Editing The Ashes (section)

===1972 to 1987===
The 1972 series finished 2–2, with England under Illingworth retaining the Ashes.<ref>Harte, pp. 538–540.</ref>

In the 1974–75 series, with the England team breaking up and their best batsman Geoff Boycott refusing to play, Australian pace bowlers [[Jeff Thomson]] and [[Dennis Lillee]] wreaked havoc. A 4–1 result was a fair reflection as England were left shell shocked.<ref>Harte, pp. 557–559.</ref> England then lost the 1975 series 0–1, but at least restored some pride under new captain [[Tony Greig]].<ref>Harte, pp. 561–563.</ref>

Australia won the 1977 Centenary Test<ref>Harte, pp. 580–581.</ref> which was not an Ashes contest, but then a storm broke as [[Kerry Packer]] announced his intention to form [[World Series Cricket]].<ref>Harte, pp. 579–590</ref> WSC affected all Test-playing nations but it weakened Australia especially as the bulk of its players had signed up with Packer; the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) would not select WSC-contracted players and an almost completely new Test team had to be formed. WSC came after an era during which the duopoly of Australian and English dominance dissipated; the Ashes had long been seen as a cricket world championship but the rise of the West Indies in the late 1970s challenged that view. The West Indies would go on to record resounding Test series wins over Australia and England and dominated world cricket until the 1990s.

With Greig having joined WSC, England appointed [[Mike Brearley]] as its captain and he enjoyed great success against Australia. Largely assisted by the return of Boycott, Brearley's men won the 1977 series 3–0 and then completed an overwhelming 5–1 series win against an Australian side missing its WSC players in 1978–79. [[Allan Border]] made his Test debut for Australia in 1978–79.

Brearley retired from Test cricket in 1980 and was succeeded by [[Ian Botham]], who started the [[Australian cricket team in England in 1981|1981 series]] as England captain, by which time the WSC split had ended. After Australia took a 1–0 lead in the first two Tests, Botham was forced to resign or was sacked (depending on the source). Brearley surprisingly agreed to be reappointed before the Third Test at Headingley. This was a remarkable match in which Australia looked certain to take a 2–0 series lead after it had forced England to follow-on 227 runs behind. England, despite being 135 for 7, produced a second innings total of 356, Botham scoring 149*. Chasing just 130, Australia were sensationally dismissed for 111, [[Bob Willis]] taking 8–43. It was the first time since 1894–95 that a team following on had won a Test match. Under Brearley's leadership, England went on to win the next two matches before a drawn final match at The Oval.<ref>Harte, pp. 627–628.</ref> This series became known as 'Botham's Ashes' for his extraordinary feats with both bat and ball, after being dismissed as captain.

In 1982–83 Australia had [[Greg Chappell]] back from WSC as captain, while the England team was weakened by the enforced omission of their [[South African rebel tours|South African tour rebels]], particularly [[Graham Gooch]] and [[John Emburey]]. Australia went 2–0 up after three Tests, but England won the Fourth Test by 3 runs (after a 70-run last wicket stand) to set up the final decider, which was drawn.<ref>Harte, pp. 636–637.</ref>

In 1985, [[David Gower]]'s England team was strengthened by the return of Gooch and Emburey as well as the emergence at international level of [[Tim Robinson (English cricketer)|Tim Robinson]] and [[Mike Gatting]]. Australia, now captained by Allan Border, had itself been weakened by a rebel South African tour, the loss of [[Terry Alderman]] being a particular factor. England won 3–1.

Despite suffering heavy defeats against the West Indies during the 1980s, England continued to do well in the Ashes. Mike Gatting was the captain in 1986–87 but his team started badly and attracted some criticism.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/columns/content/story/268042.html | title=Can't bat, can't bowl, can't field | publisher=[[Cricinfo]] | last=Miller | first=Andrew | author2=Martin Williamson | date=16 November 2006 | access-date=8 November 2007 | archive-date=15 October 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071015131726/http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/columns/content/story/268042.html | url-status=live }}</ref> Then [[Chris Broad (cricketer)|Chris Broad]] scored three hundreds in successive Tests and bowling successes from [[Graham Dilley]] and [[Gladstone Small]] meant England won the series 2–1.<ref>Harte, pp. 662–664.</ref>