England’s tour of Australia in 1982-83 was the first of the post-Packer era in which the Ashes were at stake. Gareth Bland looks back at the eventful five Test series.
Gareth Bland - ARTICLES
This week feature writer Gareth Bland reviews a personal favourite; the England captain’s classic account of what was, the more senior amongst us would argue, the greatest Ashes series of them all.
A county colossus, yet unfulfilled at Test match level, Gareth Bland looks at the career of the recently departed Mark Ramprakash.
Initially omitted from the squad and battling illness throughout the tournament, Gareth Bland examines the role of the great Javed Miandad in Pakistan’s 1992 World Cup triumph
With World Series Cricket disbanded,West Indies made their first post-Packer tour to England in 1980. Gareth Bland reappraises the tour.
In front of a packed Lord’s Nat West semi-final crowd in 1983, Ian Botham rescued Somerset from almost certain defeat in one of his finest innings. Gareth Bland looks back on one of the all-rounder’s greatest performances and one of the tournament’s most unlikely finishes
David Gower’s tourists were pitted against a Caribbean team at the very height of its powers. Gareth examines the series and its effects on both teams, with the 5-0 scoreline heralding the end of an epoch for an unparalleled West Indies team moulded by Clive Lloyd in the Packer era.
At the pinnacle of his career as a bowler in 1983, Imran Khan suffered a career-threatening stress fracture of the shin. What might have happened had he stayed fit and his improving Pakistan team toured the Caribbean that spring?