I probably watched these highlights at the time. Good to see them again. I had forgotten that Jim Laker used to commentate on test matches in Australia - great to hear his dulcet tones on here. Gower out to a typical 'lazy shot' as he was frequently teased about when he appeared on 'They think it's all over'.
"He plays rather desperately, this man...." Interesting assessment of Botham's batting style. Great to see this though - thank you for uploading that. I always thought Gower was nothing less than a delight (albeit a frustrating one, sometimes) to watch.
I was lucky enough to see him make 158 not out against India in 88 or so to draw the last Test and win the series. One false stroke only that I can remember, a miscue over mid wicket. Such a wonderful day, watching him cream the ball across the perfect Oval outfield.
@@RobinHood5045 Yes! Thanks... that miscue is at 3.18 or so. Some of the shots just take your breath away, eg the first couple a square cut and a cover drive. The whole day felt elegiac, the last day of the Test summer, the vindication and beauty of Gower’s batting, and saving the match to win the series. Thrilled to be there...
Lovely to see them playing in their different styles. Botham cavalier demoralizing the bowlers playing like he was in a sunday league game at home trying to hit the ball out of the ground. Early Gower keeping it calm and not too casual, his shots should be in training videos.
Likes were on a Nelson so I had to give another lol Great to watch Pity it's not in HD but I'll blame that on 1970s technology! lol Many thanks for uploading.
With Australian cricket coverage in 1978 you could actually see the ball, unlike with the English coverage from the same time. The picture was so far zoomed out on English coverage that you had to guess what was happening from the movements of the players!
Lillee, Chappell, Marsh, Pascoe, Hookes etc. were all playing in Kerry Packer's World Series. This was Australia's reserves team. Of course England won.
The 1978 Australian team was basically a third string team as World Series Cricket had two Aussie teams involved, some of those players in the Australian team were lucky to be shield standard level.
Love watching Hoggy and the great Alan Hurst bowling. The former took over 40 wickets in that series and was Australia's only highlight. Sadly captain Graham Yallop was used as a scapegoat for Australia's dreadful performances. They would get revenge when the Packer cricketers came back to the fold
look at the game man. How difficult to bat that era. That's why no point to compare generation to generation. For example, if Ian botham would bat after 2015 with same skill he would have average 55+ and would easily score 10000+ run
Gower was a very good player, but he only scored 18 test centuries. If he had had Root’s ability to concentrate, he would have scored many more 100s. Nonetheless, terrific player to watch.
According to Colin Bateman in "If the Cap Fits" (his enyclopaedia of postwar England cricketers up to about 1993), Gower's problem was that he d'dn't play safe when his scores reached the 80s and 90s. If he had done, he would have gotten more centuries.
Root also has a tendency to get out nearing 100. Look , as a big big fan of root , I don't like the stats with 30 hundreds and 60 half centuries in tests. The conversion ratio is too less as compared to Kane, Virat and smith. Out of 60 , root should be scoring 15 more hundreds. Other is ODI. scored 16 hundreds and 6400 + runs , avg 49 , Still find no place. Now 2023 WC scored back to back 4 fifties and no hundred. 84, 77 in last 2 innings but missing hundred. Just now shut of the tv after root getting out on 11. So root is no other than Gower. Yes, Gower took it too easy. Still 7 ODI hundreds in that era but still could be better. So its same for both Gower and root. Though Gooch is not very fluent but the stubborn attitude to take up by root now , and Gower then
Of all the 4 great allrounders of the 70,s and 80,s, imran khan had the highest test average. Khan,s test match average is 37,5. Botham and dev,s was between 30 and 35. And hadlee,s was between 25 and 30. In the last 10 years of his career, khan,s average was 52. That,s the average of a world class specialist test batsman. An important reason why khan had such a high test match average in the last 10 years of his career was that he had a high percentage of not outs. To me, this indicates that khan, more than dev or botham, focused on playing long innings in support of specialist test batsmen in his team. This was especially necessary for the pakistan team, because for the majority of pakistan,s cricketing history, the team has lacked world class openers. As a result, the middle order and late middle order was more often under pressure, because the innings was more often in a critical state. In this light, I would argue that imran khan has been a more constent batsman than botham or dev, and played more important innings for his team as a batsman than botham or dev.
I think yet another factor to counter in is who is the most watchable/interesting. Personally I think that's Sobers and Botham. Again, Procter is right at the top of that list for me also.
