of elite sport and several high profile �?em>cries for help�?/em> since Chappell’s day have increased the understanding of its dangers among those who manage the game.  Perhaps the biggest leap forward is that the modern-day player, glimpsing the signs of burnout, can feel able to publicly state their need for a break from the game without resorting to the cover of the euphemism �?em>business reasons�?     

And they were facing a highly talented Pakistan side who had embarrassed a West Indian lineup 12 months before 3-0 with two of those victories being by an innings. Pakis??tan had won their last home series against Australia in 1994 and on paper this appeared to be a weaker Austr?alian lineup.

All signs pointed to a Pakistan series vi?ctory�?but the reality was to prove vastly different.

The opening Test in Rawalpindi initially seemed like a lost opportunity for Australia as they reduced Pakistan to 8/147 with the most notable feature being that Warne’s replacement �?Stuart MacGill �?was giving Pakistan almost as many problems as Warne had. However, Pakistan fought back with a superb 120 run partnership for the 9^th wicket with the excellent Pakistani opener Saeed Anwar putting in one of his finest knocks in sco?ring 145??.

Pakistan managed to take their ?innings to 269 and when Australia slumped to 3/28 early on Day 2, it looked as if another failure in Asian? conditions was on the cards for Australia.

But from this point on, Australia dominated the Test. Opener Michael Slater scored his first Test century since his 18 month omission from the side while Steve Waugh deepened his reputation as playing his best when the situations were the toughest with 157. With substantial contributio??ns from Ian Healy & Darren Lehmann Australia recovered super??bly to total 513.

Pivotal in Pakistan’s struggles was their leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed �?who had enormous success against Australia in the away 1995/96 series. He was only able to manage ??2/115 off 41 overs and by the en?d of the series he was omitted.

Pakistan’s 2^nd innings was a dismal affair as they meekly folded for 145. Their only achievement was managing to drag the game out into a 5^th day (with 9 wi?ckets down), much to the annoyance of Australia. But that annoyance quickly went away when the tourists won the first few overs of Day 5 by a massive innings and 99 runs.

Pakistan were understandably heavily criticised after their dismal opening Test, especially the awkward structure of their bowling attack and the lack of pace support for Wasim Akram. For the 2^nd Te??st in Peshawar with Wasim Akram missing they brought in pace tyros Shoaib Akhtar & Mohammad Zahid. And bowling first initially they troubled the Australian top order but once they faded, ?Australia and in particular Mark Taylor prospered to record-breaking levels.

By stumps on Day 2 Taylor was undefeated on an astonishing 334, equalin?g the then record score by an Australian batsman.

Australia declared at 4/599 after two days but hopes of sealing the series were dashed as Pakistan’s batting lineup finally lifted their game, albeit helped by a very flat wicket. A??nwar scored a century and the recalled Ijaz Ahmed continued his great record against Australia with another ton and it was obvious by stumps on Day 3 that the match would peter out to a draw.

The final Test in Karachi had high stakes as Australi?a had a chance for their first series wi?n in Pakistan since 1959/60. Meanwhile, Pakistan were under major pressure to avoid a series defeat with their captain Aamir Sohail the focus of criticism for his lack of runs and some of his captaincy choices.

Australia batted first and after a strong start were only able to score a moderate 280. Michael Slater top-scored with 96 but yet again throwing his wicket away with a century in his sights �?this time with a wild charge down the wicket before being stumped �?would’ve been enormously frustrating. Surprisingly, the star for Pakistan was Shahid Afridi’s leg-spinners, especially as he’d be??en brought in the side as an opening batsman.

Pakistan had the potential to set up a win with a strong first-innings score but that was quickly ended by Glenn McGrath. In the first couple of Tests McGrath had been a solid ??contributor and unlucky at times but not quite reachi?ng his customary peak. However he was back to his relentless best as he ripped through the top order to have Pakistan reeling at 6/116.

Pakistan did recover thanks to a fine century from captain Sohail but in a match they had to win, the??ir batting tactics puzzled many. On the third morning their spinner tail-ender Shakeel Ahmed hung around for 36 deliveries scoring a solitary run, only ensuring time was lost in the game.

Pakistan only finished 28 runs behind on the 1^st innings and needed quick wickets but in atypical style, Australia grounded them out of the game in the series by occupying the crease for 142 overs instead of ??their usual attack style. Leading the way was Mark Waugh �?probably the most talented of the Australian bats in these conditions �?who scored 117. It was a typical Mark Waugh series; frustratingly anonymous for the most part?? but when it counted he was able to deliver a decisive contribution with his batting skills few others possessed.

Pakistan had a day to chase down 419 but in truth they were just trying to save the match and after a wobbly start did so with aplomb with Ijaz Ahmed scoring yet another ton against Australia �?his 5^th in just 11 Tests against them. Few other batsmen would have as successful a record agai?nst Australia in this era.

