A fantastic professional who relished Test cricket, Emburey was England’s premier off-spinner throughout the 1980s. He was blessed with a safe pair of hands and would often improvise to make useful runs down the order. Emburey enjoyed plenty of success in Australia, as England won five and lost only two of the nine Ashes Tests in which he played on the 1978/79 and 1986/87 tours. The Middlesex man was also a member of England’s 1981 and 1985 Ashes-winning sides.
Right-arm off-spinner, right-handed batsman
Born: 20 August 1952, Peckham, London
Test debut: 1978 v New Zealand
Last Test: 1995 v West Indies
Test record: 64 matches, 147 wickets at an average of 38.40; 1,713 runs at an average of 22.53
The state of play
Australia were firm favourites to win back the Ashes on home soil, but England cast aside their recent poor form as the old guard turned on the style at thet start of a series triumph Down Under.
‘THERE ARE ONLY three things wrong with England; they can’t bat, they can’t bowl and they can’t field.’ That was the damning assessment of Martin Johnson of The Independent after we lost a warm-up match against Queensland. Although we drew against Western Australia and beat South Australia in the other state games before the first Test at Brisbane, it was true we weren’t exactly scaring our opponents.
We hadn’t actually won a Test match since overcoming Australia at The Oval 14 months earlier when we reclaimed the Ashes 3-1 under David Gower’s leadership. But the English winter and summer of 1986 were a huge struggle. We lost 5-0 in the Caribbean against a formidable West Indies side, although too many of our players, including myself, were in awe of stars like Viv Richards and Malcolm Marshall.
Things got worse when we lost home series against India and New Zealand. The Indians had some good players, including the great all-rounder Kapil Dev, while New Zealand were at the top of their game, with Richard Hadlee, another legendary all-rounder, leading the way.
But when we played Australia, it was totally different. We felt we were going to win all the time, something you can’t often say about an Ashes series. I had only known success against the Aussies after we beat them in 1978/79, 1981 and 1985. Of course I missed the 1982/83 defeat because I was banned from Test cricket for three years after going on the rebel tour to South Africa in 1981/82.
On the tour to the West Indies there were protests against those of us who had been to South Africa; Peter Willey, Graham Gooch and myself. It was particularly severe at Trinidad, as we made our way into the ground and even outside the dressing rooms, but there were no problems in Australia.
Despite our lack of form going into the series, the atmosphere in our camp was fantastic. We had some good young players like fast bowlers Phil DeFreitas and Gladstone Small, and Ian Botham had returned after an operation earlier in the year. Both probably wasn’t back to his best and I think he would admit he got by on brute force and reputation for the next three or four years. But he was so wholehearted it felt like having 12 players in your team.
The media changed in the mid-1980s. Botham was writing for the Daily Mirror and all of a sudden there was jealousy from rival papers, which led to aggressive coverage of the team. A lot more news writers started to follow us around, looking for off-field sensations, and that created a certain amount of pressure. You probably weren’t able to enjoy touring as much as when I first went away, but you still had a good time.
When your preparations for a big match haven’t been perfect, you look for a little bit of inspiration, and this is where Micky Stewart played a crucial role. It was the first time England had had a proper coach/manager and Micky was absolutely fantastic in the way he dealt with the players. He talked to us individually about our roles and how we were performing, controlled the younger players and let the senior players have their freedom.
Micky only played a few Tests himself in the 1960s, but he had captained and later managed Surrey with success. So to have someone with his knowledge of the game was invaluable. He provided great support for Mike Gatting on his first tour as skipper, helping him lead the side very well.
Our performances in the state matches and the Tests were chalk and cheese. When we got to the first Test in Brisbane, we were able to turn it on straight away. We went in first, and Bill Athey, realising we needed runs at the top of the order, batted a long time to see off the new ball after Chris Broad fell early. Bill took about 72 overs to get 76 and although it was slow going, he developed important partnerships with Gatting and Allan Lamb, who got 40. So we were 198/2 at stumps on the first day.
Gatt made a half-century at number three as Gower dropped down the order. Officially, that was because he had struggled in the warm-up matches and had got a pair against Western Australia just prior to Brisbane. But really Gower was in the toilet and Gatt had his pads on, so when we lost a wicket Gatt took responsibility and batted at number three.
It worked out well because David made a half-century on the second day after we had lost Lamb and Athey without adding to our overnight score. Gower shared in an important partnership of 121 with Botham and they had taken the score on to 316 when David was the fifth man out, caught by Greg Ritchie off the bowling of debutant Chris Matthews.
We were in a good position until Jack Richards got out cheaply and I made just eight, as we went from 316/5 to 351/7. But Daffy DeFreitas came in and turned it around with Ian. He was a young 20-year-old and swiftly took to Test cricket.
He made 40 in good time and by playing a couple of big shots, kick-started Botham, who went into overdrive. Ian realised that a partnership could develop and he started hitting the seamers back over their heads, pulling and cutting, and playing these big shots. Ian even took 22 off one over from Merv Hughes.
Botham’s brilliant 138 included 13 fours and four sixes and took the game away from Australia. A score of 456 all out put us in a great position. Once you have runs on the board and two good spinners, myself and Philippe Edmonds, who are going to give you control, the confidence grows.
Australia had a very young bowling attack and they showed their inexperience. Seamers Hughes, Bruce Reid and Chris Matthews had played just nine Tests between them before Brisbane. Strangely, Geoff Lawson, a very good fast bowler, was 12th man and Craig McDermott, who had played throughout the 1985 series, was left out altogether.
The Australians felt under pressure from the way their media had built them up and said we were one of the worst touring teams ever to come out of England. The thing is, they say that about every England team.
We really squeezed Australia when we bowled. We took our catches and everyone chipped in as we dismissed them for 248 on day three. Graham Dilley got five wickets, Botham and DeFreitas grabbed a couple each and Edmonds claimed the prize scalp of their captain Allan Border. Phil and I bowled steadily, even though I didn’t take a wicket in 34 inexpensive overs.
So we made Australia follow on at home in an Ashes Test for the first time in 21 years and this time I managed to get some wickets. Australian pitches didn’t spin a great deal but they were hard and because I was tall they gave me bounce, which made me awkward to play. My strength was that I exerted pressure by keeping things very tight and placing close catchers around the bat, so I got many of my wickets in the series with bat-pad catches.
It didn’t take long for us to make inroads on the fourth morning when Botham trapped David Boon lbw. That brought Dean Jones to the crease at 24/1 as I began a marathon spell. Jones was a very dangerous player who had made a double century in a tied Test against India at Chennai earlier in the year, so his was a key wicket. He played spin well and was always aggressive, using his feet and never letting you settle.
Jones was looking in good touch when he came down the wicket to me and played over the top of one, making it into a yorker. It was a very difficult stumping for Jack Richards because he had to stay down when it would have been easy to come up. But he held his low body position, the ball went straight into his gloves and he whipped off the bails. Getting rid of Jones for just 18 was a huge bonus because he had made the error. We were thrilled.
Allan Border was next in. He was Australia’s real danger man and always produced his best form against England. Allan had scored over 500 runs against us in both the 1981 and 1985 series despite being on the losing side each time and this was a feat he would almost repeat in 1986/87.
But at Brisbane I developed a plan of attack that we would use against him throughout the series. It was one of the first times I bowled over the wicket to him and really tucked him up, which he didn’t like at all. He preferred the off-spinners to bowl around the wicket because he could free his arms and with the ball drifting in, play his little fine sweep shot.
I bowled a leg-stump line and if there was a bit of spin, I had a chance of picking up a wicket because he couldn’t kick the ball away since it might go straight on and get him lbw. Allan tended to push hard at the ball rather than letting it come to him, so there was always the possibility of getting him caught close to the wicket. After jamming at the ball several times off my bowling, he eventually squeezed a catch out to Lamb at silly mid-off.
