The man who was primarily responsible for appointing Brearley was Alec Bedser, not a man given to hyperbole. And Botham was a man whose early First Class career was played under the watchful eye of Brian Close, himself a quite outstanding captain who brought great success to Yorkshire in the 1960s, before in the early 1970s turning cinderella county Somerset into genuine contenders, and who guided England to victory in six of the seven Tests in which he led them. After all this was the man of whom Ian Botham said Brearley was without doubt the best captain I ever played under, a man with a billion dollar cricketing brain. That 58.06% has, amongst those who have served on more than 15 occasions, never been exceeded and Brearley’s reputation has, if anything, grown as the years have passed since he finally relinquished the job in favour of Keith Fletcher at the end of the magical summer of 1981.įor my part for years I never questioned Brearley’s pre-eminence, mainly because nobody else ever seemed to.
His side won 18 of those matches giving him a 58.06% success rate. Mike Brearley captained England in 31 Tests between 19. Mike Brearley – England’s Greatest Captain? Martin Chandler | 12:00am BST 06 April 2012 Mike Brearley - England's Greatest Captain?