Australia had taken a punt on veteran journeyman Colin Miller who after years of bowling ??fast-medium, had added off-spin to his repertoire with record-breaking success in the Sheffield Shield. Despite this it was a bold move to select him at 34 years old but his ability to open the bowling and bowl off-spin was to prove invaluable over the coming years and his 3 wicket opening spell on the final day briefly suggested Australia were heading towards victory.

But in a situation set up for him to deliver the tourists victory, Stuart MacGill couldn’t replicate the ?form from earlier in the series. MacGill wasn’t able to match the consistency or accuracy of his leg-spinning counterpart Warne but he showcased himself as a viable force in international cricket with many match-winning performances in Tests to come over the following decade.

While Australia were disappointed they were unable to push for victory, they could bask in the glory of a highly significant series victory. The significance of the victory was underlined when on the TV coverage late on the 5^th day, the commentators spoke via phone to Richie Benaud, the only other Australian captain to lead Test winning side back in 1959. Of the numerous Test triumphs Austra??lian cricket achi?eved in the 1990s, this was one of the most impressive.

Pakistan is a nation of hero worshipers. Among their heroes are politicians, pop stars and sportsmen. And then there are the cricketers. They are not just heroes, but the means by which an average Pakistani goes about his life. And because they live vicariously through their heroes, they like their heroes cool, stylish, arrogant and brilliant. In a repressed society, where the means of repression is based on morality and values and culture, you can’t help but side with the rebels, the outsiders, the ones who ??constantly? have run-ins with authority, the ones who appear to upend the rules and hierarchy created for control.

Nothing reflects an average Pakistani’s fascination with heroes better than the position of the Pakistan cricket captain, the man who in the eyes of an average Pakistani stands up to the dysfunctional and archaic institution that is the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and produces scintillating performances on the ground despite the system while thumping their nose at the tools of control — the manager, selection committee, chairman etc. This is why this is the most coveted job in Pakistan cricket. This is why at one point Pakistan had a team full of former captains. This is why in the eleven year period between the 1992 and the 2003 World Cup, Pakistan had 9 captains. This is why, Pakistan’s greatest cricketing heroes are almost always former captains — Imran, Miandad?, Wasim, Waqar, Anwar, Inzamam.

It is al??so then of little surprise when the big?gest cricketing hero in Pakistan in recent times is Shahid Afridi, another former captain. The hero whose very claim to fame is by smashing the ball as hard as he can, and in the process, not just pulverising the opposition, the MCC rule book, cricketing wisdom but sometimes his own team. Afridi has all the traits of an average Pakistani — impatient, talented, temperamental with a total disregard for rules and discipline.

It was in 2010, at the end of one of the various chaotic moments that Pakistan cricket is beset with, when Afridi was asked to take over the captaincy of the national team across all formats. Pakistan were?? to play 6 Test matches in England, 2 against Australia and 4 against England and such is the uniqueness of Afridi’s charm, that it was not he who cove?ted the captaincy but the chairman of the cricket board who coaxed and pleaded to get him to accept it. In typical Afridi fashion, not dissimilar to when he gets himself out playing a shot that has everyone flummoxed; he quit the captaincy after the first test against Australia under bizarre circumstances.

What followed next in Pakistan cricket is a black hole so deep that it would consume and overwh??elm this piece by its sheer impact. By end of that summer of 6 Test matches??, 3 of Pakistan’s heroes, including the captain who replaced Afridi were facing jail time and ban.

It was under these circu?mstances that another man, another outsider who was far away from the tumultuous events of 2009�?0, was brought back in to the fold to take over the captaincy, the position that Afridi had rejected, Salman Butt had squandered and every?? cricketer in Pakistan coveted. Only this man, was not a hero.

Misbah ul Haq was never going to be Pakistan’s hero. The Universe, the Stars, the Oceans and the Mountains had all conspired against him. Pakistan lives vicariously through its heroes, so they need to see them do heroic things physically, like change the course of the wind or make the mountain come to him. They need to see Shoaib Akhtar blow away Tendulkar’s middle stump to accept him as a hero overnight. Misbah attempts to play a short ball from Morkel by awkwardly taking a blo??w to the body. They need to see Wasim Akram bowl two magical deliveries in a World Cup final. Misbah plays a forward defence without really going forward, by allowing the ball to come to him while he shuffles across and lets it hit the face of his bat instead of pushing it towards the gap for a single. He was discarded and forgotten after a few games in 2001�?2, a few opportunities he was given while Pakistan team itself was down in the doldrums.

Misbah protests to the Mountains, the Oceans, the Stars and the Universe, all of whom ha??d conspired against him.

“Imran Khan bowls fast off a sexy run up and can bat, S?aeed Anwar caresses the ball to the boundary as if time had stopped for him, Waqar Younis can crush stumps, toes and everything else that stands between him and his yorkers. What can you do that makes you think ??you can be their hero?�?is the condescending reply from the powers that be.

