Botham's debut. Sir Geoffrey's comeback. The runout. The dropped catch. For anyone over a certain age, this has to be one of the greatest test matches of all time. Mr Mordecai. I salute you, sir.
The match changer was unquestionably Alan Knott's innings of 135 coming to the wicket with England in deep trouble and Boycott on his comeback having run out Arkle. Boycott, struggling to find anywhere close to the middle of the bat on only 20 out of around 80 for 5. Knotty came to the wicket and immediately began to score freely and Boycott then gradually began to find some form as Knott took so much pressure from him. The pair put on over 200 and everything changed from then on. Boycott's come back to test cricket could have been so very different but for Alan Knott.
So true - I was 10 years old and was glued to the screen. 1976 v Windies was the first series I remember watching and that was brutal. Even then ITB just had something about him.
@@markhiggins8315 Knotty was just so good. Would be my all time best keeper. And a more than useful bat. Averaged 32 in test cricket which to me is more than sufficient. For too long, England have been picking a batsman who can keep wicket rather than simply picking the best gloveman and if he can bat then all the better. Hopefully with Foakes, we're going back to how it should be.
@@markhiggins8315 Alan definitely helped - but so did the weather!! At the start of the England innings it was very overcast and the ball was swinging quite appreciably. England only scored 25 runs in the 1st 70 minutes of the 2nd day - but if you notice once the sun came out Boycott started to score quicker too. As the ball did less and less and the bowlers tired Boycott upped his scoring strike rate from 19-20 runs per 100 balls to around 45 runs per hundred balls!
I remember seeing this test match in 1977, I was a few months off going to England to follow the cricket, I was in awe of Mike Brearley….. he won the test for England, what a cracking test series that was
With hindsight and given the form of the individual players at the time, that's probably one of the best England sides ever. Seen only once (maybe twice?). Bit of a shame, that.
In the later years of Botham's test match career commentators used to lament the loss of the outswinger from his bowling armoury without ever saying why this had happened: the huge amount of weight Botham gained over his career and the restriction this placed on his getting sideways on to bowl !
Funny how Geoffrey Boycott returns to Test Cricket the first time England were getting paid £1,000 a Test Match 🤣🤣I always knew Botham was lucky. RIP HM Elizabeth II
I'd be delighted if you could put up highlights of the 4th day of this match - it was my first ever day's test (or first class) cricket as a spectator.
Hello Simon, they have been up on my channel since September 21st, 2020. Just type in the following:- "ENGLAND v AUSTRALIA 3rd TEST MATCH DAY 4 TRENT BRIDGE AUGUST 1 1977". Thank you for your interest, DARREN
