After a reasonably impressive Test debut in 1978, he went on to expose the age-old weakness of the Australian batsmen against classical off-spin bowling down under in 1979-80. But he had to wait for well over a year to make his next Test appearance! He realised how hard it could be even for the best of players at the international level.
Though enormously talented, he never performed consistently well in Test cricket, which was one of the main reasons why he didn't have a regular place in the England team.
He had a good outing in the Caribbean in 1981 and the same year he played an important all-round role in England's historic Ashes triumph at home. But he was a rank failure on the Indian pitches in 1981-82 where Gundappa Viswanath and others relegated him to an average 'offie'.
He came back strongly and claimed 6 for 33 at Colombo in February 1982 in what was Sri Lanka's maiden Test.
It was his last hurrah before embarking on the officially disapproved tour of South Africa. He kept performing creditably for Middlesex (which punished him by removing him as vice-captain) while serving his three-year ban, bagging 103 wickets in the 1983 English season. He had a fruitful Ashes series in 1985, scalping 19 victims at 28.63. Though England was thrashed 5-0 in the West Indies in 1986, he was one of the few successes for the visiting side, troubling almost all batsmen save the peerless Vivian Richards.
Advertisement