“I am more hard working, dedicated and fitter than anyone else. I am mental??ly and physically strong, I never give up, I am a fighter, I have fought and struggled my whole life. I live and breathe cricket�?r?esponds Misbah innocuously.

“What makes you think tho??se are qualities they want in their heroes�?

“But no one can become a great cricketer without those qualities, all those Pakistani heroes had these qualities too, so how come they accepted them?�?reasons Misbah, ever the?? voice of reason and logic.

“But they had an X factor?. Some ??could make the air deviate the ball at the last minute to deceive the batsman, some could stop time and place the ball wherever they wanted, some were born Imran Khan. What’s your X factor?�?came the reply.

Misbah is quiet, as he takes time to reflect on this latest query. He thinks for a bit and replies in jubilation “I can hit massive sixes. I hit Shane Warne for 2 massive sixes in my first match against Australia. I was the highest scorer in that game as the entire batting line up collapsed around me. I fought a lone battle like a hero�?/p>

The Mountains and the Stars look at each other in confusion. The Ocean looks clueless. The Universe looks around and finally responds, ‘Well, no one really remembers this, but you sound like an honest man, so we’ll believe you if you say so. So we’ll give you an opportunity. We’ll give you a shock comeback in 2007 after Pakistan crash out of the World Cup against Ireland, and we’ll give you an opportunity of a lifetime — First World T20 final against arch rivals India and the only man between India lifting the Cup and crushing the dreams of 180 million Pakistanis is you. All their popular heroes will fail, but not you. You claim to be a fighter who can hit sixes and never gives up? Well this is it. This is your chance to become the hero they think they deserve.�?/p>

On 24th September 2007, Misbah would do all the things he had claimed he could do — he would fight, he would not give up, and as everyone else would crumble around him under the massive pressure of playing India in a World Cup final, he would hit his massive sixes to bring Pakistan close to that first World T20 against India of all teams from an impossible situation ??in a way only a Pakistani hero would. Except for one ball. The one ball that would change history, destiny and while a billion people would cherish that moment, a one eighty million would mourn and it was this one eighty million he was trying to become a hero for. On that day, India got their Harvey Dent in Dhoni, Pakistan got their Dark Knight- the one they would pin all the blame and sins on. The one man who was responsible for all the carnage, the pain, the humiliation of having to lose to India.

In The Dark Knight Rises, Misbah along with his team, left without a home to play cricket, made their exodus to UAE. They built a fortress, and achieved the incredible feat of not losing a Test series in 6 years and Misbah in the process becomes Pakistan’s most successful Test captain, going past their greatest cricketing hero. Yet Misbah and his team were never going to get the welcome Muhammad got when he came back to Mecca. This was a man they had rejected and while God helped Muhammad, Misbah, like always found all the forces and powers against him. Team Misbah was just like him — hard working, dedicated, sincere and disciplined. T??hey were never going to win over a nation looking for stumps shattering, Afridi’s silky hair and a time machine to go back to 1992. Everything from their technique, skillset, manhood was up for discussion on TV shows hosting ex cricketers who had successfully managed to erase every memory of their defeats not just on foreign soil ??but also at home. Indeed, Pakistan lost 6 out of 9 series at home between 1995 and 2001. The 90s teams were hailed as heroes. Team Misbah won 5 out of 9 series at ‘home�?between 2010 and 2016. Misbah was described as ‘tuk tuk�?preventing the team from being ‘aggressive�?

Such was the contempt and distrust, that while every team today wins at home and loses overseas, the ‘home�?wins for Pakistan were dismissed ??disparagingly with “they will be exposed overseas�? Misbah’s team knew this, so they responded with the only way he knew how to — more hard work, more dedication and more training. The team went on a month long boot camp with the military to prepare for their toughest year in Test cricket �?2016,  the year they would have to step outside of the deserts of UAE and play on the ‘real pitches�?of England and Australia.

It worked. They drew 2�? in England, where India and Australia have been ‘exposed�?in the past. Misbah, Younis, Azhar, Shafiq, the quartet that had formed Pakistan’s strongest batting line up in years were supposed to get ‘exposed�? They responded with a century each. They even became the number 1 team for the first t??ime in their history. The ridicule, criticism and condescension had died.Temporarily. They just waited, sharpening their claws in the process, waiting for the next away series for Misbah, Younis, Azhar, Shafiq to get ‘exposed�?for they were going to give this team the recognition and appreciation it deserved. They would just go quiet and wait for the team to fail.

Test cricket is brutal. Heroes get defeated. They get crushed. They get blown to smithereens. Imran Khan’s team were bundled out for 107 at Melbourne in their first test in 1990.. Wasim Akram led Pakistan’s greatest gene?ration of cricketers to Australia and came back with a 0�? scoreline. Inzamam’s team were bundled out for 72 at Perth. Heroes get forgiven. Heroes help you forget.

