One day at Headingley

The cyclist sipping wine on the terrace of a Thames-side pub may not look much like an English hero, but anybody who loves cricket knows that he ranks only slightly lower than the angels. Thirty years ago Bob Willis bowled England to the most astonishing victory in the history of Test cricket, taking eight for 43 on a mad Monday in Leeds that held the nation entranced. Three decades later, not even the superb performances of the current England players, who are facing India at the Oval this week as the No. 1 team in the world, can efface the memories of ’81.‘Botham’s Ashes’, they call that series, with reason. The great all-rounder, stripped of the captaincy after the second Test of that summer, responded so mightily with bat and ball that nobody who saw him cart the Aussies to all parts will forget the majesty of his cricket. But his mate ‘Bobby’ was with him every step of the way, marching towards a career haul of 325 Test wickets, more than any other English fast bowler (Botham, the all-rounder, took 383).