1981: Second Ashes Test

The end was near, the final curtain closing on Ian Botham's spell as England captain. As the second Ashes Test at Lord's approached it was becoming clear that the clock was ticking. Appointed skipper on a match-by-match basis, the situation for Botham and England was far from stable. 

"By appointing Botham from Test to Test the England selectors are giving the inescapable impression that they would dearly love to get rid of Botham but cannot find a satisfactory method of completing the dreadful deed," Paul Fitzpatrick wrote in the Guardian. Even for English cricket, the whole environment seemed a joke.

1984: The curious case of John Abrahams

As England clinched an unlikely win in the second one day international of their recent series against Australia, an interesting opinion was expressed by a number of experts: Should Eoin Morgan have been handed the man of the match award due to his superb captaincy skills displayed at the back end of the Australian innings?

Sometimes a captain leads by example - Gerrard at Istanbul, Beckham against Greece in 2001, Atherton at Johannesburg in 1995 - yet in the case of Morgan at Old Trafford, it was his ability as a tactician that attracted praise. The idea of a captain earning the player of the match due to their leadership display is an interesting concept.

Inevitably perhaps, the name of John Abrahams cropped up as soon as this subject arose. In fairness to Morgan, he had top scored in England's innings. But this certainly did not apply in the curious case involving Lancashire skipper Abrahams in the 1984 Benson and Hedges Cup final. Even now, it is a decision that leaves you scratching your head.

1984: England v Sri Lanka

It was supposed to be a consolation victory coming at the end of a demoralising summer for England in 1984. A single crumb of comfort to digest before David Gower's physically and mentally damaged team departed for a tour of India in the winter. Yet the famine stretched on. The one-off Test against Sri Lanka at Lord's ended up leaving more questions than answers.

1986: England v New Zealand First Test

I am always thankful that I discovered cricket in 1985. As an English boy, the Ashes triumph of that year was the ideal introduction to the sport, more of a Graham Thorpe debut rather than an Andy Lloyd. From this point onwards, I would sit in front of the television on summer mornings, eagerly waiting for the first few click-clicks of the Soul Limbo theme tune, before Peter West or Tony Lewis would appear, and that would be me sorted for the rest of the day. Had my induction occurred a year either side though, I cannot be 100% sure that my commitment would have been quite so high; the 5-0 thrashing at the hand of the West Indies in 1984 was understandable, but 1986 was downright depressing.