The Reverse Sweep

The English cricket captain who was born in...Peru

Several England cricket captains have been born abroad. That redoubtable giant of the MCC Lord Harris was born in Trinidad. The cunning architect of Bodyline Douglas Jardine was born to Scottish parents in Mumbai.

Perhaps his birthplace of Milan is the reason why Ted Dexter's batting seemed touched with la dolce vita. Finally, it is perhaps apt that Johannesburg born Andrew Strauss leads a team containing several members born in the country of his birth.

But none of the baker’s dozen of foreign born skippers can boast as exotic a birthplace as Freddie Brown, born on the 16th day of December in 1910... in Peru - where his father, no mean cricketer himself, ran a business in Lima.

Brown sounds like he was quite a character - a quintessentially eccentric Englishman described as being “a big-hearted, self-confident, red-headed all-rounder usually seen wearing a white silk handkerchief, with a big grin and avuncular pipe”.

He was a cavalier lower middle-order batsman who loved to attack the bowling as well as a canny leg-spinner who switched to medium-pace later in a career that reached its zenith when he captained England in Australia in 1950-51 at the age of 40.

It was the tour that nobody wanted to lead with England expected to be dispatched with ease by a fearsome Australian side. Norman Yardley and George Mann both turned the selectors down, so with the MCC restricting itself to gentlemen amateurs when choosing their skipper, as the old adage goes Brown proved to be in the right place at the right time.

He had caught the eye when taking over the captaincy of Northamptonshire in 1949. Hitherto the whipping boys of county cricket – they had finished last in 1947 and 1948 and hadn’t even won a single match between 1934 and 1939, Brown called his charges in for three weeks training before the season lasted and led them to an unprecedented sixth place in the Championship.

The season after Brown solved the selectors conundrum over the captaincy for Australia by playing a starring role when captaining the Gentlemen against the Players at Lord’s. He blitzed 122 out of 131 runs made whilst he was at the crease in just 110 minutes with sixteen fours and a six into the Lord’s Pavilion.

Having been a member the 1932-33 party, Brown had seen at first-hand the revulsion and opprobrium heaped on Jardine’s shoulders and perhaps this and his natural jovial bonhomie taught him that a different approach was required.

The contrast with Jardine couldn’t have been more different. Brown was received with acclaim by the Australian public not only for his courageous and determined leadership, but also for his lion-hearted performances with bat and ball, which saw him finish third in the batting and bowling averages for his side.

England lost 4-1 but by most accounts actually played much the better cricket with the weather condemning them to defeat in Brisbane in the 1st Test, before a narrow 28 run defeat in the next Test in Melbourne and then injuries to Bailey and Wright in Sydney putting them 3-0 in arrears.

The next Test in Adelaide was lost too but Brown prevented a series whitewash and inflicted Australia’s first defeat in 26 Tests at Melbourne in the final Test by seizing an initiative that his side would not relinquish with five wickets on the first morning.

After this Brown led England to victory in a single Test in Wellington before he oversaw a 3-1 home win over South Africa in the summer of 1951. He played his final Test at Lord’s in 1953 at the age of 42 and took four wickets and hit 50 runs to help England to a crucial draw in a series that finally saw the Ashes reclaimed for the first time since Jardine’s side over 20 years before.

Brown’s heroics didn’t just extend to cricket. He fought in World War II, but spent most of the war in captivity having been captured at Tobruk in 1942 along with fellow Bodyline tourist Bill Bowes. Despite life hardly being easy - Brown lost 30kg before he was liberated by the Americans – he helped keep spirits up in the camps through organising a series of games of cricket, football and baseball.

Brown continued to devote himself to cricket after his retirement having a stint as Chairman of the Selectors, managing two MCC tours and worked as a member of the revered Test Match Special team.

Whilst 16 December is perhaps better remembered by cricket aficionados as the birthdate of The Master Jack Hobbs in 1882, Freddie Brown also deserves a place in the hearts of Englishmen everywhere and not just because he was born in the same land as Paddington Bear.

