Inside The Tour

Episode 2: The Ashes ’86/87 - Can’t Bat, Can’t Bowl, Can’t Field

England’s ramshackle cricketers arrive in Australia and, true to recent form, start losing to part-time state teams. The cricket seems secondary to the drinking as England lurch from the Bundaberg Rum Distillery to parties with the America’s Cup yachtsmen in Perth. “We were rubbish, truly rubbish”. As the late cricket writer Martin Johnson wrote at the time: “There are only three things wrong with this English team. They can’t bat, they can’t bowl and they can’t field.” Of course, at the time, he was totally correct. Just a little premature. On the eve of the first test, things take a surprising turn thanks to a legend of English sport...
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The inside story of the most triumphant tours in sporting history.

Season 2 returns this December as a box set, following the England cricket team on their astonishing 1986/87 series. A tour hugely significant for both nations – after this, England wouldn’t win the Ashes again for 18 years. The embarrassing defeat sent Allan Border’s Australia to rock bottom and yet, somehow, they recovered to become a cricket superpower. This is the story of that incredible journey, told by players from both teams plus host Mark Pougatch, who was a backpacking 18-year-old in Australia at the time. His diary brings to life an incredible story of unknown call-ups, unlikely heroes, and a result that shocked the sporting world.

In series 1, presenter Alastair Eykyn took us back to the legendary British and Irish Lions rugby tour in South Africa, 1997. With few giving them a chance, a disparate group of characters bonded into a band of brothers that upset the reigning world champions.

This is Inside The Tour – giving you the inside story, told by those who were there.