The Crazy English Cricket Summer of 1988

Well, talking, uh, talking of- of- of it being tough, that's what we're talking about today, the crazy English cricket summer of 1988.

So the backdrop is the previous 10 test matches between England and the West Indies, the West Indies had won all 10.

I think people might remember in '84 at the Oval, the big side, say, blackwash, 5-0.

I mean, it was, it was the team of the 1980s when it came to cricket.

This is, this is the team of '88, give or take, of the West Indies.

Greenwich, Haynes were one of the greatest opening partnerships of all time.

Richie Richardson, Viv Richards, and say no more.

Well, you know, one of the top three or four greatest batsmen of ever.

Hooper, Logie, Dujon, and then Ambrose and Walsh at the beginning of their careers.

Malcolm Marshall, who all round...

I remember interviewing Mark Nicholas after Malcolm Marshall died very prematurely.

Mark was his captain at Hampshire, and he went, "He was probably the greatest all-round fast bowler.

He could do it all." And Patrick Patterson, who was terrifyingly fast.

Um, Marshall had played over 50 tests.

So they had a really good experience of y- a, a mix of some really good young fast bowlers, the experience of Marshall, incredibly experienced batting.

So England had won the test series in Australia, '86, '87 under Gatting, then lost at home to Pakistan, and then went to Pakistan, where it all kicked off with Shakir Rana.

Um, so the Test and County Cricket Board already had their eye on Mike Gatting, particularly as he then released a book, Leading from the Front, and he didn't clear with them a passage or a chapter about Shakir Rana.

So we have this ridiculous situation where the captain of England Is, is playing at Lord's for Middlesex or England, but the county shop at Lord's won't stock his book because of this chapter.

So, I mean, already you can say, "Who's running this gaff?" You know, it's a bit of a mess.

The first test at Brent Bridge, uh, Trent Bridge, England actually managed to draw because the weather's not great.

Graham Gooch makes 146.

And then afterwards, or on one of the evenings, Mike Gatting and a couple of others invite a barmaid into his hotel room for a drink.

Gatting says a lot of it was exaggerated, a lot of it was simply made up, but the t- the, the TCCB spotted an opportunity here to sack him.

They think, "We've, we've had enough.

We've had, we've had Shakur Rana, uh, we've had this book." The only wins that Mike Gatting had as England captain, two in '23, were that tour of Australia.