Gower was a bit of a flawed genius. By comparison Graeme Pollock was elegance personified, as to more or less the same extent was Garry Sobers. Of the modern generation it is Brian Lara that gets my vote. Beautiful elegance mixed with brutal power.
It all seems very 'casual' compared to today's Ashes cricket - the commentary is resigned to 5 days of routine play - just my thoughts on watching cricket from early 70's to modern day
With modern bats people like Sir Donald, Jack Hobbs George Headley and a whole host of others would have had even better records. How many of these shots shown here would have gone for 4 or 6 with modern equipment.
Stella year for hoggy,42 wickets,only occasionally set the world on fire again, funny enough on the rebel tour,maybe he should have gone,like terry alderman. And big "mocca" rackaman...but then again as Mr gallop said some selectors had quite words to the tune of don't iron your baggy green.some of the rebels would have boasted the 1985 Aussies
True. And who knows how much tighter the 1982/83 Ashes might have been had the England rebels not been missing - they'd surely have done better with Gooch and Boycott opening instead of the likes of Tavare and Cook!
@@Bernie8330 Yeah I know it sounds unlikely, but Boycott had already scored three Test hundreds after the age of 40, including one in West Indies and one in India. He was only dropped because he went on the rebel tour of South Africa in '82. England weren't exactly spoilt for alternative openers in those days...
Gower the most stylish and the laziest batsman🤪...a fantastic runner between wickets..you never know within a speck of a minute easily he would have run 2 or 3 runs...
That’s a big statement matey …….. Ian Botham, Kaple Dev, Richard Hadley and Imran Khan. Four all time greats. The best all rounder ever properly Garfield Sobers . Between 1977 and 1985 Botham was brilliant
@@markmeade2937 Botham almost never toured the sub-continent....so the toil and the hardwork required for medium fast bowlers in Indian conditions Botham never faced such things....Yes Sobers was definitely cut above the rest...
@@amitgokhale6578 Ok , his first two tests in the 1977 Jubilee test series he gets two 5 For’s . Then he gos to New Zealand and gets his first century, he comes home and the England team plays Packestan and New Zealand again, he gets two centuries and 8 for 32 at Lords . He then gos to Australia for the 1978-79 Ashes tour and takes 22 wickets . He comes home in 1979 and England play a five match test series with India which they win 1-0 , he gets 132 at Headingley and 24 wickets in that series. The winter of 1979-80 they again go to Australia for a post Packer test series with Australia, they loose 3-0 but he scores 119 I believe at Melbourne. Then they go to India for a one off test and he takes 13 wickets ands scores a century, a first ….. Back I England they face the West Indians and loose 1-0, he’s made captain but dose not have great test series. The winter of 1980-81 is in the West Indias which they again loose 2-0 ,not very good for him as captain or as a player. So 1981 and it’s the Ashes again and Ian Botham is captain and off form, they the first test draw the second at Lords and he looses the captaincy . From then on he dose the following, scores a total of 200 runs and takes 7 wickets , and with Australia needing 130 runs to win the third test England get them out for 111 with Bob Willis taking 8 for 43….. In the fourth test he takes a match winning 5 for 1 and England wins the test….. The next test he scores a blistering 118 , takes wickets and catches. The final test he takes 10 wickets . The following year he scores 205 plus 138 and is the worlds best bowler and batsman . The list gos on 1983-84 he scores a century in New Zealand and takes wickets, in 1985 he takes 33 wickets and runs against Australia again and they regain the Ashes . In 1984 he gets 8 for 44 and 89 at Lords against the West Indians, England get hammered 5-0 which is called the black wash. He breaks the test wicket record against New Zealand and still is playing well. And in 1986-87 has a great Ashes series in Australia where England retain the Ashes 2-1 , he scores 168 and takes 19 wickets in the series. This is from memory so I may get some facts wrong. Yes Kaple Dev held the world test wickets record but I believe Botham scored more runs and took mores catches . I would say that on the all time scale I would say he’s joint number two on the all time all rounder list , so Garry Sobers at 1 and 2 Ian Botham/Kaple Dev and Imran Khan at 3…… Richard Hadley at 4 ….. I know you will not agree but Botham was that good , and changed things for England……
What a combination, the blood and thunder of Botham, and the cool grace of Gower....Wonderful....
More like thud and blunder from Beefy!
Cricket's odd couple - but such a joy to watch them bat together.
Gower was the most naturally talented player I've ever seen..
You never saw the Brian Lara then
@@oval291
Hmmm…
Who’d you rather watch?
