blockerdave
ICC Chairman
I am going to try and play through the 90s as England, playing as many of their test series in order as I can. (I'll only be playing tests.)
At the start of the 90s, England hoped for a "New Dawn"... the 80s were a poor decade, returning just 20 Test victories from 104 matches, as well as seeing the rancour and division of 2 Rebel Tours, Sex and Drugs scandals, and home and away 5-0 "blackwash" defeats at the hand of the West Indies.
3 Ashes victories (2 home, 1 away) were among the few bright spots, but could also be explained by Australia experiencing a similarly troubled decade: the hangover of the WSC years still haunted them in the early years, and their own rebel-tour defectors souring the middle years. But Australia had shook off the doldrums to win the 1989 series 4-0.
The 80s finished with more controversy, not only was former England captain Mike Gatting leading another rebel Tour, but the Indians refused to accept the captaincy of the first Rebel Tour skipper, Graham Gooch, resulting in the cancellation of the planned tour of the first half of the 1989/90 winter.
Surely, as we head in to the last decade of the Millennium, England can emerge from the dark days of the 1980s and enter a new and more successful era?
At the start of the 90s, England hoped for a "New Dawn"... the 80s were a poor decade, returning just 20 Test victories from 104 matches, as well as seeing the rancour and division of 2 Rebel Tours, Sex and Drugs scandals, and home and away 5-0 "blackwash" defeats at the hand of the West Indies.
3 Ashes victories (2 home, 1 away) were among the few bright spots, but could also be explained by Australia experiencing a similarly troubled decade: the hangover of the WSC years still haunted them in the early years, and their own rebel-tour defectors souring the middle years. But Australia had shook off the doldrums to win the 1989 series 4-0.
The 80s finished with more controversy, not only was former England captain Mike Gatting leading another rebel Tour, but the Indians refused to accept the captaincy of the first Rebel Tour skipper, Graham Gooch, resulting in the cancellation of the planned tour of the first half of the 1989/90 winter.
Surely, as we head in to the last decade of the Millennium, England can emerge from the dark days of the 1980s and enter a new and more successful era?
Last edited: