Brearley January 1980 Location and photographer unknown The England captain, sporting the beard that spooked the Aussie public into nicknaming him ‘Ayatollah’, masterminded a 5-1 Ashes win in 1978/79 against a team ravaged by defections to Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket. A year later, the two teams met in a hastily arranged three-Test rubber which took place after an agreement was reached by the Australian cricket board and the WSC defectors. The series, which fell outside of the official Ashes story, was won 3-0 by Australia, but it has been largely consigned to history, with Dennis Lillee’s infamous aluminium bat its only footnote. Although Brearley never made a Test hundred he nonetheless occupies a unique position in Ashes folklore, as the captain who orchestrated the ’78/79 win and the 1981 turnaround.