Team Misbah lost th?eir first series in over 3 years in New Zealand recently. Then came Australia. The one team Pakistan could never match up to. The one team that had always stomped their foot on their pride and reminded them that their brilliant, mercurial, talented heroes were inadequate to overcome the country’s dysfunction, disarray and disorder.

They were blanked 0-3 once again. While the core of the team �?the middle order stood up and were able to overcome Australia’s bowling firepower for most part, it was the bowling, considered Pakistan’s strongest suit that would come un??done. In failure, Misbah and his team were finally able to make a lot of people in their country happy, the ones who were waiting with bated breath for him and his team to fail. Sport’s double edged sword had sliced through their hearts and crushed it.

In the final scene of The Dark Knight, when Commissioner Gordon is alone with his son, without the public, when he is not Commissioner Gordon but a father, and his son asks him why Batsman is leaving, he tells his son the trut?h — ‘because he is the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now.�?This time there is no cynicism or facade. This time he expresses hope,  a belief in the goodness of Gotham, a Gotham that deserves Batman, the silent guardian, the watchfu?l protector.

Team Misbah’s gol??????????????????????????den run might be nearing its end but the team is also changing guard. The crux of the team today are Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali, two men Misbah had trusted and backed wholeheartedly for the last 6 years. In Australia, both of them demonstrated to the world, but more importantly to their nation, the mettle they are made of. Neither of them excite Pakistanis. They are not the batsmen the crowds thro??ng to watch or ask for an autograph and selfie. Yet in the past year, their toughest in test cricket, they demonstrated that they are more than capable of carrying the team forward. Azhar has a double, a triple to go with a couple of centuries in the last 12 months. Shafiq now is the most successful number 6 batsman in Test cricket, and boasts of hundreds in South Africa, England and Australia �?the ultimate crown for an Asian batsman.

Team Misbah also has the next generation of Pakistan cricket. He is a father figure to the likes of Sami Aslam, Babar Azam or even a Mohammad Amir seeking redemption. He has guided and helped the likes of Yasir Shah, Sarfraz Ahmed, Wahab Riaz find their footing in Test cricket. All of them have along with S??hafiq and Azhar have the potential to be Pakistan’s heroes tomorrow. Whether they will be accepted or not is irrelevant because they have learned something by being part of this team. They have become a different set of rebels just like their captain. They are the heroes who don’t need validation from the world. That was always Misbah’s X-factor.

But beating Australia in Australia �?tough enough in the 1990s �?was even harder?? by the e?arly 2000s as Australia had raised their level of play from being merely the best side in the world to being one of the best Test sides ever. They smashed the West Indies record of 11 consecutive Test wins by setting a new astonishing benchmark of 16 wins in the 1999-2001 period.

But even that staggering statistical achievement doesn’t tell the whole story about Australian cricket in this time. The??y didn’t just win matches, they destroyed opposition sides with a ruthlessness and delight not seen since the West Indies at their peak in the 1980s. They had all bases covered �?great batsmen, great pacemen, a great spinner and?? a wicketkeeper in Adam Gilchrist who was so good with the bat that he revolutionised the role of the keeper/batsman.

South Africa had also been highly impressive in the previous couple of years �?not just because they even managed to win a Test series in India, the one thing the Australian side had not been able to do. But because they’d had to deal with the trauma and humiliation of their revered captain Hansie Cronje being exposed as a match-fixer and his cricket career ended. Yet, under the leadership of Shaun Pollock they had continued on with?? great aplomb.

Australia/South Africa Test contests in the 1990s could sometimes be dour affairs with both sides (especially South Africa) having low scoring rates and only searching for a win when safety was reached. But there’d be no symptom of that in this series. Australia especially had raised their regular scoring rates to levels unthinkable even a decade before and they looked for victory from the toss of the coin. South Africa generally more purposeful and aggressive than they had been in the 1990s but not on Aust??ralia’s level. As the series was to show, they weren’t on Australia’s level in most areas.

The c?hange in how Tests between the sides were played compared to the 1990s was well illustrated by the 1st Test in Adelaide. After 3 days Australia were marginally in front with a 68 run lead and 10 wickets in hand. If anything, the draw appeared to be the favourite as you could’ve expected Australia to be watchful and bat into the final day if need be before having ??a crack at their opponents.

But �?as they showed constantly in this period �?this Australian side never thought that way. Despite losing Justin Langer early on the 4th morning, Australia counterattacked superbly with Matthew Hayden (probably the epitome of the aggressive intimidation this side had) hitting an outstanding century. On a wearing 4th day pitch, Australia had managed to score at almost 4 runs an over??, a pace inconcei??vable in Australia/South Africa 1990s contests.

This of course meant that Austr?alia were able to declare well before close of play on the 4th evening and they already acquired 2 wickets by stumps. Despite admirable resistance from Jacques Kallis (one of the few South Africans to maintain their reputation in this series), Australia humiliated South Africa, winning by 246 runs with a session to spare. South Africa never really recovered from this and the series only got worse from there.

