1981 Fifth Ashes Test: Tavball

Forget Bazball. In August 1981, England needed a dash of Tavball to clinch the Ashes.

As glorious and euphoric as they were, there could be no disputing that England's wins over Australia at Headingley and Edgbaston had papered over some widening cracks. Batting frailties had been constantly exposed in the face of some excellent bowling from Dennis Lillee, Terry Alderman and Geoff Lawson. The Botham/Dilley "let's give it some humpty" approach had been a rare bright spot in a gloomy series.

Nothing emphasised England's struggles more than the number three position in their batting line-up. Bob Woolmer, Mike Brearley and David Gower had all been tried at first drop during the Ashes, with consistent results. Sadly for England, the returns were consistently poor. Just 77 runs from eight innings at an average of 9.625 highlighted that a different approach was needed. Prior to the Old Trafford Test, England turned to Tavaré.

It will not surprise you to discover that Chris Tavaré had been tried before at number three. Dropped after the second Test of the 1980 home series against the West Indies, his slow batting approach was given as a reason for the decision to remove him from the squad. "We just had to make a move because Bob Woolmer and Chris Tavaré weren't scoring their runs as fast as we wanted," reasoned Chairman of Selectors Alec Bedser. 

"We were in danger of becoming entirely negative," Bedser continued. "And I never thought cricket was a negative game. I feel the only way is to be positive." Initially it appeared as if Bedser's policy had paid dividends as Brian Rose performed well against the West Indies. But from the Lord's Centenary Test against Australia and through the tour to the Caribbean, contributions from England number threes became laughable.

Bill Athey, Rose, and Mike Gatting mustered the following between them: 9, 1, 10, 5, 2, 0, 2, 1, 3 and 1. Their 34 runs combined with the 77 accrued during the Ashes gave a grand total of 111 runs from 18 innings. It seemed a poisoned chalice to be handed, but into this situation came Tavaré. Perhaps his 42 in 294 minutes at Lord's had been a tad laborious. But maybe the selectors realised a man doing this facing an attack of Roberts, Holding, Garner and Croft deserved another chance.

"I was disappointed, of course, but never felt it would be the end of my Test career," he remarked when discussing his exit. "I'm a bit surprised I have been selected this time," he added. "A lot of players, like Wayne Larkins, Paul Parker, and a few others, have been mentioned but not me." In relation to the dreaded number three spot, Tavaré seemed relaxed. "It's the position I'm used to and, if I'm asked to bat there, it won't worry me. I'll just have to forget about that run of low scores."

Come the end of the first day at Old Trafford, England would be grateful for the stability Tavaré added to a tottering batting outfit. After winning the toss, England limped to 175/9, with Tavaré contributing 69 to the total. Batting for 287 minutes and facing 193 balls, it was not an innings of beauty. In fact, some of the home crowd booed as late in the day Tavaré refused singles when batting with debutant Paul Allott. But without him, England would have been completely sunk.

The only real surprise was the fact that Tavaré was dismissed with just three balls remaining in the day. "Tavaré's slowly compiled innings was not always to the satisfaction of impatient spectators but it was an innings of impressive character," Paul Fitzpatrick wrote in the Guardian. The Express' Pat Gibson also commented on the response of some of the fans. "But if those same spectators are jubilantly waving their Union Jacks once more at the end of the fifth Cornhill Test, it will be Tavaré who made it possible."

"I think people would have understood the tactics today," Tavaré responded, before recognising the impatience of the crowd towards the end of play. "I went through a terrible patch after being dropped for slow scoring in my last Test but managed to come out of it OK, modifying my game somewhat. This time, if we had had a lot of runs on the board when I went in, things might have been different. But I had to apply myself in the context of the situation so I was satisfied but disappointed to get out when I did."

In fairness to Tavaré, here was a man putting the team before himself. At times in his career he would show attacking instincts in county cricket and demonstrate another side to his game. But England's shaky line-up needed some glue to hold it together. At one point he was stuck on 26 for 40 minutes, yet showed enough patience and mental fortitude to ignore the falling wickets around him to steer England towards something like a competitive total.

Tavaré's tactics seemed justified when Allott reached his highest first class score of 52 the next morning to drag England up to 231. And when Australia collapsed to a pitiful 130 in just 30.2 overs - their quickest innings in terms of balls faced since 1902 - it looked like a case of job done. Yet nothing was ever easy with this England team. Again Tavaré found himself in the middle of chaos, as England slipped to 104/5 in their second innings on Saturday afternoon.

Enter Botham. Everyone recalls this innings of mass destruction, as England's star lit up a dreary Manchester day to cement his place in an Ashes series that would be named after him. At first Botham was watchful, taking 53 balls to reach 28. But when the second new ball was taken the fun started. Reaching a century off just 86 balls - at the time the joint third quickest in Test history - this was a match winning innings that was far better than his Headingley fireworks. 

Through it all stood a man who was the polar opposite to Botham. "It was chalk and cheese, fire and water, the fire coming from Botham's nostrils," Scyld Berry wrote in the Observer of the 149-run partnership between Tavaré and Botham. England's number three may have only contributed 28 runs towards that stand, with Botham scoring 118. He may have scored just nine runs in the morning session that saw England scrape together 29. His 50 was the slowest ever made in England taking up 219 balls and 304 minutes. Yet there were few complaints from the English dressing room.

In all, Tavaré batted for 289 balls and a few minutes over seven hours for his 78. Half centuries from John Emburey and the recalled Alan Knott set Australia a distant target of 506, but the value of the 300 runs scored by England's last five wickets soon became apparent. A Graham Yallop hundred and a century from Allan Border (batting with a broken finger) saw Australia reach an impressive 402. But England won the match by 103 runs to retain the Ashes.

For those journalists that had backed Tavaré's approach the end result was vindication. "When the hare runs, forget not the tortoise," Robin Marlar wrote in the Sunday Times regarding the Botham/Tavaré union. Occupying nearly 12 hours at the crease, Tavaré was in the middle as English partnerships accumulated 431 runs in the Test. After the drought that had seen 111 runs in 18 innings, England's new number three scored 147 runs in his return at Old Trafford.

England's hero of that 1981 series has always been open in his respect for Tavaré, as he stated in Botham's Century. "Tavaré received some fearful criticism from the press and public, and it's true some of his knocks were only marginally more interesting than watching grass grow. But he was doing a specific job and following instructions to the letter. Tav was patient, disciplined and stubborn, and had unbreakable concentration."

Tavaré will forever be known for his determined stonewall approach to Test match cricket. Some of his knocks are the stuff of legends, and are often recalled with misty-eyed nostalgia by those of us who appreciate an over-my-dead-body attitude to batting at the highest level. But during a series when English batsmen stuttered, and the number three spot in particular was a headache, Tavball was just what the doctor ordered.