Australian cricket team in England in 1981
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The tour by the Australian cricket team in England in 1981 included the 59th Ashes series of Test matches between Australia and England.
Although the two teams were generally disappointing by the world standards being set by West Indies at that time, the 1981 Ashes is nevertheless widely regarded as one of the most entertaining Test series ever due to the see-sawing nature of both the individual games and the series as a whole.
England won the series 3-1 despite being 1-0 down after the first two matches and seemingly well beaten in the third. The turnaround followed the reappointment of the inspirational Mike Brearley as England captain before the third Test. Thanks to a fine innings by Ian Botham and an outstanding spell of fast bowling by Bob Willis, England came from behind to win the third Test at Headingley and this was only the second time in England v Australia history that a team had won a match after being made to follow on. England won two more close contests in the fourth and fifth Tests before the last game was drawn.
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[edit] Test matches
Australia, led by Kim Hughes, took a 1–0 lead in the first Test at Trent Bridge. This was the first Test match to have play on a Sunday, which had historically been reserved as a rest day.
The second Test at Lord's was affected by rain and ended in a draw, but Ian Botham resigned as England captain after being dismissed twice without scoring and Mike Brearley was reappointed before the third Test.
Although he had resigned as captain, Botham was included in the team for the third Test at Headingley as an all-rounder. Australia looked to increased their series lead to 2–0 when they forced England to follow-on 227 runs behind. Famously, an English bookmaker offered odds of 500–1 for an English victory, and Australian players Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh laid a small bet. This came back to haunt them as England, reduced to 135 for 7 wickets, produced a second innings of 356, with Ian Botham reaching his century in 87 balls and ultimately scoring an unbeaten 149. In all, Botham added 221 runs for the last three wickets in partnerships of 117 with Graham Dilley (56), 67 with Chris Old (29) and 37 with fast bowler Bob Willis (2). Chasing 130, Australia were dismissed for 111, with a devastating spell by Willis of 8 wickets for 43 runs, giving England a miraculous victory by 18 runs. Despite Willis' wickets, Botham was named as Man of the Match. Lillee and Marsh were reprimanded for betting on the outcome of the game, but not suspended.
The fourth Test at Edgbaston was a similarly inspired comeback victory for England. Ian Botham this time starred with the ball, taking five for 11, including a spell of five wickets for a solitary run to end Australia's second innings at 121 and give England victory by 29 runs. Again, Botham was man of the match, this time for his exploits with the ball.
England also went on to win the fifth Test at Old Trafford to retain the Ashes, including another century for Botham (reached this time in 86 balls). Botham was ultimately out for 118, including 6 sixes (an Ashes record until Kevin Pietersen's innings of 158 at The Oval in the 2005 Ashes series) and another Man of the Match award.
The sixth Test at the Oval was drawn, with Botham taking 10 wickets in the match.
[edit] Other first-class matches
To add details of first-class cricket matches against county cricket teams
[edit] One-day International matches
Three ODI's were played on this tour. Australia took the series 2-1, winning at Edgbaston Stadium and Headingley Stadium, after losing the first match at Lord's.
