Mike Brearley

Mike Brearley Biography

The famous cartoon of Brearley by John Minnon of The Guardian summed it up. In it Mike Brearley, the captain, charismatic and dapper in his blazer, towered over Mike Brearley the batsman, in his flannels, with a sheepish look on his face.

Brearley the batsman averaged 22.88 in his 39 Tests for England. But he led them in 31 of them and was worth his weight in gold as captain. His captaincy record, 18 wins to 4 losses, stands at the very top across time and lands. With a brain simmering with cricketing intelligence, a mind adroit in reading situations, and skills which led Rodney Hogg to observe ‘degree in people’, the Middlesex and England captain could supposedly win matches with his tactics and strategy.

However, he was the first one to admit that luck had a lot to do with it. It was not captaincy which resulted in the Ian Botham-Bob Willis miracle at Headingley, or the fact that the 5-1 Ashes win in 1978-79 was helped by the best Australian players engaged in the Packer Circus. Brearley himself maintained that captaincy could not perform miracles. Indeed, when he led England to Australia in 1979-80, the frontline cricketers were back for the hosts and the three-match series was lost 0-3.

But from painstaking detail in studying the opposition, the professional exactness with a certain subtlety in arranging the nets, the slight signals for the slips to inch in or move back, the helmet placed at short mid-wicket to entice the batsmen to hit Phil Edmonds against the turn and pick up 5 penalty runs, asking a retired old Fred Titmus to prolong his friendly visit to the dressing room by playing for Middlesex, declaration at 0 for 0 to take advantage of a green wicket — Brearley was a captain unlike anyone the cricket world has witnessed.

After retirement, Brearley moved to the field that seemed to have been tailor made for him. He is now a psychoanalyst and psychotherapist—registered with the British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC). That is perhaps the best post-cricketing vocation for someone known to have a ‘degree in people’.

Arunabha Sengupta

Mike Brearley Batting & Fielding Averages

Career	M	In	R	NO	HS	Avg	BF	SR	100s	50s	4s	6s	Ct	St
Test	39	66	1442	3	91	22.88	4845	29.76	0	9	131	0	52	0
ODIs	25	24	510	3	78	24.28	1120	45.53	0	3	47	0	12	0
T20s	0	--	--	--		--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
World Cup	5	5	161	0	64	32.20	404	39.85	0	2	12	0	4	0

Mike Brearley Bowling Averages

Career	M	B	R	W	Avg	EC	SR	5WI	10WM	BBI	BBM
Test	39	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
ODIs	25	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
T20s	0	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
World Cup	5	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--		--

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