Where next?

Cricket heroes: Douglas Jardine, Jack Hobbs, Arthur Carr

All-time England Ashes XI: The Openers, Number 3, 4 and 5, All-rounder, Wicketkeeper, Fast bowlers, Spin King

The 25 Greatest Ashes Tests of them all: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes 

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

Ashes 100-1: 13 - The 25 Greatest Ashes Tests: Part 2 of 3

 
Yesterday we listed the first eight (see Part 1 of the 25 Greatest Ashes tests) of what we at The Reverse Sweep consider to be the 25 greatest Ashes tests of them all. Today we unveil the next eight.

3rd Test, Adelaide, 13-19 January 1933 - England won by 338 runs: The Test that nearly broke the Empire. With the series locked at 1-1, England slipped to 30 for four before recovering to 341. Then the real drama unfolded as first Woodfull and then Oldfield were felled by Larwood. Cables were exchanged between the ACB and MCC, mounted police kept a baying crowd from rioting and Jardine maintained his iron rule as England cantered to victory.

5th Test, The Oval, 18-22 August 1934 - Australia won by 562 runs: As had happened four years previously, the two sides went into the timeless decider at The Oval level at 1-1. This time Australia won the toss and a massive 451 second wicket partnership between Ponsford (266) and Bradman (244) put the game out of England's reach. They responded with 321, but Woodfull chose not to enforce the follow on and Bradman hit 77 as Australia made 327. Set 708 to win, England folded meekly only totalling 145 with Grimmett taking five for 64.  

3rd Test, Melbourne, 1-7 January 1937 - Australia won by 365 runs: With Australia 2-0 down in Bradman's first series as captain it was do-or-die at Melbourne. But with rain making batting a lottery at times and both sides making bold declarations, Bradman reversed his batting order in the second innings and hit a magnificent 270 from number seven once the wicket had improved. Set 689 to win, England could only muster 323 and the biggest turnaround in any test series had begun. 

4th Test, Headingley, 22-27 July 1948 - Australia won by 7 wickets: The Invincibles tag would have never been applied to the all-conquering 1948 Australians without their amazing chase of 404 in the Headingley Test. Bradman (173*) played his last great innings at the scene of previous triumphs - he hit 334 and 304 at the same ground in the 1930 and 1934 series. Morris (182) joined forces with Bradman to add 301 in 217 minutes to render a seemingly impossible chase into a ridiculously easy one.

5th Test, The Oval, 15-19 August 1953 - England won by 8 wickets: After 19 long years, Len Hutton became the first England captain to win the Ashes since Jardine as the home side won a see-saw deciding test. England earned a narrow but crucial 31 run first innings lead thanks to a last wicket partnership of 44 between Bailey and Bedser. Lock and Laker then combined with nine wickets as Australia succumbed to 162 all out. Amidst high tension, Bill Edrich hit 55 not out as England reached their target with eight wickets to spare.

2nd Test, Sydney, 17-22 December 1954 - England won by 38 runs: Having lost the first test by an innings, England looked in real trouble when they were shot out for 154 batting first. The fightback started with Bailey and Tyson sharing eight wickets as Australia's lead was restricted to 74. May then hit a classy hundred as England made 296 second time round, but it was Tyson being knocked unconscious by Lindwall that tipped the scales. The Typhoon was born and took his retribution with six for 85 as Australia were skittled for 184. The tide had turned and England eventually won the series 3-1.

4th Test, Old Trafford, 27 July-1 August 1961 - Australia won by 54 runs: With the series poised at 1-1, an Australian victory would see them retain the Ashes. But when they were bowled out for 190 and England made 367 in reply that didn't look likely. But a century from Lawry and a last wicket partnership of 98 enabled the Aussies to set a target of 256. Dexter wasn't cowed and made a brilliant 76 to guide England to 150 for 2 before Benaud struck, taking 5 for 12 in 25 balls as Australia snatched a 54-run victory.

