John Michael Brearley OBE (born 28 April 1942) is a retired English first-class cricketer who captained Cambridge University, Middlesex, and England.

Since his retirement from professional cricket he has pursued a career as a psychoanalyst, psychotherapist (registered with the BPC), motivational speaker, and writer, serving as President of the British Psychoanalytical Society 2008–10.

After making 76 on his first-class debut as a wicketkeeper,[4] he played for Cambridge University between 1961 and 1968 (captaining the side in 1964), first as an undergraduate in the Classical and Moral Sciences tripos, and then as a postgraduate.

As captain between 1971 and 1982, he led Middlesex to County Championships in 1976, 1977 (jointly with Kent), 1980 and 1982;[7] and he appeared in Free Foresters' very last first-class fixture, in 1968, keeping wicket and scoring 91.

[8] In part because of his pursuit of an academic career as a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne,[9] which limited his cricketing activity in 1969 and 1970, Brearley was not selected for England until the age of 34 in 1976.

His management skills (he was once described by Rodney Hogg as having "a degree in people") drew the best from the players in his team, although he was fortunate to be able to call on the services of Bob Willis, David Gower and Ian Botham at their peak.

[11] On the same tour, he caused controversy at the end of an international one-day match against the West Indies at the Sydney Cricket Ground when he ordered all his fielders, including the wicketkeeper, to the boundary with three runs required off the last ball (this was legal under the rules of the time).

[23] Brearley opposed sporting links with apartheid South Africa, seconding a motion to the MCC in 1968 calling for the cessation of tours until there was progress towards non-racial cricket.

He seconded the motion from David Sheppard to the MCC, calling for the England tour to South Africa to be cancelled, and was a supporter of John Arlott who campaigned in The Guardian for the same objective.