August 19-23 1993, The Oval. England beat Australia by 161 runs.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/1643 ... eland-1993English cricket in the 1990s was the archetypal drunk at the bar with a thousand hard luck stories. If only things were different, then... things would be different. If I didn't have bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all. Often these misfortunes were badly timed injuries to key players, usually Darren Gough and Angus Fraser, culminating in the 2002-3 Ashes tour when very nearly the whole squad got injured, plus all the replacements.
In the Ashes of 1993, those hard luck tales are the first incidents that come to mind. Atherton getting run out on 99... Gooch out handling the ball... Mark Lathwell's debut... the Gatting ball which defied the laws of Newtonian physics. That debut ball in Ashes cricket by Shane Warne, the ball of the century, is what we remember the 1993 series for. It certainly wasn't for a close and exciting contest. England went into the Ashes that year having lost every match of their winter tour: 3-0 in India, and a single Test in Sri Lanka. By the final appointment with Australia at The Oval, England were 4-0 down and the Ashes had been lost a month ago. Only a draw in Nottingham stood between England and a potential (baggy) greenwash under the pitiless squint of the magnificent Aussie captain Allan Border. Their press began provocative talk of reducing the Ashes from five or six Tests to three.
A less partial observer would have noted that Australia suffered greatly from injuries to pace bowlers themselves that year. At Lord's, Steve Waugh took the new ball (with Merv Hughes who was indomitable throughout) and Mark Waugh was the third seamer! The Australians won by an innings and 62 runs. Australia were of course far too good, and with Shane Warne in the side the Ashes was even less of a contest. Yet, in this decade, English cricket would usually have its day, typically in a game with the series long gone. And so it was at the Oval in the summer of 1993.
At Leeds that year, England had fielded their all pace Headingley attack (including Mark Ilott and Martin McCague) and lost by an innings and 148 runs, with the tourists stacking up 653-4 in their only innings. It was enough to see off Graham Gooch, who never had the support of Ted Dexter, the Chairman of Selectors. The dead rubber win at the Oval was to be England's first victory led by replacement captain Mike Atherton. This promised a new beginning under the stewardship of coach Keith Fletcher. England's revival of the early nineties had come back to earth and Micky Stewart was sacked and the hapless Lord Ted resigned. At the Oval, they went back to Devon Malcolm, Steve Watkin and Angus Fraser and won by 161 runs. These three took all twenty wickets. Fraser seized eight on his return from a hip injury. Such bad luck with injuries. Mark Ramprakash made a match winning 64, adding crucial runs with the lower order. Oh, what might have been.
For good and mainly for bad, the England side of the nineties had now assembled around their new captain, Iron Mike. Hussain, Stewart, Hick, Ramprakash, Caddick, Fraser. Phil Tufnell was in the twelve. Thorpe was injured. A year later Gough would be selected. I wonder what might have been if they hadn't been gathered under the blundering care of the amateurish Ray Illingworth?
I always say that everybody's right.