Miracle Moment In The Ashes

Edgbaston 1981 will always be the Salieri Test, an overshadowed masterpiece due to its proximity to the greatest of all time, a Magical Mystery Tour too often swamped by the wake of Headingley's Sgt Pepper. Yet in truth it is part of a double-header, two stunning Tests that serve to embellish the other, part of a pair of symbiotic matches central to the almost mythical aura of the 1981 Ashes.

With England having levelled the series at 1-1 in Leeds the nine days between Tests had not been quite as smooth as might be imagined. After arguably the greatest victory in Ashes history it seems almost perverse that England opted to drop a player and rejig the batting lineup but that they did.

Graham Dilley, despite his heroics with the bat in the third Test, was axed and John Emburey brought into the side. Indeed with the Edgbaston pitch expected to turn the prospect of playing two spinners was discussed, but squeezing Derek Underwood into the XI would have meant leaving out Chris Old and going into the Test with only two seamers or dropping a batsman and moving Emburey higher than his capabilities to No7 in the order.

The tinkering compulsion that once infected English cricket did lead to one other change though, with Graham Gooch, who scored nought and two opening at Headingley, moved down to four in the order. Mike Brearley shifted up from No3 to open with Geoff Boycott, with David Gower also moving from No4 to first wicket down, much to his chagrin, though probably not to his great surprise – even after victory at Edgbaston England opted to make a further three changes for the fifth Test.

The squad – in particular Bob Willis and Ian Botham – had been engaged in a standoff with the media, the smoothing over of which took up a fair chunk of Brearley's pre-match time. Still, the royal wedding of Charles and Diana on Wednesday 29 July had helped stoke the fires of national fervour ignited by victory in the third Test and plenty of flag-waving could be seen on the Edgbaston terraces the following morning as England won the toss and opted to bat.

Dennis Lillee at first struggled to extract anything from the pitch, but Terry Alderman bowled with the nagging line, length and movement that was to cause so many problems to England's batsman on a more successful tour for Australia eight years later and finished with five for 43 as England, throwing bat at ball with success-addled abandon, were bowled out for 189.

"Half-consciously, we may have wanted to produce carnival cricket to match the flag-waving post-nuptial atmosphere of the day," wrote Brearley in Phoenix from the Ashes, his account of the series. "We threw away wickets gratuitously." By the end of the first day, on a flat pitch, 12 wickets had fallen for 208 runs, with John Dyson and Allan Border falling to Old before stumps.

As it had done for much of the series, the game ebbed and flowed wildly on the Friday. Despite English aggression Australia reached 203 for five, but then the home side struck back taking the last five wickets for 53 runs. Still, Australia had amassed 258, a useful lead of 69, and England had been left with an awkward hour to bat until the close. Brearley could not survive but Boycott and Gower saw the home side reach 49 for one.

The following day Boycott (29 from 136 balls) and Gooch (21 from 93) occupied the crease without too often troubling the scorers but when Ray Bright did for them both, Peter Willey and Botham soon followed back to the pavilion leaving England 115 for six and only 47 runs ahead. Old and Mike Gatting took the attack to the Australians and put on what would prove to be a crucial 39 before Old fell to Alderman and Gatting was bowled round his legs by Bright, leaving England eight wickets down and only 99 runs ahead.

Emburey, with only Bobs Taylor and Willis for support, was sent out after tea to attack. An hour later he and the wicketkeeper had put on 50 for the ninth wicket and although the final two wickets fell quickly after that, leaving Emburey 37 not out, England had reached 219, leaving Australia 151 to win.

"Their batsmen's nerves were clearly jangling as they tried to survive that unpleasant 40 minutes before the close of play," reckoned Brearley, whose side winkled out Graeme Wood before stumps. But he struggled to share the optimism of the crowd of victory-expectant punters for whom he signed autographs outside the dressing room that evening: "I was more doubtful; lightning doesn't, does it, strike twice?"

This, after all, was a good batting pitch, not the occasional fruit machine of Headingley. Brearley believed the chase "an even easier target (given the conditions) than in the previous match". On Saturday evening England's refuelling for the big day ahead went well, though - Brearley returned to the team hotel to find that Botham had persuaded Mike Gatting into going out for a Chinese takeaway.

The following morning Willis, as he had at Headingley, thundered in like a man possessed and removed Dyson and Kim Hughes leaving Australia 29 for three but Border and Graham Yallop took the tourists to 62 for three at lunch.

Yallop was bowled by Emburey with the score on 87 but it was the fall of Border's wicket, with Australia still 46 runs shy of the target, that changed the day. The future Australian captain's 175-ball 40 was only the fourth-highest score of the match but certainly the most dogged. Border had woken up on the Saturday morning so ill that Hughes had asked Brearley if England wouldn't mind waiting for his return should the batsman be "caught short" at the crease. Brearley refused and in the end it took a remarkable ball from Emburey rather than a dash to the toilet to remove the Australian No3.

"At that point the score was 105-5," writes Brearley. "I had been uncertain who to bowl at the other end from Emburey. Botham was strangely diffident. He felt that others should bowl before him; the ball was not swinging or bouncing – he wondered how he would get anyone out on this pitch."

But with Border back in the hutch Brearley felt it was time for Botham to enter the attack. "Just keep it tight for Embers," the captain told his bowler. Following his captain's orders he kept it incredibly tight, conceding just one run from his 30 deliveries. And from nowhere he cleaned up the remaining five Australian wickets in the space of 28 remarkable balls.

Having rediscovered his mojo at Headingley, Botham had gone back into his shell at Edgbaston. A 43-ball 26 and an 11-ball three had sandwiched a largely fruitless spell of one for 64 in the Australian first innings. His nine overs in his first spell in the second had been frugal, with just 10 runs conceded, but wicketless.

With the third ball of his new spell that changed. Rodney Marsh swung across the line and lost his middle stump. "The crowd has gone noisily berserk," noted Richie Benaud on the TV commentary. And the 10,000 in Birmingham were still roaring as Botham charged in and trapped Bright lbw with the next delivery. Lillee jabbed and missed at the hat-trick ball but was soon caught behind by a juggling Taylor. Martin Kent was bowled off his pads attempting an ill-advised hoick to leg and Alderman played and missed at three balls, the last of which saw him castled. Botham's figures for the spell read 5-4-1-5 and Australia had crumbed from 105 for four to 121 all out.

"I had bowled well – fast and straight – but on that wicket it should not have been enough to make the Aussies crumble that way," reckoned Botham. "The only explanation I could find was that they had bottled out. The psychological edge that we – and I – had got over them at Headingley was proving an insuperable barrier for them."

From the brink of defeat England had once more snatched victory and Botham and Brearley had conjured a sequel up there with The Godfather: