5 captains who lost their job because of an Ashes failure

1 Ian Botham

Botham still holds the record for being the highest wicket-taker for England in Tests against Australia but the Ashes in 1981 did not get off to a good start for the Englishman.

Botham's abilities as a player had been severely affected due to the burden of captaincy and after defeat in the second Test in1981 at Lord's, England were trailing 1-0. He had scored ducks in both innings in that Test and resigned from the captaincy before he could be sacked by the selectors.

Mike Brearley was appointed captain after his resignation. However, his sacking proved to be a boon and England staged one of the most remarkable Ashes comebacks in history in the series. Botham led the way in the third Test at Headingley with a blistering 149 after England had been asked to follow in and helped the team in squaring the series.

England went on to win the next two Tests and won the series, that came to be known as 'Botham's Ashes', 3-1. There has never been a loss of captaincy in this series that led to such incredible results.