Ellison shared the third spot alongside the spinners, playing two and three Tests respectively. Cowdrey and Ellison had struggled with the ball, both averaging more than 70. However, the side was extensively remodelled for the first Test of that summer's Ashes series. Of the bowlers who had played the last Test in India, only Cowans had survived the cull and it set the tone for the series. England won the first Test, yet dropped Cowans and Peter Willey, replacing them with Phil Edmonds and Foster. After losing the second Test, and struggling with the ball in the third Test, when Australia made 539 all out in their only innings, England decided to make further changes. Agnew had performed consistently in county cricket through June and July, culminating in what was to be, statistically, his finest moment as a bowler. Playing against Kent, he took 9–70 in the first innings. His timing was perfect and he was called up for the Fourth Test at Old Trafford to partner Ian Botham and Paul Allott in an all-Cheshire born seam attack. The match finished as a draw, and Agnew failed to take a wicket. He was relegated from an opening bowler in the first innings, to fifth bowler in the second, in which he only bowled nine overs. He was subsequently dropped again from the side, only for Richard Ellison to cement his place with match-winning performances that helped claim the Ashes for England. Later playing career and retirement In the 1987 season, Agnew achieved the feat of 100 first-class wickets in an English cricket season when he took 101 wickets for his county. He was the first Leicestershire player to achieve this milestone since Jack Birkenshaw in 1968, which was the season before the county programme was greatly reduced, making the feat much less common. By this stage, he was working on local radio during the winters and he found the reassurance of the additional income and career path a major factor in his improved form. Wisden preferred to attribute his success to "bowling off a shorter run and ... a wicked slower ball added to his armoury". The achievement led to him being selected as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year. Agnew's form remained good: he followed his 1987 feat of taking the second-most wickets in the County Championship by taking the third-most in 1988. In 1989, with