‘Can the two selves help each other?’ Mike Brearley on Bazball, Test cricket and psychoanalysis

‘A nything can happen,” Mike Brearley says as, at the age of 81, he leans forward in anticipation of the sporting event of the summer. The Ashes are coming and, 70 years since he spent a shiny sixpence on a book of England-Australia Test scores dating back to the 1870s, Brearley seems more intrigued by this new series than any other.

As he considers whether the sense of jeopardy and joy at the heart of England’s Test match resurgence will succeed against a relentless Australia, Brearley smiles helplessly. “I don’t know whether it will work,” he says of England’s bold aggression under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes. “Like everyone else, I’m fascinated to see what happens with Benbuzz.”

Brearley looks at me quizzically.“Is it called Benbuzz?” he asks in his gentlemanly way. I remind him that Bazball is the buzzword for the riveting Test cricket which England, under McCullum as coach and Stokes as captain, have developed over the past year. Brearley still provides a fascinating insight into both men and how, in his view, overcoming depression underpins the freedom and positivity of their philosophy.

The former England captain engineered one of the great Ashes comebacks in 1981 as Australia, who dominated much of the first three Tests, were swept aside. England won 3-1, with Brearley having been recalled in the third Test to replace Ian Botham as captain, but even that incredible series may be eclipsed this summer.

We’re sitting in his consulting room in the basement of his north London home where, as a psychoanalyst, Brearley has treated patients for 40 years. He still works here three days a week and his intelligence and empathy resonate during our two hours together. Whether discussing philosophy, psychoanalysis,