PHOTO BY ADRIAN MURRELL
English cricket was on the defensive. They’d been thrashed in the Ashes the previous summer and rebel tourists were returning to Heathrow from South Africa with tails between legs and the howls of anti-apartheid protesters in their ears.
In the Caribbean, Graham Gooch’s side were bracing themselves for another grilling. England hadn’t won a Test against West Indies for 16 years. By contrast, the Windies hadn’t lost a home series since 1973 and lost only one of their last 32 home Tests.