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An English or Australian cricketer might have an excellent record as a captain but it is unlikely that his tenure would be remembered fondly by his countrymen if he fails to win the Ashes at least once. It is the pinnacle of success as far as Australian and English captains are concerned.
An Ashes victory is a definite ticket to immortality for a captain and here is a look at some of the best (in terms of the significance of the victories they engineered) Ashes-winning captains.
#10 Mike Gatting
At a time when both England and Australia were struggling to register good enough results, Mike Gatting’s England side arrived in Australia in October 1986 with a lot to prove. Australia were in a rebuilding phase and England cashed in with a far more experienced side by winning the first Test in Brisbane.
Chris Broad was the pick of the batsmen with three centuries while Graham Dilley and Ian Botham shone with the ball as England won the Ashes 2-1. That win under Gatting would be England’s last Ashes series win in Australia for 24 years.
#9 Michael Clarke
England reached Australian shores in 2013 on the back of three Ashes series win, with the last one being in England in the same year. Michael Clarke had been the captain when England retained the Ashes comfortably with a 3-0 victory but what he unleashed in the form of Mitchell Johnson (37 wickets in 5 Tests) in the 2013-14 series Down Under will never be forgotten.
Johnson tore through the England batting line up with a display of such ferocious fast bowling in the first Test at Brisbane that England never recovered as they crashed to a 5-0 whitewash. Clarke had engineered one of the most remarkable turnarounds for Australia in the Ashes and England surrendered quite meekly.
#8 Len Hutton
Sir Len Hutton was not only one of England’s greatest ever batsmen but he had also been responsible for being the architect of one of their finest Ashes series wins. England arrived in Australia in 1954 with an enviable bowling attack spearheaded by Frank Tyson and Brian Statham, however, they lost the first Test by an innings and 154 runs in Brisbane.
From the next Test onwards, they turned it around and won the series 3-1 in a canter. Tyson took 28 wickets and Statham took 18 as Australian batsmen found themselves out of their depth against one of the greatest fast bowling duos of all time.
#7 Andrew Strauss
Under Andrew Strauss’s captaincy, England became an extremely efficient team who went about their business with a machine like precision. Having been appointed captain in early 2009, his first big assignment was the Ashes at home and Strauss led them to a 2-1 victory to regain the Urn.
However, his greater triumph awaited. In 2001-11, Strauss’s team played brilliantly to beat Australia 3-1 away from home and in the process retained the Ashes. A captain who helped regain the Ashes and then retained it has to be among the best.
#6 Ian Chappell
Ian Chappell has often been regarded as one of the finest Australian captains ever and in his first full Ashes series as captain, he pushed England hard to end with a 2-2 scoreline away from home in 1972.
However, the 1974-75 Ashes in Australia shocked everyone as Chappell led his side to a resounding 4-1 victory. The fiery pace of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson was unleashed on the England batsmen as they wilted under the pressure.
Chappell himself was the 3rd highest scorer for Australia with 387 runs as he helped his country regain the Ashes.
#5 Mike Brearley
Mike Brearley is often regarded as one of the most astute thinkers of the game, but during the 1981 Ashes, he was tasked with the unenviable job of taking over as captain midway through the series after Ian Botham resigned. Additionally, England were trailing Australia 0-1.
However, Brearley, along with Botham and Willis, fashioned one of the most remarkable turnarounds in Test cricket history at Headingley as England won the Test despite following on. Botham’s century was the turning point but in the 4th innings Brearley changed Willis’s end with Australia in sight of victory and that proved to be a tactical masterstroke.
The bowler took 8-43 as Australia crashed 111 all out in pursuit of 130. England never looked back and Australia never recovered from that shock as Brearley took the team to an unforgettable 3-1 series victory.
#4 Mark Taylor
Mark Taylor, who captained Australia from 1994 to 1999, will go down in history as one of the most successful Ashes captains. He captained in three Ashes series and won all of them to drive home the advantage that had been gained by Allan Border.
In 1994-95, he led Australia to a 3-1 victory at home and in the return series in 1997, England were defeated 3-2 in an exciting series. The 1998-99 Ashes was his last bow as captain and even without the services of spin ace Shane Warne, Australia emerged comfortable winners with a 3-1 margin.
#3 Allan Border
During the mid-1980s, Australia struggled to put together a winning team after the retirement of many of its stalwarts and Allan Border was tasked with the job of guiding the team. He had already lost two Ashes series, one in 1985 and the other in 1986-87 at home.
However, the Ashes series in England in 1989 changed the fortunes of Australian cricket completely as they not only regained the Ashes but annihilated the hosts 4-0 in a display of outstanding cricket. Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh starred with the bat while Merv Hughes and Terry Alderman did the job with the ball.
It launched an era of awesome Australian dominance as they won the next seven Ashes series on the trot, with Border being the captain in 1990-91 and 1993.
#2 Michael Vaughan
After taking over the captaincy from Nasser Hussain in 2003, Michael Vaughan put together an excellent team that recorded famous wins in South Africa and England, but the most famous of them was in the 2005 Ashes. England had not won the Ashes for 16 years and in the interim, they had been humiliated in seven straight Ashes series by the Australians.
England were soundly defeated in the first Test at Lord’s but the turnaround commenced in the second Test as the hosts won by 2 runs. It was an extremely close series but it was England, for a change, who held on to their nerves to emerge 2-1 victors in the end.
Many felt that England would have had to wait for a very long time if they had failed to win that series.
#1 Sir Don Bradman
This list will never be complete without the mention of Sir Donald Bradman’s team that toured England in 1948. The team did not lose a single match throughout the tour (tour matches used to be quite competitive at the time) and from then on they have forever been known as ‘The Invincibles’.
In the Test series, Australia battered England 4-0 as Don Bradman plundered 508 runs and Ray Lindwall claimed 27 wickets. Australia won all four Tests by big margins, with one of them being an innings victory and the ‘Don’ signed off his incredible career with one of the greatest Ashes wins ever.
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