The Australian captain was gone for 23 and they were struggling at 92/3, still 116 runs behind. But their resilient opener Geoff Marsh was still there and he took the score on to 205 with Ritchie before DeFreitas trapped Greg lbw. Greg Matthews, the New South Wales all-rounder, followed not long after when he was caught and bowled by Dilley, leaving Australia 224/5.
Marsh batted a long time for his century and we needed his wicket badly because he was holding us up, keeping everything together and developing little partnerships. At the end of the fourth day, Australia had a lead of 35 with five wickets standing. Marsh was on 108 and Steve Waugh had 12.
The next morning we kept at them and DeFreitas soon bowled Marsh for 110, which he had made in just over six and a half hours. Waugh didn’t last much longer as he became my 100th Test victim. Like Jones, he tried to use his feet but just turned my delivery into a yorker which bowled him.
Waugh had just come into the side but looked a very solid player for his 28. He was someone you really had to get out because he was in the Border mould and would never give his wicket away. Steve got some useful runs in the series, some 60s and 70s, and showed he could play.
I then got Chris Matthews lbw for a second-ball duck and we were on a roll, with Australia 266/8. Because Marsh had gone and I had dismissed Jones, Border and Waugh, there was nobody to play with their long tail. So we kept chipping away, knowing the end was in sight.
DeFreitas bowled Hughes for a duck and I removed Reid to claim a five-for. I don’t remember that one very well but he was caught by Broad so he must have had a slog! Australia lost their last five wickets for only 58 runs as they collapsed to 282 all out and I finished with figures of 5-80 from my 42.5 overs. Then it was just a matter of getting the 75 runs to win, which we did for the loss of three wickets, with Broad and Gower there at the end.
After the match, a lot of us went out for dinner while some stayed in the hotel bar. In those days, the bowlers wound down at the end of a Test match by getting absolutely pissed. I got my first experience of this in Sydney on the 1978/79 tour.
Chris Old and Mike Hendrick had had a few drinks and came and sat down with me, my fiancée, Susie, and her parents. But Chris and Mike started abusing my future in-laws because they thought they were a couple of old Aussies giving us an ear-bashing, when in fact they were ex-pat Brits. I was shaking my head, but they kept on taking the piss. I explained to them afterwards that those people were my future parents-in-law, so Chris and Mike apologised to them.
We also socialised with the opposition a lot. If we were in the field all day, they would come in to our dressing room at the end of play and bring a few cans of beer. Then we would reciprocate the following day if they were in the field. Needless to say the greatest socialisers were Botham, Gower, Lamb, myself and Gatt. From the Aussies, it was Border, Hughes and Dirk Wellham. There was a great sense of camaraderie and you got to know your enemy.
That was something that had changed when I came back and played the one Test in 1993, against Australia at Edgbaston. Because of all the sledging, the younger batsmen didn’t want to mix with the Australians. But I think you are better off getting to know them by having a drink and a chat afterwards. You are not in awe of them that way.
We didn’t appreciate how much excitement our victory had sparked back in England. All we knew was that there had been a lot of criticism in the media of our performances leading up to the first Test. But when you face difficult times, you tend to get closer together, so the critics only succeeded in galvanising us.
Gower and Lambie went off to a nightclub with Kerry Packer, the Australian media tycoon, during the first Test and didn’t get back until the small hours. After that Lambie got out very early on the second day and the media found out where he had been. I was vice-captain and part of the management team and we didn’t know they were out until a couple of days later, when it was reported in the paper. Micky Stewart had a word with David and Allan about their responsibilities.
The fact we had some characters who liked to go off to parties could have meant we became a bit fragmented, but the Brisbane victory and the criticism we endured beforehand meant everybody supported one another.
The game has become more professional than it was then. We still enjoyed ourselves off the field, we would go out to dinner and have a bottle or two of wine between three of us. There would be occasions when we had a bottle each, and it wasn’t a problem because we would get up the next day and perform.
The morning preparations were very relaxed and probably a bit of a joke, in the sense that some of the guys didn’t really believe in them. We had a physio who took our warm-ups but we didn’t have training regimes as such and didn’t always have access to a gym.
But that wasn’t to say the boys weren’t exercising when they weren’t playing. We played golf and tennis and swam, so we were maintaining a certain fitness level. There was no such thing as watching your diet, it probably consisted of beer and pies.
We didn’t have dieticians or nutritionists, there was none of the support staff and structure there is nowadays.
After winning the first Test, we got T-shirts printed which read, ‘Can’t bat, can’t bowl, can’t field.’ There was a lot of humour in the dressing room by this stage and it was a very good environment to be in.
We batted really well at Perth, in the second Test. Broad, Gower and Richards got hundreds as we amassed the whopping score of 592/8 declared on a very flat pitch. Border then hit a century in Australia’s reply of 401, during which I took 2-110, and we declared our second innings at the end of the fourth day, setting them a target of 391 in three sessions.
Some huge cracks appeared in the pitch and I got Marsh lbw with a ball that Muttiah Muralitharan would have been proud of. But the cracks weren’t generally as helpful as we had hoped and Australia held out comfortably for a draw.
In terms of tactics and the way he dealt with people, the outstanding skipper I played under for England and Middlesex was Mike Brearley, the brains behind our 1978/79 and 1981 Ashes triumphs. Mike Gatting was totally different because he was very up-front and took a challenge head on, while Brears was more laid back.
Gatt would give us a rollicking if we weren’t performing, really let us know what was required. He had already had three years of captaincy experience at Middlesex, so wasn’t daunted by the reputations of great players like Botham and Gower.
Between the second and third Tests, we played Victoria in a state game. We got to the ground and started practising before realising our captain wasn’t with us, so Gower had to toss up while Broad went back to the hotel to look for Gatt. Chris found him stretched out on his bed after being out all night on the piss.
Mike eventually got to the ground at about 11.30am, after the start. I asked, ‘Where the bloody hell have you been?’ He said something and the smell of alcohol on his breath was unbelievable, but he went out and took four wickets with a Botham-like performance.
Ian enjoyed himself just as much off the field as he did on it and his generosity was a great part of touring. He always wanted to go places and do things and wanted everyone to come along with him, probably to help him home!
On one occasion, Lambie, Gower, Botham and I went to a do in Fremantle, in Western Australia, as guests of Harold Cudmore, who was skipper of one of the crews in the America’s Cup, which was taking place at the time. Ian had a skinful and fell off his chair so we had to get him straight back to the hotel.
If anyone was going to play pranks it was generally Botham, cutting players’ socks or the bottoms off their ties. But you dared not do it to him because the shit would hit the fan then.
Both sides batted well again in the third Test at Adelaide. David Boon made a century before I had him caught by James Whitaker, as Australia declared their first innings at 514/5. In our reply of 455, Broad and Gatting hit centuries, and I made 49.
Then Border dug in for his second hundred of the series and Australia set us a target of 261 on the final day. Unfortunately the rain fell and we had little chance to chase the runs as the match petered out into a draw. But we were still 1-0 up in the series and knew that with two Tests to play, we just needed to avoid defeat in one of them to retain the Ashes.
We spent Christmas in Melbourne ahead of the fourth Test, which started on Boxing Day. Our celebrations consisted of a lunch, to which all our wives were invited, and a fancy dress party. DeFreitas won the prize for the best fancy dress by coming as Diana Ross, but my costume was dreadful. I had to dress up as a character beginning with the letter R and couldn’t think of anything else, so I got a big brown cloak and a black wig and went along as the Russian mystic Rasputin.
It was a fun occasion but we had business to do the following day, so we were careful what we drank. We knew Christmas was over when we got a hostile reception at the MCG the next morning. There were about 65,000 people in the ground and we realised we had to match the Australians from the outset.
The first time I played there, in 1978, the noise and banter from the Southern Stand were incredible and rather than someone fielding down there for a whole session, we had to change positions every half hour because it got so intense.
It is more abuse than anything else. They piss in beer cans and say, ‘D’you wanna cold beer, mate?’ Some of the boys would have a drink on the boundary, but the ring had to still be attached to the can. If it felt slightly warm in your hand, you definitely didn’t have it.
I played a lot of club cricket in Melbourne and got a mixed reception. Some guys shouted out, ‘Embers, when are you going to play for St Kilda?’ Others just gave you downright abuse, swearing at you, saying, ‘What are you doing here? Why aren’t you at home? Who’s shagging your missus?’ They obviously didn’t realise my missus was with me in Melbourne.
They tried to upset you and get a cheap laugh in front of up to 20,000 people in that one stand. It was a very intimidating ground, more so than any other in Australia, but we quietened the crowd on the first day. Botham and Small took five wickets each as Australia were skittled out for 141. Ian got wickets more through bravado than great bowling, with the way he ran in and hit the deck hard. He still had the ability to make something happen, get a batsman to play a false shot.
We had a good relationship with the Australians. Out on the field, there was some banter, backwards and forwards stuff, nothing serious. Merv used to give the players a bit of verbal but it was all good-humoured. We would laugh and tell them to piss off or something stronger occasionally. It was all in jest, there was nothing serious on the sledging side. A lot of it was meant to put you off, but it was seen more in fun because we knew each other so well.
However, there was one incident between Phil Edmonds and their wicketkeeper Tim Zoehrer during England’s innings of 349 on the second day at Melbourne. Phil and I shared a profitable ninth-wicket partnership of 30, to which I contributed 22, after Broad had made his third century in as many Tests.
But while we were batting, Zoehrer kept talking behind the stumps, so Philippe went up to him at the end of one over and said, ‘Don’t give me all that shit, I don’t need it. If you’ve got a problem, we’ll sort it out.’
Zoehrer didn’t say a word but Philippe mentioned what happened to Frances, his wife, who was a writer, and she wrote a little poem poking fun at Zoehrer. We made sure this got into the Australian dressing room and, of course, the Aussies saw the funny side and ribbed Zoehrer, so we didn’t hear a peep from him after that.
The England players didn’t really sledge, but if someone was out and they didn’t walk, we might say a few words. In Australia’s second innings, Marsh punched me to silly mid-off but didn’t walk, and the umpire gave him not out. It was unbelievable, he made clear contact with his glove as he played a forward defensive and we got stuck into him so much that he ran himself out three balls later. He then got a few more words on his way back to the pavilion.
Marsh’s dismissal left Australia 153/4, still more than 50 runs short of avoiding an innings defeat. I then bowled Greg Matthews without addition to the score. He tried to pad up but the ball flicked the top of his front pad and deflected off his arm on to the stumps. Edmonds was taking wickets at the other end, including his mate Zoehrer, and when I bowled Craig McDermott with my arm ball, Australia were 189/9.
We held on to some stunning catches throughout the tour, especially during the fourth Test. I took a good one myself at third slip to get Border off Small and break a key partnership between the Australian captain and Marsh in the second innings. It was made more difficult because Botham was fielding two and a half yards in front of me at second slip and I wasn’t sure if he was going to go for it.
We wrapped up the match by an innings and 14 runs when Gladstone caught Hughes in the deep on a slog-sweep off Edmonds’s bowling. Elton John had been touring Australia and came into the dressing room to help us celebrate retaining the Ashes. He had this silk suit on, God knows how much it would have cost, maybe £5,000, but the champagne was going round and Gatt sprayed him with all this bubbly.
We had a great party back at the hotel that night. Elton John came along but wasn’t too happy we were playing a lot of his songs, so he sent his driver back to the Hilton to get his music collection and Elton became the DJ for the evening.
