Every time I watch highlights of Headingley 1981, I still expect the Aussies to complete a resounding win over their hosts, but it never happens.Though a dramatic change of fortunes would be brought about by the collective batting ability of England's lower-middle order, there's no doubting whose innings is most often remembered. Indeed, the series would, in future years, be referred to for evermore as Botham's Ashes, which has gone down in history as perhaps the most famous of all time. Well, if you're English anyway.
Cricket followers of a certain age –particularly those in and around the Leeds area ("I've met over 750,000 who claim to have been there [at Headingley]" ~ Botham)– still talk about the fabled events of Summer '81 some thirty years on, insisting Ashes clashes of a more recent vintage couldn't ever live up to the sheer excitement of 1981. Though I, and many others, would beg to differ –Edgbaston 2005 was as nail-biting a finish to any contest in any sport I have witnessed in my lifetime– you can't argue its significance is as great as England's football success of 1966 or their rugby union counterparts' victory in the World Cup of 2003. The Ashes winners of '81 are truly the Beatles of Cricket - even some of the hairstyles bear a strong resemblance to those of the Fab Four.
This VHS video, produced the very same year as Beef's exploits at Headingley, Edgbaston and Old Trafford, documents that whole summer with particular reference to said performances. Our protagonist joins Test Match Special's very own Richie Benaud to look back on a series that would live long in any cricket fan's memory.
The Headingley Test is, somewhat unsurprisingly, most prominently featured in this compilation, but while certainly the one most often recounted, it is far from the only match of real significance to the series. The June–September period was a veritable soap opera of tragedy, ecstasy and drama of almost Eastendierial proportions.
Following an unremarkable first two Tests for England, Ian Botham would step down as captain, citing the selectors' insistence on appointing him to the position on a match-to-match basis. Free of burden, he would return a man revitalised, smashing boundaries with great power and brute force whilst at the same time exhibiting great skill and cricketing knowledge.Nowhere was this more evident than at Old Trafford in the Fifth Test, where his 118 (which consisted of 6 sixes and 11 fours) was in many ways technically superior to his Headlingley heroics. Add to the equation a remarkable spell of five wickets for one run in 29 balls at Edgbaston, plus a plethora of other vital wickets and catches and you have a series well deserving of the moniker Botham's Ashes.
All of this is documented in this 109-minute VHS video, interspersed by interview segments with a cigar-chomping Botham, a man not averse to breaking out the old stogies every once in a while. Who would blame him? After that performance, he deserves a Hamlet moment.
From Headingley onwards, we couldn't get enough of the big man, who would feature prominently in British (and international) media as English cricket's bad boy for the rest of his cricketing career and beyond. It's fascinating to look back on the series that kick started all the hype and reverence in the light of thirty years' passage of time. You might just as well be watching a highlights package from the 2010–11 Ashes series, grounds packed to the rafters with vociferous England supporters baying for the Aussies blood and singing rude songs about Rodney Marsh.Though we mustn't forget the efforts of Botham's colleagues in all of this –Boycott (392 runs, av. 32.66), Gatting (370 at 30.83), Willis (29 wickets at 22.96) and Dilley (12 wickets at 19.64) all made invaluable contributions over the course of the summer– and indeed many of their best moments are featured, this release is all about Ian Terrence Botham and those incredible, match-turning moments that made the Ashes series of 1981 so memorable.
In fact, this very tape has been cited by Darren Gough, Andrew Flintoff and many subsequent cricketers of note as the inspiration for them picking up the leather and willow in the first place. By that token, I don't think I could ever give this a negative review, could I? I mean, it's been indirectly responsible for the heart stopping moments of 1998 and 2005, which have enlightened the lives of so many cricket fans. Solid evidence that the influence of Botham's Ashes endures to this day, 30 summers after the fact.All images taken from Botham's Ashes [BBC VHS, 1981], © BBC 1981
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