| 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 | e | f | g | h | i | j | k | l | m | n | o | p | q | r | s | t | u | v | w | x | y | z | a’ | b’ | c’ | d’ | C W J Athey | x | | | x | x | x | | T | x | T | x | T | x | x | T | o | o | o | o | T | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | I T Botham | x | | x | | x | | x | T | x | T | | | | x | T | o | o | o | o | T | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | B C Broad | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | T | x | T | | T | x | x | T | o | o | o | o | T | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | P A J DeFreitas | x | x | x | | | x | x | T | | T | | T | x | x | T | o | | o | o | | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | G R Dilley | x | | | x | x | x | x | T | | T | | T | | x | | o | o | | o | T | o | o | o | o | o | | | | o | o | P H Edmonds | x | x | | x | x | | x | T | x | T | x | T | | x | T | | o | | | T | | | o | | | | | | | | J E Emburey | x | x | x | | x | x | | T | x | T | | T | x | | T | o | o | o | o | T | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | N A Foster | | x | x | x | | x | | | x | | x | | x | x | | | | o | | | | | | | | o | o | o | o | o | B N French | x | | x | | | x | | | x | | x | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | o | o | o | o | M W Gatting | x | | x | x | x | | x | T | | T | x | T | x | x | T | o | o | o | o | T | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | D I Gower | x | x | x | | | x | x | T | x | T | x | T | | x | T | o | o | o | o | T | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | A J Lamb | | x | x | x | x | | x | T | | T | x | T | x | x | T | o | o | o | o | T | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | C J Richards | | x | | x | x | x | x | T | | T | x | T | x | x | T | o | o | o | o | T | o | o | o | o | o | o | | | | | W N Slack | x | x | x | x | | x | x | | x | | x | | x | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | G C Small | | x | x | x | x | | x | | x | | x | | x | | T | o | o | o | o | T | o | o | | o | o | o | o | o | | | J J Whitaker | | x | | x | x | x | | | x | | x | T | x | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | R E S U L T S | D | W | L | W | W | W | D | W | L | D | W | D | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | L | W | L | W | W | L | L | L | W | W | W |
| 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. | | |
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