†AUSTRALIA v ENGLAND 1986-87

At Melbourne, February 8. England won by six wickets. Luck with the toss was the decisive factor: when Gatting won it on an overcast morning on which drizzle delayed the start by an hour, he earned England the equivalent of a 30-to 40-run advantage. In the event, victory should have come more easily than it did, for England failed with the ball to make the best use of the helpful conditions. They were additionally favoured in that by the time Broad and Botham opened England's innings, it was a perfect, sunny afternoon with not a cloud in sight. Botham set England up with an innings of powerful but mainly orthodox strokes which took heavy toll of the constraints placed on Border concerning the disposition of his field. As though to underline the point, Botham (52 balls) was caught just inside the long-off boundary as soon as Australia were permitted more than two men outside the 30-yard oblong. Only Athey's deliberation (12 off 57 balls) prolonged the innings into the 36th over.

There was regular movement through the air and off the pitch when England bowled, both opening batsmen going to slip catches in the first two overs. But a surfeit of no-balls, from one of which Border (at 2) was also caught at slip, helped Australia gain a foothold. The third wicket added 103 in 27 overs, and until Ritchie was run out by Jones, Australia had a total of 200 in prospect. However, England's bowling tightened, and when five wickets fell for 30 in ten overs, the result was almost a formality.

Attendance: 51,589.