The story of the 2nd Test in Melbourne wasn’t of individual performances, but again of run rates. By now, the two sides were o??perating on different levels. South Africa batted first and slo??gged through 103.5 overs to reach a modest 277 over two rain-affected days, and that was only through a 44 run last wicket stand. Australia’s response not only humiliated South Africa in that Langer & Hayden had a double-century opening stand, but that they overtook South Africa’s total in just 74 overs. Again Jacques Kallis showed admirable resistance in the 2nd innings with 99 but Australia cruised to victory within 4 days.

The Australian side wasn’t totally flawless �?Steve &?? Mark Waugh were past their best and backup pacemen like Andy Bichel were capable but not up to the level of Glenn McGrath or Jason Gillespie.

But they had so many great players at the peak of their powers elsewhere it didn’t matter and this was best symbolised by their opening batting pair of Langer & Hayden. During their intermittent Test appearances in the 1990s they came across as stubborn fighters… but not the sort of batsmen who could dominate Test bowling attacks. But under the leadership of Steve Waugh they blossomed into one of the most aggressive opening pairs Test cricket had seen and the 2001/02 was their peak as they compiled double-century stands as if it was the easiest thing in the world.

They saved their best for the final Test in Sydney where before a packed crowd, they utterly humiliated South Afri??ca on the opening day, again racking up a double century stand and not being dismissed till after Tea. After such a start there was only going to be one winner and again it was Australia wi?thin 4 days by 10 wickets.

The tour was a disaster for South Africa as not on??ly were t?hey thrashed in every department, but Kallis hardly any individual players could say they stood up when it counted. Even someone who showed promise like paceman Nantie Hayward didn’t really prosper as an international cricketer. The likes of Lance Klusener were badly exposed and others like Allan Donald had clearly gone on one tour too many.

It would be ??hard to find too many Test series as bad as this for South Africa in the 25 years since readmission. But to be fair, virtually every side that toured Australia in this period suffered the same treatment.

March 27th was Easter Sunday and Virat Kohli, who has been crucified for his brashness, cockiness, his actress ex-girlfriend among many other things, rose again. It wasn’t the first time that he had risen to the occasion, nor the first time he had taken his team across the finish line with a calm head. It’s funny how Indian cricket’s angry young man is counted upon to steer the team to victory with a calm head. The innings he played on Sunday for some reason elicited more than the usual responses. From Bria??n Lara, Kumar Sangakkara and Sachin Tendulkar, three of the finest proponents of the modern game, praise was effusive and unrestrained.

How did Virat Kohli go from being ??a talented brash young kid who spat and cussed like a sailor and seemed to count on rage as his o?nly fuel to being anointed the next messiah of Indian cricket?

A few days ago, after he again took India to a victory against Pakistan, he bowed down to one of his heroes and the country’s most celebrated icons in the stands, Sachin Tendulkar. It was Tendulkar about whom he said “he has carried a nation on his shoulders, now it’s time we carry him on ours�?after the team won the 2011 World Cup after 28 year?s. Now, he ?is finally being deemed worthy of being his successor.

Kohli’s Easter Sunday knock reminded me of two hot summer days in April 18 years ago when a young Sachin Tendulkar, already an icon, added another chapter to his already growing legend. Over two incredible nights, a curly haired Tendulkar sent the Australian?? attack on a leather hunt that is recounted even to this day. It was one man against the mighty Aussies whose bowling line-up included the likes of Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Michael Kasprowicz and Tom Moody. Those two innings were dubbed Desert Storm as they were played in Sharjah and one of the matches was even interrupted by a dust storm.

Nearly 18 years later, it was more or less the same thing. Hot summer night. A ful??l house. And one man who stood between Australia a??nd a place in the semi-finals.

The wicket in Mohali wasn’t a belter and the ground isn’t the smallest. Bumrah’s first over yielded four boundaries. Poof. On??e of Dhoni’s most bankable bowlers was already nursing his wounds. Ashwin’s first over yielded 22 runs, two sixes and wide that resulted in a boundary. ?The Aussies had thundered their way to 53/0 in four overs.

Australia looked like they were poised to breach the 200 mark. Ashish Nehra accounted for Khawaja, only to bring in the destructive David Warner. After a horrendous first over, Ashwin bowled a delivery that turned away and Warner?? totally missed as he came down the tr?ack. Some semblance of sanity was restored to the innings. Australia’s gallop was reduced to a jog.

Yuvraj Singh is never far from the news. If he doesn’t make it, someone else will make it for him. His father, Yograj Singh??, known to draw attention to himself by making outlandish statements had warned MS Dhoni about not giving his son enough opportunities with the ball and shuffling him down the order. Maybe MS Dhoni heard him, maybe he didn’t. Whatever maybe the case, Yuvraj Singh got his first over in the World Cup. In the very first ball of the over, he bowled one that bounced a bit and had Steven Smith try to play at it. Dhoni caught it and was up in a flash. Steve??n Smith was ruled out. In a living room somewhere, Yuvraj Singh’s father was having the last laugh.

