England’s recent away wins set Joshua Peck thinking about some past triumphs
Victories in South Africa and India are no mean feat for any side, but in the past three years England have managed both.
Alastair Cook has been at the helm for both series wins, and although a 5-0 Ashes whitewash in Australia in between those successes in India in 2012-13 and the current dominance in South Africa blots his record, the Three Lions are back on the rise.
It has not been without problems, of course.
But the retirement of Graeme Swann and the Kevin Pietersen debacle have both been handled extremely well by Cook.
So let’s take the opportunity now to take a look back at some of England’s other great overseas series wins.
In no particular order…
1-0 in Pakistan 2000/01
Locked at 0-0 going into the decider of the three-Test series, England were trying to inflict Pakistan’s first defeat in the 46-year history of the National Stadium in Karachi.
And it was mission accomplished when, late on the last day, in the Karachi dusk, victory was achieved with a resplendent performance that had kept the crowd on the edge of their seats.
It was a win that will remain long in the memory, with captain Nasser Hussain leading his team to triumph with the help of Graham Thorpe.
England needed 176 runs to win in 44 overs, seemingly a doddle at today’s going rate, even against an attack that included the pace of Waqar Younis and the spinning guile of Saqlain Mushtaq.
But after openers Michael Atherton and Marcus Trescothick got started at a decent lick, their wickets fell, slowing the run rate. Alec Stewart came and went for five, while Graeme Hick made a valuable 40 of 64 deliveries.
Hussain, coming in with four wickets down, had only made six runs when Thorpe knocked off the winning runs, his 64 compiled from 98 balls.
The match ended with those in the stands barely able to see the ball, and with even the fielders struggling in the diminishing light.
4-1 in Australia 1932/33
While the idea of Bodyline had originated in the Oval Test of the 1930 Ashes series, it wasn’t until England toured Down Under a couple of years later that they used it to full effect.
With Don Bradman seemingly susceptible to a short-pitched ball, England captain Douglas Jardine asked his fast bowlers Harold Larwood and Bill Voce if they could bowl on leg stump and make the ball come up into the body of the batsman.
Bradman was absent for the first Test, which England won comfortably, before the Don hit a ton in the second as Australia drew level.
An angry Adelaide crowd saw Bert Oldfield suffer a fractured skull from Larwood’s bowling in the third Test, but the Nottinghamshire paceman took seven wickets in the match with Gubby Allen adding four in each innings despite his notable dissent when asked to bowl Bodyline.
Larwood also struck the Australian skipper Bill Woodford an agonising blow under his heart with a short, lifting delivery in one of the defining symbols of the series, and it meant the momentum was now fully with the tourists.
England used it to their advantage to win the final two Tests for a memorable, if embittered, series win that had even threatened to end diplomatic relations between the nations.
2-1 in India 1984/85
This five-Test tour, in fact, very nearly didn’t begin.
England’s visit was almost called off when, in the wake of the assassination of Indian president Indira Ghandi, the deputy high commissioner of Western India, Percy Norris, was shot dead 24 hours after hosting a reception for the England team.
Coming off the West Indies ‘blackwash’ at home the previous summer, the first Test was another flop from an English point of view, with India victorious by eight wickets – but the tourists bounced straight back in Delhi.
Richard Ellison’s 4-66 got England on their way before Tim Robinson’s ton put the visitors in control. Four wickets for Phil Edmonds sealed the win.
An Eden Gardens draw meant it was all to play for in the fourth Test, but Mike Gatting and Graeme Fowler – with double centuries – batted India out of the game, England eventually winning by nine wickets.
A run-fest in Kanpur meant it was a famous series win, and set England up to reclaim the Ashes the following summer.
2-1 in Australia 1986/87
Coming into the series after back-to-back home series losses against India and New Zealand, England were destined to struggle. Surely? They were even dubbed the side that, “can’t bat, can’t bowl and can’t field” by journalist Martin Johnson
An embarrassing performance in a warm-up match against Western Australia only added more fuel to the fire, but England turned the form book on its head.
An Ian Botham century and some inspired bowling from Graham Dilley and John Emburey meant England broke their duck straight away in Brisbane and by the time the tourists won the fourth Test, Australia had gone 14 Tests without tasting the victory champagne.
That innings and 14-run victory in Melbourne wrapped up the series, and Mike Gatting’s no-hopers lifted the urn.
They can be excused for slacking off in the final dead rubber. It would be the last time England were victorious Down Under until Andrew Strauss led the troops to a famous 3-1 win 24 years later.
2-1 in South Africa 2004/05
Having made his Test debut in the summer preceding this tour, Andrew Strauss went on to cement his place in the side by having a truly wonderful winter.
Player of the Series and 656 runs scored across five matches, Strauss built up a brilliant partnership at the top of the order with Marcus Trescothick. And the pair would go on to work wonders against the Australians visiting the following summer.
Strauss started as he meant to go on, with 126 in England’s first innings of the opening Test before he hit the winning runs while making an unbeaten 94 as the Three Lions went 1-0 up.
But this was a South Africa side featuring the likes of Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, Makhaya Ntini and Shaun Pollock.
And it was to be great all-rounder Kallis who clawed the Proteas back into the series.
After bad light prevented England taking a 2-0 lead, Kallis made 149 as the hosts took a hold on the third Test that they never relinquished.
So it stood at 1-1 with two to play. Step forward Matthew Hoggard. Twelve wickets in the match for the swing bowler, coupled with centuries by Messrs Strauss and Trescothick and England took a series lead which they defended in the final Test.
This piece originally featured in The Cricket Paper, Friday January 22 2016
