- Mike Brearley
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Mike Brearley Personal information Full name John Michael Brearley Born 28 April 1942
Harrow, Middlesex, England, United KingdomNickname Brears, Scagg Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) Batting style Right-handed Bowling style Right arm medium International information National side England Test debut (cap 465) 3 June 1976 v West Indies Last Test 27 August 1981 v Australia ODI debut (cap 38) 2 June 1977 v Australia Last ODI 22 January 1980 v West Indies Domestic team information Years Team 1961–1983 Middlesex 1961–1968 Cambridge University Career statistics Competition Test ODI FC LA Matches 39 25 455 272 Runs scored 1442 510 25186 6135 Batting average 22.88 24.28 37.81 26.44 100s/50s 0/9 0/3 45/134 3/37 Top score 91 78 312* 124* Balls bowled 0 0 315 48 Wickets – – 3 4 Bowling average – – 64.00 15.00 5 wickets in innings – – – – 10 wickets in match – n/a – n/a Best bowling – – 1/6 2/3 Catches/stumpings 52/– 12/– 418/12 111/– Source: Cricinfo, 8 February 2008 John Michael Brearley OBE (born 28 April 1942) is a former cricketer who captained the England cricket team in 31 of his 39 Test matches, winning 17 and losing only 4. He was the President of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in 2007–08.
Contents
Early life
Brearley was educated at the City of London School (where his father Horace, himself a first-class cricketer, was a master). While at St. John's College, Cambridge, Brearley excelled at cricket (he was then a wicketkeeper/batsman). After making 76 on first-class debut as a wicketkeeper,[1] he played for Cambridge University between 1961 and 1968 (captaining the side from 1964 onwards), first as an undergraduate on the Natural Sciences tripos, and then as a postgraduate. While still at Cambridge he was chosen for the MCC tour to South Africa in 1964–65, and to captain the MCC Under-25 side in Pakistan in 1966–67, when he scored 312 not out against North Zone[2] (his highest first-class score) and 223 against the Pakistan Under-25 side[3] he ended the tour with 793 runs from six matches at an average of 132.
County cricket
From 1961 onwards he played for Middlesex County Cricket Club, often opening the innings with Michael Smith. As captain between 1971 and 1982, he led Middlesex to County Championships in 1976, 1977 (jointly with Kent), 1980 and 1982;[4] and he appeared in Free Foresters' very last first-class fixture, in 1968, keeping wicket and scoring 91.[5]
International cricket
In part because of his pursuit of an academic career, which limited his cricketing activity in 1969 and 1970, Brearley was not selected for England until the age of 34 in 1976. Brearley's record in Test cricket as a batsman was mediocre (he averaged 22.88 in 39 Test innings, without a Test century), but he was an outstanding captain. Having previously kept wicket, he was also a very fine slip catcher, usually at first slip. He took over as captain of England in 1977. His excellent man-management skills (he was once described by Rodney Hogg as having "a degree in people") drew the very best from the players in his team, although he was fortunate to be able to call on the services of Bob Willis, David Gower and Ian Botham at their peak. Brearley was captain during the infamous aluminium bat incident in 1979, when he objected to Dennis Lillee's use of the bat, instead of one made of willow.[6] On the same tour he caused controversy by ordering all his fielders including the wicketkeeper to the boundary with three runs required off the last ball of the match (this was legal by the rules of the time).[7] He had been an innovator regarding cricket equipment himself, wearing a 'skull cap' under his England cap in 1977. It consisted of a plastic protector with two side pieces protecting his temples. It was later popularized by the Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar.
Brearley also captained England to the final of the 1979 Cricket World Cup, scoring 53 in the semi-final against New Zealand [8] and 64 in the final against the West Indies.[9] However, his defensive opening partnership of 129 with Geoff Boycott in the final used up 38 of 60 allotted overs; although it was recognised that a potent pace attack of Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Colin Croft and Joel Garner needed to be countered, the speed of the partnership greatly added to the pressure on the rest of the order. Garner bowled a spell of 5 wickets for 4 runs to induce a drastic collapse and hand the West Indies the match and the World Cup by 92 runs.
Having passed the England captaincy to Ian Botham in 1980 (losing his Test place in the process), Brearley returned as captain following Botham's resignation for the famous third Test against Australia at Headingley in 1981,[10] famously going on to win the match and two of the remaining three matches of the series to win the Ashes 3-1. Brearley's extraordinary galvanising of Botham is regarded as one of the greatest feats of sporting psychology of all time: Botham recovered from personal ridicule following his winless captaincy record and his nosedive in form (he had made a pair in the second Test at Lord's) to take a first-innings 6 for 95 and score 50 and his famous 149 not out in the third Test at Headingley, bowl a spell of 5 wickets for 1 run in the fourth Test at Edgbaston, score 118 from 102 balls in the fifth Test at Old Trafford, and take a 10-wicket match haul (6 for 125 and 4 for 128) in the sixth Test at the Oval.
Not all players have sung the praises of his captaincy with the same generosity as Ian Botham. Phil Edmonds, who played under Brearley at both county and country level, developed the practice of walking backwards to his bowling mark to ensure Brearley did not change the field behind his back. In his second autobiography, Fred Titmus, a senior county colleague, poured scorn on Brearley's reputed man-management skills.
Post-cricket career
Brearley is now a psychoanalyst, psychotherapist (registered with the BPC), motivational speaker, and part-time cricket journalist for The Observer. He was awarded the OBE in 1978, and published The Art of Captaincy in 1985. He opposed sporting links with apartheid South Africa, seconding a motion to the MCC in 1968 calling for the cessation of tours until there was actual progress towards non-racial cricket. He seconded the motion from David Sheppard to the MCC, calling for the England tour to South Africa to be cancelled, and was a supporter of John Arlott who campaigned in The Guardian for the same objective.
Brearley took over from Doug Insole as President of MCC on 1 October 2007, and chose Derek Underwood to succeed him at the end of his term.[11]
References
- ^ Cambridge University v Surrey, 1961
- ^ North Zone v MCC Under-25s, 1967;
- ^ Pakistan Under-25s v MCC Under 25s, 1967
- ^ County Championship Winners
- ^ Oxford University v Free Foresters, 1968
- ^ Heavy metal at the WACA
- ^ I do declare
- ^ England v New Zealand, 1979 World Cup
- ^ England v West Indies, 1979 World Cup
- ^ The great escape
- ^ Brearley to be new MCC president
External links
Sporting positions Preceded by
Tony Greig
Ian BothamEnglish national cricket captain
1977–1980
(Geoffrey Boycott deputised 1979/80)
1981Succeeded by
Ian Botham
Keith FletcherPreceded by
Peter ParfittMiddlesex county cricket captain
1971–1982Succeeded by
Mike GattingPreceded by
Doug InsolePresidents of the MCC
2007–2008Succeeded by
Derek UnderwoodEngland squad – 1979 Cricket World Cup (Runners-up) Categories:- 1942 births
- Living people
- People from Harrow, London
- Cricketers at the 1979 Cricket World Cup
- English cricketers
- English cricketers of 1946 to 1968
- English cricketers of 1969 to 2000
- England Test cricketers
- England One Day International cricketers
- English cricket captains
- Middlesex cricket captains
- Middlesex cricketers
- International Cavaliers cricketers
- Free Foresters cricketers
- Wisden Cricketers of the Year
- Cambridge University cricketers
- Cricket historians and writers
- Officers of the Order of the British Empire
- Old Citizens (City of London School)
- Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge
- Presidents of the Marylebone Cricket Club
- Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers
- Cambridgeshire cricketers
- Gentlemen cricketers
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