Mike Brearley biography, parents, married, wife, mana brearley, former cricketer, batting style, instagram, injury, net worth

<< Back

Edit Mode: Mike Brearley

Email *

If we need to contact you, we will contact you on this email.

Full Name *

Your name please so that we can credit your work.

Main Text *

Mike Brearley (aka <a href="/biography/mike-brearley">John Michael Brearley</a>) was born on 28th of April 1942.  The pride and joy of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Brearley">Horace Brearley</a>, Mike was a world-class player during his era, having been the captain for the international side in 31 of his 39 Test matches, winning 17 and losing only 4. His leadership extended past the field well after his playing days ended.  After almost 30 years behind the bat, he took on the responsibility as the president of the Marylebone Cricket Club from 2007 to 2008.

Personal Life:

Brearley completed his education his schooling from the City of London School and graduation from St. John's College, Cambridge. Brearley’s father <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Brearley">Horace Brearley</a> was the principal of the same school he completed his initial studies from. Brearley’s pursuit of an academic career as a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne limited his cricketing activity in 1969 and 1970, Brearley was not selected for England until the age of 34 in 1976. Till the time he completed his studies, Brearley had been performing great at cricket as a batsman and wicketkeeper. On scoring well in his debut playing, he was selected to play for Cambridge University for 5 years along with completing his post-graduation.

Brearley has been honored with the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire OBE that is considered as a reward for the contributions in various forms to the society. After his retirement from cricket, Brearley has taken up writing and the job as a psychiatrist and is currently working as the leader of British Psychoanalytical Society. Brearley is married to Mana Sarabhai who is a Gujarati and the two are blessed with two children. Indicative of his willingness to understand those around him in much deeper fashion, Brearley learned Gujarati as a symbol for the love of his wife of almost 4 years.

Career:

Brearley started his career as a lecturer at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, his profession being a lecturer wouldn’t leave him with much for his cricket passion. He spent most of his playing career with Middlesex County Cricket Club; Mike was highly regarded for his excellent wicketkeeper and impressive management abilities.  Brearley is credited with leading his team to four County Championships, in 1976, ’77, ‘80 and ’82.  Due to this, he was not selected in the cricket series until 1976 for England. He played as a batsman and his performance wasn’t up to the mark and he failed to score a century.

[page-break]

Believing the psychology of the game to be vital, Brearly applied to train at the Institute of Psychoanalysis.  Initially denied, he was accepted into the program after it was learned that he was the captain of a prominent cricket team (Middlesex). Brearly applied seeking to improve not only his physical skills but his mental ones as well.  He believed “Cricket is a psychological game — a lot goes on in the head in terms, for example, of shrewdness, resilience, bluff, individualism and team spirit”. “Captaining calls for a down-to-earth sense of what makes players tick, both to help get the best out of one’s own team and to probe the weakness of the opposition. People ask me if psychology helped me in this role. It did, but the reverse applied equally: cricket helped me to be more psychologically aware.”  The investment he made into himself through the program paid huge dividends when, in 1977, his qualities of great captaincy were noticed.  In 1977, he was selected as the captain for England’s national cricket team.

According to historical data found on the ESPN website, Brearley captained England to the final of the 1979 Cricket World Cup, scoring 53 in the semi-final against New Zealand and 64 in the final against the West Indies. However, his opening partnership of 129 with <a href="/biography/geoffrey-boycott">Geoff Boycott</a> in the final used up 38 of 60 allotted overs; Preemptive efforts of thwarting the potent pace attack of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Roberts_(cricketer)">Andy Roberts</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Holding">Michael Holding</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Croft">Colin Croft</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Garner">Joel Garner</a> were first needed for such achievements to be recorded. Diluting Brearley’s leadership efforts, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Garner">Garner</a> bowled a spell of 5 wickets for 4 runs to induce a drastic collapse and hand the West Indies the match and the World Cup by 92 runs.

The loss did not keep Brearley from continued prominence on and off the field. He was well known for his people soft skills, being a captain, he would select the best of players for the team to play. Brearley was the <a href="/biography/mike-brearley">captain</a> when the incident of the aluminum bat had occurred. He was quite innovative when it came to cricket equipment; he used to wear a skull cap which was made from plastic that protected his head and skull. This was then made famous by an Indian batsman and later, commentator, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunil_Gavaskar">Sunil Gavaskar</a>.

Brearley lost captaincy of the team in 1980 and the reigns handed over to <a href="/biography/ian-botham">Ian Botham</a>. However, on the resignation of <a href="/biography/ian-botham">Ian Botham</a> from captaincy. This perceived changing of the guard was short-lived, however.  Brearley joined in again as England’s team captain after a year. Brearley was considered the best captain as his strategies gave fruitful results than that of <a href="/biography/ian-botham">Botham</a>. After retiring from cricket captaincy, he took up writing, motivational speaking and also a psychotherapist. He was awarded a PH. D degree by Oxford Brookes University. He also worked as a journalist for The Times and published a book named The Art of Captaincy. Brearley’s captaincy abilities remain highly respected and his book is considered a staple of cricket literature.  He was selected as leader of MCC; he had replaced <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Insole">Doug Insole</a> for the same position.

References: 
 "The British Psychoanalytical Society: Psychoanalytic Technique Today" (PDF). Retrieved from web.archive.org.

Mike Brearley: Captaincy and the human mind The Australian (2017).  The Australian. <a href="/biography/michael-atherton">Mike Atherton</a> 
URL:  https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/cricket/mike-brearley-captaincy-and-the-human-mind/news-story/5db5aaedabb0fa58c01240caeb906bfe

"1st SF: England v New Zealand at Manchester". Retrieved from ESPN Cricinfo: http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/8039/scorecard/65061/england-vs-new-zealand-1st-sf-prudential-world-cup-1979.

"Final: England v West Indies at Lord's". Retrieved from ESPN Cricinfo: http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/8039/scorecard/65063/england-vs-west-indies-final-prudential-world-cup-1979

Source *

Source you received the information from. eg. personal experiences, acquaintances, web-links, etc

Comment *

Briefly describe the changes you made.

Warning! All fields are required. Empty fields won't allow the form to be submitted and your changes will be lost.
Once the changes are submitted they cannot be edited again until your submission is reviewed.