Roderick Easdale looks behind the statistics of one of England’s greatest skippers to determine what made him a winner

Roderick Easdale

Standing tall: Mike Brearley is still recognised as England’s greatest Test skipper

Mike Brearley turns 75 on the 28th. To some, he remains one of England’s greatest-ever captains; to others – such as Ray Illingworth – one of the luckiest.
Brearley captained against Test teams often decimated by Packer defections. A rare time when he took on a side outside of the Packer era was for a three-test series in Australia in 1979/80...