1985: The greatest sporting year

I've been putting this off for years. But the recent Live Aid nostalgia has pushed me over the edge. We've all had the debate in the pub about the greatest sporting year - no, just me then? - so I'm here to argue the case for 1985. After forty years, it is time to tell 1985 that I'm crazy for you.

There are of course many factors involved in your chosen favourite sporting year. Allegiance matters. Therefore, Manchester United winning a treble, Europe collapsing in the Ryder Cup, and Australia winning two World Cups means I don't want to party like it's 1999. Yet pushing all this irrational stuff to one side, there can be no doubting the credentials of 1985.

1985: Ashes memories

If the 1981 Ashes series was seriously good, and the 1989 version distinctly bad from an English perspective, then I would argue that the 1985 series was far from the ugly relative in comparison. Above all it was the series that made me fall in love with the game, during a summer when I didn't have a care in the world, and I found new heroes in Botham, Ellison and Robinson. So I hope you enjoy some of my favourite memories of the 1985 Ashes, starting with the day cricket found me. 

1985 Ashes: Richard Ellison

The 1985 Ashes series was all square with two to play when an unlikely hero arrived on the scene to write his very own brief chapter in the history of Anglo-Australian clashes. With all eyes trained on potential match winners in Botham, Gower, and Border, Richard Mark Ellison stepped forward to play a significant role in regaining the urn for England, and as a ten-year-old boy recently converted to the marvellous spectacle of Test cricket, I was enraptured by the rise of this new star.