wpdavid
Hall of Fame Member
A more positive counterpart to the 'losses' thread. Here are a few instances when England played better and did far better than we had any right to expect..
1973/74: Drew 1-1 in the West Indies
WI had comfortably beaten us in England,did the same in the first test in this series and dominated most of the rest of it. Then a combination of Greig's off-spin and Boycott at his finest allowed us to win the final test and draw the series.
1976/77: Won 3-1 in India
We'd lost in India last time there, we hadn't won a series against anyone other than NZ for two and a half years, and Boycott was till unavailable. John Lever was the surprise package, Amiss and Greig produced some match winning innings and we won the first three tests at a canter. Happy days.
1984/85: Won 2-1 in India
Straight after the 1984 blackwash, we hadn't won a series away from home since beating Australia's reserves in 1978/79 and Botham preferred to stay at home resting. Tim Robinson hit a couple of hundreds in his debut series, Gatting made his first couple of test tons, including a massive double in partnership with Fowler, who also doubled up in his penultimate test. During that match, England's massive score led to a memorable Spitting Image sketch where the famously doubting Archbishop of Durham pointed out that England's score of 629 for 3 should not be taken in a literal sense.
1986/76: Won 2-1 in Australia
Famously described as having three problems; unable to bat, bowl or field. And we'd been well beaten at home by India and NZ the previous summer. But we hadn't realised that Aus were even worse.
1989/90: The first 2 tests in the WI
Off the back of our ashes horribilus in 1989, without the guys who had joined Gatting in taking the rand, and against the best side in the world. And yet we won the first comfortably and would have won the second equally comfortably without a combination of rain and Haynes getting away with having his side bowl about 8 overs an hour to prevent us chasing a small target. As LT observed elsewhere, subsequently Richards took over umpiring duties, Ambrose rediscovered his superpowers and WI won 2-1. But the first two tests were astonishing.
2000/2001: Winning 1-0 in Pakistan and 2-1 in Sri Lanka
Our previous trip to the subcontinent had been the 1992/93 horror shows in India and SL. And our previous tour to Pakistan had been the Gatting/Shakoor Rana affair in 1987/88. We were just pleased that the Pakistan tour had been incident free and that we'd been competitive when our hosts helpfully collapsed on the last day of the 3rd test and their umpires didn't let their captain get away with slowing the game down enough to stop us chasing a smallish target in the dark. And, if anything, the win in SL was even more astonishing. We knew all about Murali after he'd bowled them to victory at The Oval three years earlier and duly got walloped in the first test here. But still came back to win, even we nearly made a mess of chasing 70 in the decisive test. Graham Thorpe at his finest won that one for us.
2012: Winning 2-1 in India
I think it was 2-1, but I struggle to remember the more recent ones. I do remember that our batting had been hopeless away to Pakistan at the start of the year and that this was completely unexpected. Cook and KP batted really well didn't they? Swann and Panesar may well be the best pair of England spinners since I've been watching the game.
2018: Winning 3-0 in SL
How the heck did that happen when everyone else was being seen off by SL's spinners?
1973/74: Drew 1-1 in the West Indies
WI had comfortably beaten us in England,did the same in the first test in this series and dominated most of the rest of it. Then a combination of Greig's off-spin and Boycott at his finest allowed us to win the final test and draw the series.
1976/77: Won 3-1 in India
We'd lost in India last time there, we hadn't won a series against anyone other than NZ for two and a half years, and Boycott was till unavailable. John Lever was the surprise package, Amiss and Greig produced some match winning innings and we won the first three tests at a canter. Happy days.
1984/85: Won 2-1 in India
Straight after the 1984 blackwash, we hadn't won a series away from home since beating Australia's reserves in 1978/79 and Botham preferred to stay at home resting. Tim Robinson hit a couple of hundreds in his debut series, Gatting made his first couple of test tons, including a massive double in partnership with Fowler, who also doubled up in his penultimate test. During that match, England's massive score led to a memorable Spitting Image sketch where the famously doubting Archbishop of Durham pointed out that England's score of 629 for 3 should not be taken in a literal sense.
1986/76: Won 2-1 in Australia
Famously described as having three problems; unable to bat, bowl or field. And we'd been well beaten at home by India and NZ the previous summer. But we hadn't realised that Aus were even worse.
1989/90: The first 2 tests in the WI
Off the back of our ashes horribilus in 1989, without the guys who had joined Gatting in taking the rand, and against the best side in the world. And yet we won the first comfortably and would have won the second equally comfortably without a combination of rain and Haynes getting away with having his side bowl about 8 overs an hour to prevent us chasing a small target. As LT observed elsewhere, subsequently Richards took over umpiring duties, Ambrose rediscovered his superpowers and WI won 2-1. But the first two tests were astonishing.
2000/2001: Winning 1-0 in Pakistan and 2-1 in Sri Lanka
Our previous trip to the subcontinent had been the 1992/93 horror shows in India and SL. And our previous tour to Pakistan had been the Gatting/Shakoor Rana affair in 1987/88. We were just pleased that the Pakistan tour had been incident free and that we'd been competitive when our hosts helpfully collapsed on the last day of the 3rd test and their umpires didn't let their captain get away with slowing the game down enough to stop us chasing a smallish target in the dark. And, if anything, the win in SL was even more astonishing. We knew all about Murali after he'd bowled them to victory at The Oval three years earlier and duly got walloped in the first test here. But still came back to win, even we nearly made a mess of chasing 70 in the decisive test. Graham Thorpe at his finest won that one for us.
2012: Winning 2-1 in India
I think it was 2-1, but I struggle to remember the more recent ones. I do remember that our batting had been hopeless away to Pakistan at the start of the year and that this was completely unexpected. Cook and KP batted really well didn't they? Swann and Panesar may well be the best pair of England spinners since I've been watching the game.
2018: Winning 3-0 in SL
How the heck did that happen when everyone else was being seen off by SL's spinners?
