In this special episode of the 81allout podcast, we chat with Michael Sexton on his latest book Border's Battlers, which provides a fascinating account of the iconic tied Test between India and Australia at Chepauk in September 1986. Michael has been a journalist, producer, and sportswriter for over three decades and been a part of ABC, BBC, and Channel Nine. He has written eight books and two of them on cricket - Chappell's Last Stand and Border's Battlers.
Talking points:
Contextualizing the state of Australian cricket and Border's captaincy coming into the Test series against India
Vaudeville reenactment of the last over of the tied Test by Greg Matthews
Dean Jones's magnificent double-century followed by an ambulance ride to the hospital
Getting the geographical specificity of Chennai and Chepauk right
Heroic efforts of Ray Bright and forever-on-the-field 13th man, Mike Veletta
Influence of Bob Simpson and the elephantine memory of Errol Alcott
Kapil Dev's brilliant counterattacking century
Murmurs of a headbutt and the rancorous spirit through the dramatic stages of the match
The camaraderie and consistency of Dara Dotiwala and Vikram Raju
Shivlal Yadav's six; a rational and calculative Ravi Shastri under immense pressure
Parallels and the differences to the tied Test in Brisbane in 1960
Participants:
Michael Sexton (@Michael_Sexton5)
Siddharatha Vaidyanathan (@Sidvee)
Mahesh Sethuraman (@cornerd)
Related:
Scorecards of the tied Tests - Brisbane '60 and Chennai '86
Madras Magic - a documentary on the Chennai tied Test
Highlights of the Brisbane tied Test
Martin Smith on how the tied Test ended the career of Vikram Raju
Arunabha Sengupta on the dramatic last day of the Test
Dean Jones and the second tied Test at the Bradman Museum
Books recommendations from Michael Sexton:
Edging Towards Darkness - John Lazenby
Harold Larwood: the Ashes bowler who wiped out Australia - Duncan Hamilton