England should channel Colin Cowdrey's defiant bravery THE great man himself sadly has passed on but if England is to make a heroic stand against Mitchell Johnson in defence of the Ashes in Perth over the coming days, it would do well to invoke the spirit of Colin Cowdrey. Thirty-nine years ago this week, a pear-shaped 41-year-old Cowdrey left behind a cold, bleak English winter and headed to Perth, there to walk into the hottest cricketing assignment of his life. Mike Denness's side had just encountered the terror twins Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee for the first time in the Brisbane Test and not only had come out on the wrong side of a 166-run defeat but in the process had lost Dennis Amiss and John Edrich to broken hands, while Keith Fletcher had a numb forearm after being smashed by a Lillee bouncer.