It’s the final Countdown.
In about 34 hours I’ll be settled on the sofa, beer in one hand, remote control in the other, praying that it’s not raining in Brisbane so I can watch the morning session of the first Test. I almost wish my little girl was still struggling to sleep through the night.
The prospect of such a simple evening’s entertainment made me think back to some of my favourite personal Ashes memories (that I remember myself, sadly excluding Botham’s Ashes of 1981 (I was only one!) and Mike Gatting’s triumphant tourists five years later) , so I thought I’d share some with you.
As a reflection of my nature they tend to be of the positive variety, so – in no particular order – here goes:
Michael Vaughan lifting the Ashes in 2005. This was my first experience of an Ashes triumph. The celebrations showed what a close group the team were and how they’d pulled together over the course of a gruelling summer to beat, at the time, the best side in the world.
Brett Lee smearing a Steve Harmison full-bunger towards the point boundary with Australia requiring just 4 to win and take 2-0 lead at Edgbaston in the 2005 series. My heart jumped in to my throat as soon as the ball rocketed off the middle of the bat, but Matthew Hoggard was sweeping the boundary (inspired field placement by Vaughany!), and two balls later Kasprowicz gloved one to Geraint Jones and the Test was won.
I was lucky enough to be at The Oval for the fourth morning of the final Test, and watched Andrew Flintoff cement his slot as an English icon by claiming 4-29 in a devasting unbroken 14 over spell in the morning session, reducing Australia from a 277/2 to 367 all out. Flintoff’s heroics gave England the chance to build a lead that had looked increasingly unlikely at the start of play, and with the amount of time lost to rain and bad light on day 3, Australia were up against it. Which leads nicely on to…
Kevin Pietersen’s 158 the very next day. I had been staying with my mum and dad after seeing the fourth day’s play, and as I was leaving to begin the journey back to Uni in Cheltenham, KP had just come to the crease with England – typically – struggling, have done so well the previous day. At 67/3, the only way Australia were going to be able to force the win was by bowling England out both cheaply and quickly. Which is among England’s favourite ways to be bowled out. Of course the situation required a calm, mature mind to steady the ship and see England – hopefully – to a dull, uninsipring draw. The young lad with the strange accent and the even stranger haircut had other ideas, of course. The 8 balls he faced to get off the mark was the calm before the storm, and he quickly made his way to his 50 off 72 balls, including two sixes – one lucky, one magnificent – off of a fired up Brett Lee. His next 50 came off even fewer balls, and by the time he departed for 158 with England 308/8, the game was as good as over.
England winning the first Test in the 1997 series. Not only did we skittle an Aussie batting line-up featuring Mark Taylor and both Waughs for just 118 (Australia having won the toss), we then proceeded to dispatch McGrath, Warne et al. to all parts of Edgbaston, Hussain notching his only Test double hundred, and a typical Graham Thorpe innings of 138 giving England a first innings lead of 360. Despite an Australian fightback, England were left to chase a modest 118 for victory, Alec Stewart hitting the winning runs with a beautiful cover driver to the boundary off Warne. My abiding memory of that shot is that Stewart began celebrating with a clenched fist in his follow through before the ball had even clattered into the boundary boards. Spine-tingling.
As I mentioned these are all the positives, but of course there are some negatives as well – although it speaks wonders of the human mind that I struggle to recall where I was and what I was doing for most of them. On the other hand I could tell you exactly where I was for all those I’ve mentioned above – standing on the balcony at 6 Christchurch Court, Cheletenham; same again (I was a smoker in those days, and boy did I smoke during that Australian second innings!); The Oval, of course; a combination of my mum and dad’s kitchen (watching the KP ‘hook’ of Lee sail over deep fine leg off a huge top edge on their old TV), a slightly banged up Renault Clio on the M25, M40, A40 and – you guessed it, the balcony of 6 Christchurch Court; and finally in one of the first floor rooms of my old sixth form block in Tunbridge Wells, probably watching when I shouldn’t have been.
The negatives – Harmison’s first ball direct into the hands of second slip in 2006/07; Michael Slater crashing a Phil Defreitas long hop to the cover boundary off the first ball of the series 12 years earlier; Shane Warne dancing with a stump above his head like an aged, bleached blonde aunty who’s seen better days – just don’t hold as many memories.
So what are your favourite/least favourite Ashes moments, and where were you when they took place?
Bonus points for funny/slightly inappropriate comments…
I remember sitting in the sun at the Oval last year as Stuart Broad worked his way through the Australian order in what seemed at the time like no more than a matter of minutes. When in the field he had to keep switching positions as the Australians had a right and a left handed batman at the crease most of the afternoon. Every time Broad moved across the field to take up his new temporary field position in front of one of two stands he was greeted by a standing ovation by the English fans. This happened continuously every other ball for a couple of hours.
I wish your English team a 5-0 drubbing. You English people are pathetic losers. Everytime, we came to your shores whether ’92,’96,’00 or this year, your moronic media couldn’t handle our talent. When we reverse swing the ball then it is ball tempering and when your bowlers do it then it is an art. So lame ..
Our fast bowlers exposed the weaknesses in your batsmen’s techniques this past summer and let me assure you that Ponting and Co were watching your batsmen’s clueless stays at the pitches.. Be ready for humiliation my friend. Your ‘simple evening’s entertainment’ will bear you no fruits. It is useless my friend, it is useless..
GO Ponting, go.. I cant believe I am rooting for an As*** like Ponting but anybody over your darn English team..
Easy there John.
Not only is this completely off topic, it’s also full of nonsense.
It’s not the job of our media to ‘handle your (Pakistan, I assume?) talent’. That’s the job of our players, and I’d say the series win was evidence that they did a pretty good job.
Our media did what they always do – which isn’t to say I approve – but given their reputation for carrying out this sort of sting, your players and their support staff should have been hyper-sensitive to any sort of approach, let alone the sort they fell victim to.
The fact that they were sucked in so easily says more about the state of Pakistani cricket than I ever could – at least without dedicating a whole separate post to it, which I’m not about to do.
I’m also not going to get involved in some tit-for-tat exchange, so whoever you’re supporting over the next 6 weeks or so, I hope you enjoy the series and get the chance to witness some exhilarating circket.