Aaron Finch had settled down and looked to play a big one when he mistimed a shot and Shikhar Dhawan at midwicket made no mistake. 200 looked more unli?kely by the minute.

The destructive Glen Maxwell went for some 20 balls without a boundary. That was until he smashed Jadeja for a boundary and a six off consecutive deliveries in the 16th over. In the very next over, he misread a slower delivery by Bumrah and saw his bails clipped. It was left to Shane Watson and James Faulkner to give Australia a total worthy of defending. The penultimate over by Bumrah gave 9 runs, courtesy a boundary from the first ball. The Aussies were 145 in the 19th over. A? good last over would have made the total seem gettable.

Hardik Pandya accounted for Faulkner with the first ball of the over. That was the only high point in that over. Watson got a thick edge and the ball flew past Dhoni for four. He ran a single off the next delivery to bring Neville on strike. He struck the first delivery he faced for four over short fine leg. The o?ver had already yielded nine runs for the Aussies. The final delivery of the innings was pulverized for a six. The over had produced 15 runs and the Australian innings came to a halt at 160.

India’s openers have flattered to deceive the entire tournament and chasing 161 in a quarter-final meant someone had to play an innings less ordinary if India were to have any chance of overhauling the total. Much to the chagrin of the crowd, the openers flattered to deceive? yet again. Shikhar Dhawan struck a boundary in the second ball off the innings. The first over yielded seven runs. Rohit Sharma took a few deliveries to get off the mark. In the third over, Dhawan smashed a si??x over deep square leg and got the crowd back on its feet. He would perish in the next over attempting to hook a short pitched delivery and finding Khawaja at short fine leg. Virat Kohli came to join Rohit Sharma at the crease.

Kohli began his innings by striking two boundaries off Josh Hazlewood. In current form, Virat Kohli looks like he is batting in a realm of his own, just like Tendulkar did in the 90s. Increasingly, the chances of victory revolve around how well he plays, just like with Tendulkar in the 90s. In the limited over formats, no other player can stake a claim to Kohli’s level of consistency. MS Dhoni’s days as a finisher par excellence are dwindling while Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina don’t have consistency as their middle name. Kohli is the glue that holds the openers and the middle order toge?ther and more often than not, the glue that holds the innings together itself.

In the sixth over, Rohit Sharma came down the track, mistimed his shot and missed the ball completely. Shane Watson let out a war cry. The openers tryst with consistenc??y was yet to come to pass.

Suresh Raina’s short stay a??t the crease yielded a boundary but little else in terms of contribution. Watson bowled a short one, the delivery Raina is yet to master and it got his glove on the way to the keeper. India were three down for 45 and staring down the barrel.

In came Yuvraj Singh, playing in front of his home crowd. In what is most likely his final T20 World Cup, the undisputed star of India’s first ever T20 World Cup triumph is now some distance away from his former self. In fleeting moments, he travels back in time and pulls out v??intage shots and his fielding quality hasn’t dipped a bit. This is a Yuvraj Singh looking to taste glory one last time before the last rays of sunlight fade away into dusk.

Yuvraj edged a delivery that went for a boundary. He then set off for a single in the next ball and began hobbling. On a day when India needed every ounce of ammunition they could muster, their T20 warhorse was limping from one end to the other. The passage of play was surreal. At one end wa??s Kohli who is sculpting his body, mind and soul to scale new heights and at the other end was Yuvraj who was wincing in pain after every move. Two’s became singles and Kohli, not known to hide his emotions, didn’t let his frustration at the situation get to him.

At the end of 11 overs, India still required 93 off 54 with one man on the field wounded. Kohli upped the ante with a massive six off Maxwell. India would need many more such missiles from Kohli. Yuvraj Singh struck a clean six off Zampa and it looked like the only scoring option for him as the running in between the wickets was drying up. It isn’t often that you wish for someone on your side to get out. But sadly, that was what many people were feeling when Yuvraj Singh was on strike. In another lifetime, Yuvraj Singh could plunder attacks at will with a class only a few could match. That seems like light years ago. Yuvraj Singh’s painful stay at the crease came to an end when he was caught off a superb effort by Shane Watson. It looked to be Shane Watson’s night. MS Dhoni walked into a situation he had been in many times. Kohli finally found a pair of able legs that ??could keep up with him.

The ensuing passage of play wasn’t  just a test of ability, it was a test of fitness levels. On Easter Sunday, Dhoni and Kohli ran like hares (pun intended). In current form, Kohli is in the same league as Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers. But Gayle and de Villiers brutalize attacks and pummel the bowling. During the IPL, the home crowd for the Royal Challengers Bangalore cheer for Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers more than they do for Kohli. Like a surgeon who dissects his patient meticulously, Kohli is meticulous i??n his dissection of bowlers. Dhoni was content to watch from the other end as his successor took the Aussie attack to the sword.

After the 16th over, ?India required 39 off 18 deliveries. In that single over, Kohli struck two boundaries, one of them a beautiful square drive and a six over long-off. The over yielded 19 runs. 20 required off 12.

As Jasprit Bumrah showed in the match against Bangladesh, penultimate overs are the ones that stand between victory and defeat. Anything can happen in the final over. There are too many nerves and the margin for error is minimal. The penultimate over offers the chance to pull back a situation from the brink. In the second ball of the over, Kohli opened the face ??of his bat to strike a boundary through point. The shot was almost zen like, almost as if he was one with his bat. Kohli struck three more boundaries in that over, each shot stamping his authority even more and hammering another nail in the coffin of the Aussies.

James Faulkner was given the duty to complete the formalities and Dhoni struck a boundary over long on. It first looked like a six, an eerie repl??ay of how he finished off the World Cup final in 201??1.

In 1998, a 25 year old Tendulkar laid siege to t??he hearts of Indians when he single-handedly took on the Australians. Steve Waugh wo??uld go on to say that they lost to one man, not to India. Steven Smith said more or less the same thing on Kohli’s herculean effort. Statistically, Virat Kohli is catching up with Sachin Tendulkar. While Tendulkar danced to a tune of his own, Kohli is standing on the shoulders of giants and looks to outdo them.

For an entire generation that grew up with Tendulkar and equated meaning? in their lives to his exploits on the field and mourned when he bid adieu to the game, never thought that his equal existed. Now they are being forced to reconsider.

18 years back, I was a 13 year old jumping in ??the living room watching Tendulkar decimate the Australians in his version of Desert Storm. On Easter Sunday, I sat rooted to my seat, scarcely able to believe what was unfolding in front of me. The excitement was the same that I felt all those years ago. Whether Kohli will scale the heights that Tendulkar scaled in his storied career and will he be as revered and put up on a pedestal like some God is yet to be seen. They are poles apart in terms of personalities; one was a child prodigy an entire generation grew up with and someone middle class India could identify with; no tattoos, no cussing, no attitude, no dalliances with actresses.  The other is the face of an India that isn’t afraid to quit their jobs and stick it up to their bosses.

When Sachin Tendulkar retired, it was thought the likes of him would never grace ?cricket again. And whether you believe in the resurrection o??r not, if you watched Virat Kohli single handedly going up against the Australians and emerging the victor, it was like the resurrection of another innings played by another God.

It looks like the land of a millio?n Gods has found place for another one.

While Lloyd’s vintage are lauded as being in the pantheon of truly great sides of all time alongside Bradman’s 1948 Australians, a number of Australian teams of the more recent ‘Gold and Green Age�?also vie for that honour.   But which Australian team  is best? Wh?en Steve Waugh’s 2002/03 vintage swept England aside to secure the Ashes in 11 days, the great Aussie all-rounder Keith Miller was moved to suggest that he had witnessed the greatest cricket team ever assembled by his countrymen. Some will, of course, take issue with the verdict of “Nugget�? although not all that many, since the great man himself had stood alongside Bradman as one of the 1948 “Invincibles�?

If we do not quibble with the wisdom of the late, great Keith Miller and go with Waugh’s 2002/03 eleven day threshing machine as being the greatest of all Australians teams of the modern age, which?? Windies outfit of that great post-Packer era stands above all others?

Conventional wisdom has it that Lloyd’s 1984/85 team was the finest assembled during the years which followed th??e World Series Cricket schism.  This was certainly the view of Sir Donald Bradman, who argued that the 1984/85 West Indian tourists were the greatest fielding combination he had ever seen.  Beginning in the Caribbean?? in early 1984, West Indies brushed aside the touring Australians 3-0 after drawing the opening two encounters of that series.

Moving along to England, the home side were demolished 5-0 as Lloyd’s team inflicted the infamous “Blackwash�?on David Gower’s side. Arriving in Australia just weeks later, West Indies looked as if ?they were going to replicate their series result in England with another clean sweep Down Under when they romped to an unassailable 3-0 lead.   Only a fight back on a sluggish Melbourne pitch and   victor?y on a turner’s paradise at Sydney enabled Australia to salvage some respectability with an eventual 3-1 series defeat.   That 1984/85 unit had also set a Test record of 11 consecutive victories during 1984. But even so, was there a better, sharper West Indies side?

As awe-inspiring as they were as a unit, there is a definite case for saying that the opposition faced by West Indies during their 1984 annus mirabilis was far from the most exacting. The Australians were then a team in transition: Lillee, Chappell and Marsh having retired, with the captaincy returning to the unfortunate Kim Hughes. An unharmonious tour of the Caribbean resulted in a 3-0 thrashing as fault lines developed within the squad.  When West Indies returned to Australia later in the year the paucity of talent in the Australian game was but one factor that led to t??he excruciating spectacle that was Kim Hughes�?resignation.

