Product Description

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, and the fortunes of the English cricket team became a common topic of conversation in homes, schools, offices and pubs throughout the country. 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 (unless you happen to be Australian), and Headingley '81 will use contemporary newspaper, TV and radio reports to recreate the fevered atmosphere of the series. The book will also stretch the boundaries of the traditional cricket book by setting the on-field events in the context of a country coming to terms with trends as disparate as Thatcherism, the miners' strike, the New Romantics and the birth of alternative comedy. It will also assess why the match, and the series itself, failed to arrest the decline of English cricket.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1017161 in Books
• Published on: 2001-06-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

Customer Reviews

It's ok, but you don't get the flavour
I was to young to see this match. I have seen clips, however I have always heard about how good a match this was. I got the book hoping to learn and experience the moment. The authors have been very thourgh with the facts, however in doing this, they have lost the atomsphere. A real shame.

An Unhealthy Obsession
I suppose it's not entirely surprising that a country like England, whose routine sporting outcomes so often undershoot our expectations, should latch onto those events where we emerge so emphatically triumphant. I'm thinking of things like the 1966 World Cup (groan!) and, yes, Headingley 1981. This 260 page book is devoted to documenting the events of that remarkable Test match, in exquisite, painstaking, detail.

The book was published by the BBC just prior to yet another beating at the hands of the Aussies, in 2001. Its authors are perfectly respectable and serious people, and there are contributions from all kinds of other worthy folk. Yet you have to wonder why something like this needed to be written. I couldn't bring myself to finish it I regret to say, though it was interesting enough to browse through. It includes plenty of nostalogic reminiscences to the early 80s (music, politics etc.) which may be of interest to some readers, I guess; but it only served to remind me what a wretched interval of history it was.