England face a daunting task as they look to take on Australia once again in the second Ashes Test starting on December 4. The upcoming day/night Test at the Gabba will be a real test of strength and resilience for the visitors. Previously, England were badly dented in Perth on the back of some ferocious batting from Travis Head in the second innings. They now face the tough prospect of leveling the series at a venue that hasn’t been all that kind to them historically speaking.
Despite England’s poor Ashes run at the Gabba, history tells us that the visitors have, on certain occasions, been able to challenge Australia’s dominance at this venue. With less than 24 hours to go for the second Test, we reflect on England’s top 3 Ashes wins at the Gabba.
England vs Australia 1933 (Won by 6 wickets)
England recorded their first Ashes win at the Gabba on February 16, 1933. The series was famously known for its “bodyline” tag. Over the course of the series, the gruesome tactic was ruthlessly deployed by the English bowlers to terrorize the home side. Vic Richardson and Bill Woodfull stitched scores of 83 & 67, respectively, to propel Australia to a decent 340. England bowlers overall had a happy outing, with Harold Larwood emerging as the pick of the bowlers with four scalps to his name.
England’s approach with the bat was slightly more measured than that of Australia. Herbert Sutcliffe starred with the bat and laid a solid foundation with a steady 86. Eddie Paynter’s late flourish with the bat (83 off 218) helped England eke out a narrow 16-run lead. In the second innings, Australia fell comprehensively short with the bat. Despite a positive 46-run opening stand, Larwood and Gubby Allen shared 6 wickets between them to sink Australia for only 175.
In their pursuit of a modest target of 160, England did not encounter any fierce resistance along the way and lost only four wickets before getting to their target. Maurice Leyland turned out to be a standout performer with the bat, scoring a calculated 86 to hand England their fourth consecutive win of the series. England eventually clinched the series by 4-1.
England vs Australia 1936 (Won by 322 runs)
England recorded their biggest Ashes win at the Gabba on the fifth day of the first test during the 1936 Ashes series. The visitors hit the ground running after electing to bat first. Despite being jolted by Ernie McCormick early on, England were able to quickly get back on their feet, thanks to a match-saving innings from Charlie Barnett (69 off 153). They were further bolstered by a sensational ton from Leyland (126 off 190).
But the Australian bowlers were able to strike back, and Bill O’Reilly went on to claim a five-fer to prevent England from going past the 400-run mark. And when Australia’s turn to bat arrived, very few could anticipate what was to follow. Don Bradman, being at his prime peak, could only muster 38 runs before being dismissed by Bill Voce. Voce went on to create quite a menace for the home side as he ran through the Australian batting lineup and finished with exemplary figures of 6-41 to bundle Australia out for 234.
After achieving a sizeable 124-run lead, England developed a psychological advantage. Nevertheless, Australia witnessed some brilliance with the ball in the second innings. Frank Ward bagged a six-wicket haul, but England continued to pile on the runs, eventually stretching their lead to 380 before being wrapped up on 256.
What followed was an absolute horror show with the bat. Four Aussie batters were dismissed for a duck, and Bradman and Arthur Chipperfield were the only two batters to make it to double figures. Both Allen and Voce put the squeeze on and singlehandedly derailed Australia for 58 to take an early 1-0 lead. Sadly, England failed to capitalise on this positive start as Australia bounced back to win the last three Ashes test matches, taking the series 3-2.
England vs Australia 1986 (Won by 7 wickets)
This victory marks England’s most recent success against Australia in the Ashes. Although this win might have been a long time ago, it still serves as a beacon of hope for England to register an unlikely win at this hostile venue. Ian Botham’s all-round heroics propelled England to their first post-World War Ashes series win in Australia.
The toss went Australia’s way, and they had no hesitation in inserting England to bat first. But any hopes of bundling out England cheaply were quickly extinguished. Bill Athey set the tone early doors by stitching a useful contribution of 76. Then, the England skipper Ian Botham stood tall with a resilient 138, taking England to a towering 456. The Australian quicks had to work hard for their wickets with Merv Hughes, Merv Hughes, and Steve Waugh finishing with three wickets apiece.
In response, several Australian batters, including Rod Marsh and Greg Matthews, both of whom scored fifties got off to starts but were unable to score big. As a result, the England bowlers succeeded in maintaining a stranglehold and got the hosts allout for only 248. Fresh from the exploits from the first innings, Botham decided to enforce the follow-on in an effort to help his bowlers dismantle Australia once and for all.
However, this time around, Australia’s batting was marginally better than the first innings. But the same batting woes persisted again as none of the Australian batters apart from Marsh (110 off 331) was able to push on for a big score. Australia could only accumulate a meager lead of 75 runs which meant England to to bat again. Chris broad led the way with an unbeaten 35 to help England prevail by 7 wickets. The euphoric win in the first Ashes test helped England script a historic 2-1 series win.