@@robertcottam8824 B
@@robertcottam8824 BC Lara all day every day. But IVA Richards is the man when it comes batting
@@oval291
Best I’ve SEEN
1) IVA
2) Clear daylight
3) Bell/Gower - coz I’m English
4) Garfield Sobers
5) M Waugh
6) Babar Azam
7) Rohan Kanhai
8) Kev Pietersen - yes, really
9) NH Fairbrother - Lancs
10) Clive Lloyd - Lancs
Never saw Lara, live.
Saw Tendulkar. Doesn’t alter my order of preference.
Best wishes
Always loved the long boundaries and white picket fences on Australian grounds.
I probably watched these highlights at the time. Good to see them again. I had forgotten that Jim Laker used to commentate on test matches in Australia - great to hear his dulcet tones on here. Gower out to a typical 'lazy shot' as he was frequently teased about when he appeared on 'They think it's all over'.
Plz tell me if other commenter name plz
@@8b.18.nazishsayyed5 Bobby Simpson perhaps?
Thanks
@@sct352t3 thanks
"He plays rather desperately, this man...."
Interesting assessment of Botham's batting style.
Great to see this though - thank you for uploading that. I always thought Gower was nothing less than a delight (albeit a frustrating one, sometimes) to watch.
Yes he was just swiping at the spinners. Look at the half chances and chances he gave.
Gower - casual shot - out for 44. Sums up his career, even though probably the most elegant batsman there ever was.
I was lucky enough to see him make 158 not out against India in 88 or so to draw the last Test and win the series. One false stroke only that I can remember, a miscue over mid wicket. Such a wonderful day, watching him cream the ball across the perfect Oval outfield.
@@stevef9530 Was it this innings? th-cam.com/video/eRp50Ie1t-k/w-d-xo.html Cheers.
@@RobinHood5045 Yes! Thanks... that miscue is at 3.18 or so. Some of the shots just take your breath away, eg the first couple a square cut and a cover drive. The whole day felt elegiac, the last day of the Test summer, the vindication and beauty of Gower’s batting, and saving the match to win the series. Thrilled to be there...
Gower averaged 44 in his test career so you’re pretty bang on.
@@vantheman1238 anyone who’s average is over 44 in test cricket, is a top player.
True definition of elegance DG
This is great to see this! Thank you for uploading :)
When a boundary really was a proper boundary. Hard work to get a 4!
having said that a lot of England this year the ball has been leaving the ground.
Lovely to see them playing in their different styles. Botham cavalier demoralizing the bowlers playing like he was in a sunday league game at home trying to hit the ball out of the ground. Early Gower keeping it calm and not too casual, his shots should be in training videos.
Likes were on a Nelson so I had to give another lol
Great to watch
Pity it's not in HD but I'll blame that on 1970s technology! lol
Many thanks for uploading.
With Australian cricket coverage in 1978 you could actually see the ball, unlike with the English coverage from the same time. The picture was so far zoomed out on English coverage that you had to guess what was happening from the movements of the players!
Lillee, Chappell, Marsh, Pascoe, Hookes etc. were all playing in Kerry Packer's World Series. This was Australia's reserves team. Of course England won.
Australia sent their best team to play in their home series. England beat them and won. England won. Australia lost on home ground. End.
@@shyamfootprints972
True dat.
The boundary is a health and safety nightmare!
Fielders impaled on the little picket fence! Gory!
Great upload
Not so much long boundaries as old fashioned bats. You earned your runs in those days
The 1978 Australian team was basically a third string team as World Series Cricket had two Aussie teams involved, some of those players in the Australian team were lucky to be shield standard level.
The same applied regarding England. Knott, Amiss, Underwood etc.
@@paradisefound100 3 players compared to 2 teams?
Norman Gunston was 12th man
just how far away is that bloody boundary?
Back when you had to earn your boundaries.......ah the good old days!!!
I’ve no stats to back this up but I reckon fewer threes scored these days, too.
Gower cut and Botham pull/hook...oooh errr
When square leg boundary was in different time zone to the point boundary
David Gawer Great Stylish Batsman
Love watching Hoggy and the great Alan Hurst bowling. The former took over 40 wickets in that series and was Australia's only highlight. Sadly captain Graham Yallop was used as a scapegoat for Australia's dreadful performances. They would get revenge when the Packer cricketers came back to the fold
look at the game man. How difficult to bat that era. That's why no point to compare generation to generation. For example, if Ian botham would bat after 2015 with same skill he would have average 55+ and would easily score 10000+ run
Only game is hurling. Played by real men irish catholic men
@@jimmymalone9139haha like it jimmy
Gower was a very good player, but he only scored 18 test centuries. If he had had Root’s ability to concentrate, he would have scored many more 100s. Nonetheless, terrific player to watch.
