If the 1974/75 Ashes had been 12 months earlier (yeah I know, it wouldn't have been 1974/75), Ian Chappell would have been leading Aus without Lillee and Thomson at his disposal and I don't think we're looking at a 4-1 win. I'm sure he was a terrific captain, but luck can play such a big part. As someone else pointed out, Brearly was smart enough to retire before England played WI and lucky enough to play against Packer-weakened sides and also also lucky enough to inherit peak Willis and see the arrivals of Botham and Gower. Illingworth never had to lead England against the world's best side (SA) and was up against transitional sides from Aus and WI when he led England to number 1.
I still think that the guys who added the most value to England as captains were Vaughan and Strauss. They did have good players at their disposal, but they got the most out of them. Hussain's a interesting one. Fantasic in Pakistan and SL, but lost badly at home to NZ (after the same lineup had beaten SA under Stewart 12 months previously) and were on track to lose at home to WI in 2000 until Stewart engineered the miracle of Lord's.
A couple of years ago, I discussed Clive Lloyd's captaincy with a WI-supporting member of CW. We didn't agree, but that's fine, it was fun anyway. My take was that Lloyd may well have been a good captain, but it did help that his tenure coincided with the arrivals of Roberts, Richards and Greenidge, soon to be followed by Holding, Garner, Croft and, a couple of years later, Marshall. Compare that attack to guys who played when WI were losing at home to India and NZ. Actually, their revival started when Kanhai led the side (featuring an attack of Boyce, Julien, Holder and a very old Sobers) to England in 1973, and won even more comfortably than Lloyd's side in 1976.
