500-1: The Miracle of Headingly '81

by Robert Steen, Alastair McLellan, Mike Brearley (Foreword)

The events of 1981 hold a matchless place in the hearts of English cricket fans. For the only time in nearly fifty years, the whole country stood transfixed by the course of a Test series. Over the course of that summer, during the Third Test, England came from 1-0 down to retain the Ashes 3-1. The events of that match, and the exploits of Ian Botham, Bob Willis, Mike Brearley, and Terry Alderman bear constant retelling, and 500-1 uses contemporary newspaper, TV, and radio reports to recreate the fevered atmosphere of the series.

224 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2001

Reviews

[Phil Greaney · Rating 4 out of 5]

When watching Pakistan snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the first test of the series this summer against England, a tweet appeared on my timeline which suggests at least one function for this kind of book. When the chips were down, the Pakistani fan wrote:

"Oh well", the tweet read in paraphrase, "looks like it's back to the DVD of the 1992 World Cup Final."

My particular favorite in this respect is the Ashes 2010-2011 DVD played down under, where I stayed up late to watch Strauss edge - what was it, the third ball of the first test? - to slips. It got better after that, after a while.

Here, it is nostalgia - I do remember watching this test match, unlike one of the writers of this book, who claims not to have even liked cricket then - that brought me to it. There are worse reasons.

One of the the most remarkable parts of the book arrives immediately, when - channeling Tolstoy - Mike Brearley in his foreward suggests that it's not merely chance that connected the dots for England in that imperishable test match: it is as much the achievements of key personnel, or more prosaically: 'cometh the hour, cometh the man'. And in doing so, he suggests he was in part responsible for the success, which doesn't seem too wanton an observation, if you are feeling charitable, as I am.

By widening the context of the series, the writers do well to suggest the gloom that the cricket punctured. It's better than journeyman writing, with some acute insights, and an understanding of
of how to organise a book like this. It does more than run a warm bubblebath for the reader to wallow in, although it does that too. In short, the writers gave it some humpty, if you will, pace Botham and the late Dilly.

[Scott McKie]

Has my only mention of me I think! of any of the books I own worth reading without that !!