According to Colin Bateman in "If the Cap Fits" (his enyclopaedia of postwar England cricketers up to about 1993), Gower's problem was that he d'dn't play safe when his scores reached the 80s and 90s. If he had done, he would have gotten more centuries.
Root also has a tendency to get out nearing 100. Look , as a big big fan of root , I don't like the stats with 30 hundreds and 60 half centuries in tests. The conversion ratio is too less as compared to Kane, Virat and smith. Out of 60 , root should be scoring 15 more hundreds.
Other is ODI. scored 16 hundreds and 6400 + runs , avg 49 , Still find no place. Now 2023 WC scored back to back 4 fifties and no hundred. 84, 77 in last 2 innings but missing hundred. Just now shut of the tv after root getting out on 11. So root is no other than Gower.
Yes, Gower took it too easy. Still 7 ODI hundreds in that era but still could be better.
So its same for both Gower and root.
Though Gooch is not very fluent but the stubborn attitude to take up by root now , and Gower then
Happy days
Of all the 4 great allrounders of the 70,s and 80,s, imran khan had the highest test average. Khan,s test match average is 37,5. Botham and dev,s was between 30 and 35. And hadlee,s was between 25 and 30. In the last 10 years of his career, khan,s average was 52. That,s the average of a world class specialist test batsman. An important reason why khan had such a high test match average in the last 10 years of his career was that he had a high percentage of not outs. To me, this indicates that khan, more than dev or botham, focused on playing long innings in support of specialist test batsmen in his team. This was especially necessary for the pakistan team, because for the majority of pakistan,s cricketing history, the team has lacked world class openers. As a result, the middle order and late middle order was more often under pressure, because the innings was more often in a critical state. In this light, I would argue that imran khan has been a more constent batsman than botham or dev, and played more important innings for his team as a batsman than botham or dev.
well somehow ICC ratings place botham ahead of khan as the 2nd greatest all-rounder of all time behind the legendary garf sobers. and I believe them.
I think Botham had to dig his side out of many a hole too. But agree that Imran was a superb all rounder.
Had circumstances been different I think Mike Proctor would have given them all a run for their money.
@@thirstyguy4652 I'm inclined to think that is 100% a serious possibility.
I think yet another factor to counter in is who is the most watchable/interesting. Personally I think that's Sobers and Botham. Again, Procter is right at the top of that list for me also.
Gower was a bit of a flawed genius. By comparison Graeme Pollock was elegance personified, as to more or less the same extent was Garry Sobers. Of the modern generation it is Brian Lara that gets my vote. Beautiful elegance mixed with brutal power.
Always loved watching Botham destroy Australia !!!
Botham takes risks and calculated risks but Gower is assertively orthodox in his stroke play .
Get a boundary here, and it registers on the scoreboard in Adelaide
Stumps couldn't come quick enough for wicketkeeper MacLean.
Rodney Marsh, is that you missing catches and so many missed ones...can't believe
Botham as usual being lucky against Australia. He was nearly out every second ball.
Those boundaries were like a mile long ..
It all seems very 'casual' compared to today's Ashes cricket - the commentary is resigned to 5 days of routine play - just my thoughts on watching cricket from early 70's to modern day
Be do you have any clip from Keith fletcher 1982 eng s ind tour?
The outfield seemed very slow and uneven - normally shots by Botham and Gower would have reached the fence much more often!
Long bounderies too!
Being Brisbane at that time of year you can guarantee it had copped a good soaking at some stage in the previous 48 hours.
Who's the other fast bowler, one is Rod Hogg , is it Allan Hurst?
Yes.
Don't think Mr Botham was convinced he had hit that. And was probably right.
With modern bats people like Sir Donald, Jack Hobbs George Headley and a whole host of others would have had even better records. How many of these shots shown here would have gone for 4 or 6 with modern equipment.
Stella year for hoggy,42 wickets,only occasionally set the world on fire again, funny enough on the rebel tour,maybe he should have gone,like terry alderman. And big "mocca" rackaman...but then again as Mr gallop said some selectors had quite words to the tune of don't iron your baggy green.some of the rebels would have boasted the 1985 Aussies
True. And who knows how much tighter the 1982/83 Ashes might have been had the England rebels not been missing - they'd surely have done better with Gooch and Boycott opening instead of the likes of Tavare and Cook!
