John Michael Brearley (born 28 April 1942) is a retired English first-class

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

er who captained Cambridge University, Middlesex, and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. He captained the international side in 31 of his 39 Test matches, winning 18 and losing only 4. He was the President of the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influenc ...

(MCC) in 2007–08. Since his retirement from professional cricket he has pursued a career as a writer and psychoanalyst, serving as President of the British Psychoanalytical Society 2008–10. In 2015, an article in the

Bleacher Report Bleacher Report (often abbreviated as B/R) is a website that focuses on sport and sports culture. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, with offices in New York City and London. Bleacher Report was acquired by Turner Broadcasting System in Au ...

ranked Brearley as England's greatest ever cricket captain. He is married to Mana Sarabhai who is from Ahmedabad,

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

and they have two children together.

Early life

Brearley was educated at the City of London School (where his father

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ...

, himself a first-class cricketer, was a master). While at St. John's College, Cambridge, Brearley excelled at cricket (he was then a

wicketkeeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. ...

/batsman). After making 76 on his first-class debut as a wicketkeeper, he played for

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

between 1961 and 1968 (captaining the side from 1964 onwards), first as an undergraduate in the Classical and Moral Sciences

tripos At the University of Cambridge, a Tripos (, plural 'Triposes') is any of the examinations that qualify an undergraduate for a bachelor's degree or the courses taken by a student to prepare for these. For example, an undergraduate studying mathe ...

, and then as a postgraduate. While still at Cambridge, he was chosen for the

(MCC) tour to South Africa in 1964–65, and to captain the MCC Under-25 side in Pakistan in 1966–67, where he scored 312 not out against North Zone (his highest first-class score) and 223 against the Pakistan Under-25 side he ended the tour with 793 runs from six matches at an average of 132.

County cricket

From 1961 onwards, he played for

Middlesex County Cricket Club Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Middlesex which has effectively been subsumed within the ceremonial ...

, often opening the

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). Innings, in cricket, and rounders, is ...

with Michael Smith. As captain between

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

and

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C., Un ...

, he led Middlesex to

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It b ...

s in 1976, 1977 (jointly with

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

), 1980 and 1982; and he appeared in Free Foresters' very last first-class fixture, in

1968 The year was highlighted by Protests of 1968, protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechos ...

, keeping wicket and scoring 91.

International cricket

In part because of his pursuit of an academic career as a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which limited his cricketing activity in 1969 and 1970, Brearley was not selected for England until the age of 34 in 1976. His record in Test cricket as a

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, th ...

was modest (he averaged 22.88 in 66 Test

, without a century), but he was an outstanding captain. He made his highest test score of 91 on tour against India in February 1977. Having previously kept wicket, he was also a fine slip catcher, usually at first slip. He took over as captain of England later in 1977. His management skills (he was once described by Rodney Hogg as having "a degree in people") drew the best from the players in his team, although he was fortunate to be able to call on the services of Bob Willis,

David Gower David Ivon Gower (born 1 April 1957) is an English cricket commentator and former cricketer who was captain of the England cricket team during the 1980s. Described as one of the most stylish left-handed batsmen of his era, Gower played 117 Te ...

and

Ian Botham Ian Terence Botham, Baron Botham, (born 24 November 1955) is an English cricket commentator, member of the House of Lords, a former cricketer who has been chairman of Durham County Cricket Club since 2017 and charity fundraiser. Hailed as on ...

at their peak. Brearley was captain during the infamous aluminium bat incident in 1979, when he objected to

Dennis Lillee Dennis Keith Lillee, (born 18 July 1949) is Australian retired cricketer rated as the "outstanding fast bowler of his generation".

's use of a metal bat instead of one made of willow. On the same tour, he caused controversy at the end of an international one-day match against the West Indies at the Sydney Cricket Ground when he ordered all his fielders, including the wicketkeeper, to the boundary with three runs required off the last ball (this was legal by the rules of the time). In all Botham and Willis took 262 wickets during the 31 test matches that Brearley captained. The importance of Willis in particular to England led Brearley into further controversies regarding the bowling of short-pitched deliveries at recognised tailend batsmen, during Pakistan’s tour of England in 1978, and more briefly, during England's 1978-9 tour of Australia. Brearley himself had been an innovator regarding cricket equipment himself, wearing a 'skull cap' under his England cap in 1977 (in the days before players wore helmets). It consisted of a plastic protector with two side pieces protecting his temples. It was later popularised by the Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar. Brearley captained England to the final of the 1979 Cricket World Cup, scoring 53 in the semi-final against New Zealand and 64 in the final against the West Indies. However, his opening partnership of 129 with Geoff Boycott in the final used up 38 of 60 allotted overs; although it was recognised that a potent pace attack of Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Colin Croft and Joel Garner needed to be countered, the speed of the partnership greatly added to the pressure on the rest of the order. Garner bowled a spell of 5 wickets for 4 runs to induce a drastic collapse and hand the West Indies the match and the World Cup by 92 runs. Having passed the England captaincy to

in 1980 (losing his Test place in the process), Brearley returned as captain following Botham's resignation for the third Test against Australia at Headingley in

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major off ...

, going on to win the match and two of the remaining three matches of the series to win the Ashes 3–1. His leadership benefited from Botham's recovered form following his winless captaincy record and his nosedive in form (he had made a pair in the second Test at Lord's) to take a first-innings 6 for 95 and score 50 and 149 not out in the third Test at Headingley, bowl a spell of 5 wickets for 1 run in the fourth Test at Edgbaston, score 118 from 102 balls in the fifth Test at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after We ...

, and take a 10-wicket match haul (6 for 125 and 4 for 128) in the sixth Test at the Oval. In spite of his limited reputation as an international batsman, Brearley also made an important if less high-profile contribution to the fourth test, scoring more runs than any other batsman (61) in a match which England won by 29 runs.

Post-cricket career

Brearley opposed sporting links with

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

South Africa, seconding a motion to the MCC in 1968 calling for the cessation of tours until there was actual progress towards non-racial cricket. He seconded the motion from David Sheppard to the MCC, calling for the England tour to South Africa to be cancelled, and was a supporter of John Arlott who campaigned in ''The Guardian'' for the same objective. He is now a

psychoanalyst PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: + . is a set of Theory, theories and Therapy, therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a bo ...

, psychotherapist (registered with the BPC), motivational speaker, and part-time cricket journalist for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

''. He was appointed an

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in 1978, and published ''

The Art of Captaincy ''The Art of Captaincy'' () is a book written by former cricketer Mike Brearley, first published in 1985 by Hodder and Stoughton Ltd. The book draws on his various experiences while captaining Middlesex and later leading England to the famous A ...

'' in 1985. He published another book, ''On Form'', in 2017. In 1998, he became an Honorary Fellow of his Cambridge college, St. John's and in 2006 was awarded an honorary doctorate by Oxford Brookes University. Brearley succeeded Doug Insole as President of MCC on 1 October 2007, and chose Derek Underwood to succeed him at the end of his term. He was president of the British Psychoanalytical Society, 2008–10.

References

External links