There are many things a man should be doing 11 days short of his 42nd birthday: weeding, dusting off old records, watching Countdown, maybe even buying a new pair of leather trousers. What he shouldn't be doing is fronting up to two rabid Aussie tearaways on a Perth flyer, but that's exactly what happened to Colin Cowdrey when he was pitched in against Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson at the WACA in 1974-75. With England battered and bruised from their first Test mauling - Dennis Amiss and John Edrich both suffered fractured hands - Cowdrey was flown out for a record-equalling sixth tour of Australia, and within four days of arriving he was batting at No. 3 in his first Test for over three years. He wasn't the only one making a comeback: Fred Titmus appeared for the first time since losing four toes in a boating accident in the Caribbean in 1968, and top-scored with 61 in the second innings.

Cowdrey was soon into the firing line after England lost the second of four consecutive tosses in the series. He showed great courage in making 22 off 101 balls, and would bat even more heroically as an opener in the second innings, but with only David Lloyd (49 in his first Ashes innings) and Alan Knott (51) reaching 30, England were sent packing for 208 just before the close.

Australia were in charge from then on. The top four all got a start and got out, but from 192 for 4, Ross Edwards and Doug Walters took the game away from England with a blistering partnership of 170. Walters was 3 not out at tea, and pulled England to distraction in the first hour of the evening session, smashing 67 runs. But with Edwards inadvertently denying him the strike, Walters looked unlikely to reach his century before the close. It came down to the last ball from Bob Willis, with Walters needing three for his century and six to complete a century in a session for the second time in his Test career. Ever the crowd-pleaser, Walters had one last trick up his sleeve …

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Rob Smyth is assistant editor of Wisden.com.

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