George Michael came to another party we had on that tour, in an apartment just by Bondi Beach, in Sydney. I didn’t have a clue who he was. He came in, put a bottle of red wine on the table, said hi and flitted around. I opened the bottle and drank some, unaware it was his, and he came over and said, ‘Do you think I could have a glass of wine?’ So I poured him one, not realising it was his bottle or who he was. They didn’t tell me until afterwards!
The fifth Test at Sydney was a great game for me personally as I made runs and took wickets. We reduced them to 236/7 on day one, but Jones was still there at stumps and his 184 not out really turned the game around, taking Australia to 343 all out the next day. Infuriatingly, we believed we had him out twice. The first time was caught down the leg side, off the face of the bat, when he was on 11. The other was my lbw shout when he was in the 90s.
We were then bowled out for 275. There were some very soft dismissals, including when Botham chipped one up to midwicket off the off-spinner Peter Taylor, who was a virtual unknown. Everyone said the Australian selectors had called up the wrong Taylor, it was meant to be Mark Taylor. But Peter got the call and played a huge role in the match, taking 6-78 in our first innings.
I batted three and a half hours for 69, an important knock in the context of the game. Despite suffering a painful groin strain, I found batting easy as I worked the ball around and didn’t feel any particular bowler was going to get me out. I played some good shots and some unorthodox ones, including slog-fall-over-sweeps against the spinners, which brought a bit of amusement from the Australians, and some sledging!
My 7-78 in Australia’s second innings was probably my best ever bowling performance, although I felt I could actually have taken more wickets. I accounted for all their last seven batsmen. Jones, Wellham, Waugh, Sleep and Taylor were all caught, while I trapped Zoehrer leg before and bowled Hughes.
But Taylor had made 42 crucial runs, helping Australia set us a target of 320 in a little over a day. We were 233/6 when I joined Richards at the crease on the last afternoon and we were still determined to try and win the match. But when Jack and Phil Edmonds fell to consecutive Sleep deliveries with the score on 257, all I could do was try to survive.
I had backed myself to play out the overs for a draw, but with only seven balls remaining, Sleep bowled me with one that kept low. I was trying to work the ball for a single, to get to the other end and face the last over from Reid rather than leaving that job to Dilley, who had just come in.
I felt a huge sinking feeling when I got out and we lost because we were on top for much of the match. I had never been the last man out in a Test, to lose the game, and I didn’t like it. It was as if my whole world had caved in.
Taylor was named man of the match for his eight wickets and useful second-innings runs, which took a lot away from me. Had we won the game, I might have got the award for my overall contribution of seven wickets and 91 runs.
Although I was disappointed with the outcome of the final Test, we had won the Ashes in fine style and had another big party back at the hotel. Elton John paid for all the food and drink, which was amazingly generous.
We got back to the hotel quite late after the match and one of the guys knocked over a fire hydrant in the underground car park without realising it. While we were partying upstairs, the bloody fire engine’s sirens were going. We didn’t know the fire hydrant was flooding the car park.
Our families met us at the airport when we returned to England, and one or two people cheered and said well done. I was involved in four series wins against Australia and there was never anything more than a pat on the back. MCC gave you a gift for every tour you went on, things like MCC cufflinks and cut glasses with your name and the tour inscribed on them, but there were no grand dinners or receptions.
I can’t think of any time when I didn’t enjoy the 1986/87 tour. The cricket was brilliant and we all just lived to play. Everyone made a contribution. Broad and Gower scored 487 and 404 runs respectively, but I also chipped in with 179 at an average of 35 from my position at number eight.
After the first Test, I don’t think we dropped a catch and we took some real stunners. I was the highest wicket-taker in the series, and I only got 18, so the likes of Dilley, Small, DeFreitas, Botham and Edmonds put in good performances as well. As you grow up, Australia are the team you most want to be successful against and in that series we produced our very best cricket when the Ashes were at stake.
