In 1981, Ian Botham was sacked as captain - he sings the praises of the person who took over from him. Mike Brearley's extraordinary galvanising of Botham is regarded as one of the
greatest feats of sporting psychology of all time: Botham recovered a poor captaincy record and lack of form to take a
first-innings 6 for 95 and score 50 and his famous 149 not out in the third Test
at Headingley , bowl a spell of 5 wickets for 1 run in the fourth Test at
Edgbaston, score 118 from 102 balls in the fifth Test at Old Trafford, and take
a 10-wicket match haul (6 for 125 and 4 for 128) in the sixth Test at the Oval- a series now known Botham's Ashes.
