The Ashes series of 1981 is fondly remembered in England for the performance of Ian Botham. He produced a series of performances to tilt the series in his side’s favours.
Even to this day, fans of the English national team use the label Botham’s Ashes to describe the series.
However, the summer did not start so well for Botham.
He started the series as captain, but stepped down from the job after the second Test, at Lord’s. There was even talk that he should be dropped for poor form. As it transpired, the England selectors made the right call in ignoring such demands.
Australia, meanwhile, featured a number of the rebels who had joined Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket, back in the fold after the rapprochement with the breakaway league. They included Dennis Lillee, Rod Marsh and Geoff Lawson, but captain Greg Chappell made himself unavailable for the tour. Kim Hughes led in his absence.
The first Test took place at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, with England struggling to deal with the Australian pace attack.
Put into bat, England were bowled out for 185, Mike Gatting top-scoring with 52. Lillee and Rodney Hogg took three wickets each and the accurate Terry Alderman 4-68.
The England seamers then had some joy of their own, dismissing Australia for 179 in turn, Allan Border top-scoring with 63.
In their second innings, though, England collapsed to 125, Lillee with 5-46 and Alderman with 5-62.
That meant Australia needed 132 to win. Although they made heavy weather of it, losing six wickets in the process, they got there in the end.
Australia again won the toss in the second Test, at Lord’s, asking England to bat first. Led by Peter Willey (82) and Gatting (59), they produced a better performance, scoring 311 as Lawson took 7-81.
In reply, Australia made 345, Border top-scoring with 64, but there were 55 extras to help boost their score.
Batting again, Geoff Boycott’s typically patient 60 and David Gower's 89 helped Botham declare at 265/8 in the hope of forcing a result.
But with Graeme Wood making an unbeaten 62, Australia were 90/4 in their second innings when a draw was declared. Botham resigned soon afterwards, with Mike Brearley taking over as captain once more.