@@bringmeknitting844 Boycott at 42 years of age? Yeah right.
I really rated the bloke could see him taking 200+ test wickets. Then again he had plenty of competition in the full text team.
@@Bernie8330 Yeah I know it sounds unlikely, but Boycott had already scored three Test hundreds after the age of 40, including one in West Indies and one in India. He was only dropped because he went on the rebel tour of South Africa in '82. England weren't exactly spoilt for alternative openers in those days...
@@bringmeknitting844 True enough. Out here in 1982-83 Chris Tavare more than had Boycott's measure in the boring department.
England won the series 5 - 1 without playing particularly well.
Botham's a bit leaner there 😂
I thought Beefy never wore a helmet ?
Tribute to Legends tonight..... TH-cam. COM
Hogg got 40 wickets but they were trashed
Gower the most stylish and the laziest batsman🤪...a fantastic runner between wickets..you never know within a speck of a minute easily he would have run 2 or 3 runs...
KAPIL DEV was better than IAN BOTHAM any given day...
That’s a big statement matey ……..
Ian Botham, Kaple Dev, Richard Hadley and Imran Khan.
Four all time greats.
The best all rounder ever properly Garfield Sobers .
Between 1977 and 1985 Botham was brilliant
@@markmeade2937 Botham almost never toured the sub-continent....so the toil and the hardwork required for medium fast bowlers in Indian conditions Botham never faced such things....Yes Sobers was definitely cut above the rest...
@@amitgokhale6578
I would say that the 1986/87 Ashes was Bothams swan song .
@@markmeade2937 yes even 1981/82 ashes was Botham's finest....but overall in his entire career i still think Kapil was better than Botham...
@@amitgokhale6578
Ok , his first two tests in the 1977 Jubilee test series he gets two 5 For’s .
Then he gos to New Zealand and gets his first century, he comes home and the England team plays Packestan and New Zealand again, he gets two centuries and 8 for 32 at Lords .
He then gos to Australia for the 1978-79 Ashes tour and takes 22 wickets .
He comes home in 1979 and England play a five match test series with India which they win 1-0 , he gets 132 at Headingley and 24 wickets in that series.
The winter of 1979-80 they again go to Australia for a post Packer test series with Australia, they loose 3-0 but he scores 119 I believe at Melbourne.
Then they go to India for a one off test
and he takes 13 wickets ands scores a century, a first …..
Back I England they face the West Indians and loose 1-0, he’s made captain
but dose not have great test series.
The winter of 1980-81 is in the West Indias which they again loose 2-0 ,not very good for him as captain or as a player.
So 1981 and it’s the Ashes again and Ian Botham is captain and off form, they the first test draw the second at Lords and he looses the captaincy .
From then on he dose the following, scores a total of 200 runs and takes 7 wickets , and with Australia needing 130 runs to win the third test England get them out for 111 with Bob Willis taking 8 for 43…..
In the fourth test he takes a match winning 5 for 1 and England wins the test…..
The next test he scores a blistering 118 , takes wickets and catches.
The final test he takes 10 wickets .
The following year he scores 205 plus 138 and is the worlds best bowler and batsman .
The list gos on 1983-84 he scores a century in New Zealand and takes wickets, in 1985 he takes 33 wickets and runs against Australia again and they regain the Ashes .
In 1984 he gets 8 for 44 and 89 at Lords
against the West Indians, England get hammered 5-0 which is called the black wash.
He breaks the test wicket record against New Zealand and still is playing well.
And in 1986-87 has a great Ashes series in Australia where England retain the Ashes 2-1 , he scores 168 and takes 19 wickets in the series.
This is from memory so I may get some facts wrong.
Yes Kaple Dev held the world test wickets record but I believe Botham scored more runs and took mores catches .
I would say that on the all time scale I would say he’s joint number two on the all time all rounder list , so Garry Sobers at 1 and 2 Ian Botham/Kaple Dev and Imran Khan at 3……
Richard Hadley at 4 …..
I know you will not agree but Botham was that good , and changed things for England……
Bloody awful commentators.
Bloody biased ones, Peter...apart from Jimmy Laker.😎
Until Jim Laker comes on
@@terranceparsons5185 he was better off running budget airlines.....
A FULL.TOSS. ITS A TOSSERS GAME.