Heroics followed shock Test recall

Colin Cowdrey’s heroics on that final afternoon at the St Lawrence Ground came just months after he had been unexpectedly recalled to the England side to face Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson at their peak in the 1974/75 series Down Under. Cowdrey, whose last Test had been four years earlier, was sent out as a replacement batsman to bolster an England squad who had been left shellshocked by a 166run defeat in the opening Test at Brisbane. The former England captain, whose England Test debut was in 1954, joined Kent colleagues Alan Knott, Derek Underwood, Brian Luckhurst and Mike Denness – who was captain – and was given a warm reception by the Australian public but not so his opponents, most notably paceman Thomson, who, legend has it, responded to Cowdrey’s attempts at introductions at the wicket in less than complimentary terms. Typically, the Aussie players made no concession for Cowdrey’s age but at Perth in the second Test, he made 22 batting at No.3 in the first innings and then, having volunteered to open due to an injury to Luckhurst, added 41 in the second as the Aussies triumphed by nine wickets. Scores of 35 and 8 followed in the third Test at Melbourne, which was drawn and Cowdrey went for 22 and 1 at Sydney in the fourth Test as the hosts eased home by 171 runs to reclaim the Ashes lost four years earlier on the same ground. Australia maintained their stranglehold in the fifth Test in Adelaide, completing a 163-run win despite an unbeaten 106 from Knott and 11 wickets in the match for Underwood, who claimed 7-113 in the first innings. Cowdrey’s scores were 26 and 3 but England did at least finish the series with a win, getting home by an innings and four runs, led by skipper Denness, who, after dropping himself for the fourth Test, hit 188 to help them reach 529 in their first innings. Opener Cowdrey made just seven but did at least have the consolation of claiming his 120th catch in England colours when he took Rick McCosker off Surrey’s Geoff Arnold in the Australian second innings. Cowdrey, for whom the tour was his sixth of Australia, finished with 165 runs at 18.33, while wicketkeeper Knott finished third in the England series averages (364 runs at 36.40), with only Tony Greig (446) scoring more.

Bob Woolmer scored all three of his Test centuries against Australia