7th Test, Sydney, 12-17 February 1971 - England won by 62 runs: When rain washed out the 3rd Test at Melbourne, a seventh Test was added at the end of the tour. With England 1-0 up in the series and Australia holding the urn, it was also an Ashes decider. Australia eked out an 80 run lead as controversy struck when Illingworth led England off the field after Snow was first warned for short pitched bowling and was then bombarded with bottles by an irate crowd. The incident seemed to imbue England with renewed steel and a solid second innings performance enabled them to set a challenging target before bowling their hosts out for 160.

Where next?

Ten Ashes controversies

10 reasons why Bradman is the greatest of them all

Bradman leads Australia back from the dead in 1936-37

Ashes 100-1: 47 - All-time England Ashes XI: 4 and 5

The identity of the two batsmen we will select at four and five in an all-time England Ashes XI is a case of Wally Hammond plus one.

We may have decided to shorehorn Len Hutton into our side at three in preference to Hammond, but we believe that there were good reasons for this. First, having chosen not to break up the tried and tested opening pair of Hobbs and Sutcliffe, space had to be found for someone who is indisputably one of England's five best Ashes batsmen ever. Second, we needed a captain and who better than the man who led England to success in 1953 - after the urn had been in Australian possession for 19 years and who then subsequently retained the Ashes down under in 1954/55?

But there was no way we were going to leave Hammond out of our XI. He is arguably England's greatest batsmen ever - in our opinion it is either him or Hobbs. Hammond scored 2852 runs in 33 Ashes tests at 51.85 and hit nine hundreds (four of them doubles). In the 1928/29 series, at the age of 25, he scored a record 905 runs at 113.12 and became the first batsman to score two double hundreds in a series with 251 at Sydney and 200 at Melbourne. England won the series 4-1 and Hammond was acclaimed as the best batsman in the world. And then along came Don Bradman...

So who joins Hammond? David Gower, Ken Barrington and Ted Dexter were all considered for the number three spot and all come into contention again here. Joining them on the longlist are Denis Compton, Maurice Leyland, Peter May, Eddie Paynter, FS Jackson, Kumar Ranjitsinhji and Colin Cowdrey.

We felt that Cricinfo were premature at the time when they selected Kevin Pietersen in their all-time England test XI in 2009. Events since have reinforced this view and despite his excellent record against Australia (1116 runs in 12 tests at 50.72), we prefer to wait until KP has competed in more of these encounters.

From the longlist, we can immediately disregard Cowdrey and Dexter, who both had average overall records against Australia despite being two of England's greats. We've also reluctantly discounted Paynter, who averaged 99.60 in his six Ashes test on account of so few matches meaning it is difficult to make a fair judgement. Finally, Ranjitsinhji (989 runs in 15 Ashes tests at 44.95) and Jackson (1415 in 20 at 48.79) have also been ruled out because in our view they fall slightly short of the others.

That leaves us with five. Gower, Barrington, May and Compton would all be considered amongst England's greatest middle order batsmen ever and all have fine records against the Australians. Leyland may not be as vaunted as the other four, but he had an excellent record against Australia with seven hundreds in 20 tests and an average of 56.83 - only Barrington and Sutcliffe of those who have played 10 Ashes tests or more can better that average.

Yet again it is a borderline choice. Fine batsman as he was, we decided not to opt for May as three centuries in 21 Ashes tests is not deserving of a place in an all-time England Ashes XI especially when Gower has nine, Leyland seven and Barrington and Compton five. Next to go is Leyland, who despite his fine record we would find hard to select above the other three.

It is difficult to rule out the exuberance of Compton, but his average against Australia (42.83) was nearly eight runs less than his career average, which suggests he wasn't at his best against Australia. That leaves two players who certainly were. Gower is our boyhood hero, which means that sentiment is in danger of coming into the equation. But he is the only England player - Hobbs apart - to score 3000 Ashes runs, and nine hundreds is a mighty impressive performance.

However, Barrington's record against Australia is magnificent - 23 tests, five hundreds and 2111 runs at 63.96. He clearly relished playing against England's deadliest foe. Ian Chappell perhaps summed it up best when he wrote "every so often you encounter a player whose bat seem about a yard wide. It's not, of course. It just seems that way. England's Ken Barrington was one." So although the heart says Gower, the head says Barrington and it is the latter who wins this closest of calls.

Where next?

Hammond and Bradman: Two batting phenomenons

All-time England Ashes XI: The Openers, Number 3

All-time Australian Ashes XI: The Openers, Number 3, 4 and 5

Ashes 100-1: 54 - All-time England Ashes XI: Number 3

Unlike Australia (see All-time Australian XI - Number 3), picking a number three batsman in an all-time England Ashes XI is not such a straightforward task.

Indeed, looking back through the history of the battle for the little urn, one could argue that England have not had an outstanding specialist number three. A few batsman have flourished in this role, but can any of them be considered specialist number threes?

The most successful performance for England in this pivotal position is by Wally Hammond, who in 19 Ashes tests at first drop hit 1695 runs at 70.62 with eight hundreds. That is a phenomenal record, but Hammond moved up and down the order and played 14 other tests against Australia. His record at number three is significantly better than anywhere else, but that is arguably because he played there when at his peak and would have been just as devastating at four and five..

Similarly, David Gower has an outstanding record at number three in Ashes encounters with 1262 runs in 14 tests at 60.09 with four hundreds, but like Hammond, Gower played a significant number of Ashes tests (24) elsewhere in the batting order. Clearly however, both should be on the shortlist.

Others who were considered but rejected from our shortlist include George Gunn (777 runs at 51.80 at number three), Andrew Stoddart (478 runs at 59.75) and Arthur Shrewsbury (430 at 53.75). All these Edwardian or Victorian cricketers have excellent records at number three, but their overall test statistics are not in the realms of a Gower or a Hammond. Mark Butcher (who can forget that wonderful hundred at Headingley in 2001) and John Edrich, both of whom have good records against Australia at number three, also miss out for the same reason.

Joining Gower and Hammond on the shortlist are Ted Dexter (1077 runs at 48.95 in 13 Ashes tests at first drop) and two great England batsmen with none or few innings at number three in Ashes battles. The first is Len Hutton, who just missed out on selection for one of the opening positions (see All-time England XI - Openers). The other is Ken Barrington, whose obdurate style and fantastic overall Ashes record (2111 runs at 63.96 in 23 Ashes tests) would seem to make him well suited to the number three role.

Hammond is the best of the five and arguably England's greatest ever batsman along with Jack Hobbs. However, if Hutton doesn't get in at three, having missed out on one of the opening slots then he won't make the team. Can an all-time England Ashes XI really omit Hutton given his record (2428 runs in 27 Ashes tests at 56.46) and the fact that he captained England to two Ashes series wins? What about Dexter and Gower, who are probably the most stylish English batsmen of the last 50 years?

It is certainly a tough choice, but after first narrowing the final choice down to Hammond, Hutton or Gower, we've opted for Hutton. Why? Firstly, Hammond, Gower and Barrington can all come into contention for the number four and five positions, plus if it comes down to a choice between Hutton or Dexter, then the Yorkshireman has to win.

Finally, with England's great other Ashes captains like Douglas Jardine, Mike Brearley and Ray Illingworth all likely to miss out on selection, England need a shrewd and experienced skipper to combat Bradman and who better than the man who led England to victory in the 1953 and 1954/55 series? So, it is Hutton who fills an unaccustomed position for him.

Where next?

Heroes: David Gower

10 reasons why Bradman is the greatest Ashes cricketer of them all

The best England Test XI of the noughties