In England, the home side’s 5-0 stuffing must be placed in its proper context too. The year 1984 was the third since the ban on those players who had toured South Africa as ”rebels�?in 1981/82. If some of those under??going the ?ban from the national side were past their best anyway, their absence revealed that the county game was not grooming adequate replacements.  Fragile against pace, and with shaky techniques, the batsmen were found wanting time and time again. An ageing Willis was hammered into retirement after the third Test, while seam and spin alike was simply crushed.   In 1980 and 1980/81 England teams led by Ian Botham, although well beaten, did at least have the resolve and the experience to save games against the West Indies. The 1984 series, on the other hand, did at no point look like a contest.

In agreeing to differ with the Don then, we will plump instead for an earlier �?perhaps even deadlier �?West Indian vintage. Still captained by Clive Lloyd, still containing Greenidge, Haynes, Richards, Holding and Garner, the 1979/80 West Indians were fresh from their Packer hot-housing and a second World Cup victory in that English summer. This was the first West Indian team to clinch a series victory in Australia, four years after their chastening 5-1 reverse in 1975/76. The transformation could not have been more startling. Inside four years Clive Lloyd’s men had climbed to the top of the world game, pummeling Australia on their home patch �?winning two nil?? in a three Test series �?after adding another World Cup to their name.

Although they were relatively inexperienced in terms of Tests played �?Garner, for instance, had placed just a handful of Test matches by late 1979 �?the experience of their being?? together as a unit during the two Packer seasons meant that they had hardened together in the most competitive environment of all. After all, the likes of Greg Chappell, Imran Khan, Dennis Lillee, Asif Iqbal and Barry Richards all acknowledge those Packer WSC seasons as being the hardest, most rewarding and most competitive cricket that they had ever played.

The 1979/80 team lacked Malcolm Marshall, however. Then just 21, “Maco�?was not first choice at this point in time. In his place were the original Fantastic Four version of the pace quartet. Refreshed and reinvigorated until the mid-1990s, the rotating of four quick bowlers was the Windies modus operandi during their great years.

In 1979, Andy Roberts, then 28, was the most experienced and most subtle, with innumerable variations. Michael Holding, 25, was the quickest. Colin Croft, 26, was the meanest, while Joel Garner, 27, was the most miserl?y and awkward.  The Grandad of them all, Andy Roberts, reckons the original foursome was so strong that not even Marshall would have been missed. The great Antiguan mused:

“All four of us brought something different. I was the shortest and brought my experience. Michael, well, what more can you say about him? Garner and his height and unrelenting accuracy, and Colin Croft’s angle and pace – no other fast bowler ever bowled with that unique style from around the wicket, aiming to a batsman’s ribcage.

“Although Malcolm came in later and became arguably the greatest fast bowler ever, I’m not sure how he could have fit into that team, even at his best. We knew from that Australia tour that our pace strategy could dominate the world, and so it proved to be.”

W?hat is beyond dispute is the effectiveness of that original foursome as a unit.  In the eleven Tests they played together between the 1979/80 series and their return to Australia in 1981/82, Holding, Garner Roberts and Croft took a combined 172 wickets at 24.11.

The obvious game changer with the bat was, of course, Roberts�?Antiguan compatriot Viv Richards.  It was apparent even then that, be he the heir to Headley or a right-handed Sobers, this prison guard’s son was already one of the true greats in the game’s history.  Then aged 27, Richards had the reflexes of a gunslinger and was at the kind of peak of virtuosity that gave even Imran Khan recurring nightmares. Fresh from his World Cup final century at Lord’s earl?ier in the year, Richards ran riot in Australia that 1979/80 sum??mer. Even his illustrious team-mates argued that they had never seen batting like it. As Roberts remembers:

“Some of the shots he played off [Jeff] Thomson and [Dennis] Lillee, the pulls from the front foot through midwicket and straight down the ground – I have never seen a batsman play express bowling with such command before or since.”

One particular passage o?f play from the opening morning of the Adelaide Test reflects Richards�?dominance. Entering the fray after Lillee had snared Greenidge leg before with the score on 11, Richards embarked on a display of calculated carnage which saw him score 33, with eight fours, while Desmond Haynes scored just a single at the other end. These were not merely “champagne�?shots though, but extraordinary examples of eye to hand coordination, judgement of length and acute dexterity.? His 1979/80 Test series run haul amounted to one of the greatest performances of even his career. As Wisden purred in its summary:

�?/em>Few individuals have so dominated a season as Richards did this one. Statistics help tell some of the story. In the Tests, he scored 140 at Brisbane, 96 at Melbourne, and 76 and 74 at Adelaide. In the World Series Cup, his sequence was 9, 153 not out, 62, 85 not out, 88, 23 and 65. Outside the Tests he batted in only two first-class innings, scoring 79 and 127.” �?