Lives in Cricket No 30 - MJK Smith

92 Chapter Eleven Ashes frustration The 1965 season began with Mike firmly installed as England captain. This was also the first English summer since the ill- fated Triangular Tournament of 1912 in which Tests were played against two visiting teams. A New Zealand side better equipped to compete than their immediate predecessors were still comfortably beaten in each of their three matches, culminating in an innings thrashing at Headingley after John Edrich had made 310 not out. But South Africa provided sterner opposition in the second half of the summer, a win at Trent Bridge in the only match to reach a decisive conclusion giving them the three-match series. For Mike it was not a prolific season with the bat. There was a century stand with Cowdrey against New Zealand at Lord’s, when he made 44, his highest in Tests that summer. Against South Africa he usually made a start but failed to build on it, perhaps most critically with scores of 32 and 24 at Nottingham in the 94-run defeat at the hands of the Pollock brothers. Graeme’s memorable 125, after South Africa had been 43 for four, was followed by 59 in the second innings, while Peter took five wickets in each innings. There was the spectre of a triumphant finale for Mike before the Third Test at The Oval had to be abandoned. Statham, justifying a nostalgic final recall with five for 40, and his Lancashire partner Ken Higgs, with four for 47 on debut, dismissed South Africa for 208, only for England’s batsmen, all out for 202, to let the advantage slip. A superb 127 from Bland then gave South Africa the upper hand. Needing 399 to win, Russell and Barrington, both passing 70, kept England’s chances alive. With 70 minutes left and six wickets in hand, 99 were required to level the series when the weather closed in. With Cowdrey easing into his strokes on 78 and Mike’s eye in on 10, might there have been a memorable win? For Warwickshire, too, it was a summer of disappointment. As the county fell to eleventh place in the Championship, so did Mike’s personal form fall short of normal expectation. In the 20 first-class matches he played for the county there were 1,001 runs at 32.29, comfortably his least productive return for a full season. Uniquely