England had only ever twice before defended a total of under 200 in the fourth innings at Lord’s. And one of those times was against Ireland. So the way they came together under Ben Stokes forthright leadership to bowl India out for 170 was truly memorable. As was Stokes’ unstinting contribution with the ball - 19 overs on the final day to go with 25 on other days - and determination with the bat. The only man more delighted than Stokes with England’s painstaking victory was the new MCC chief exec Rob Lawson who saw 5 days of full houses and healthy takings and no refunds on the final day as play lasted more than 30 overs. It was a fantastic advert for cricket all round as we echo on the podcast above.
So was the epic 2005 Ashes series. Simon Mann and I have assembled a six-part podcast (audio and video) series looking back at those classic contests, interviewing the participants and replaying some of the great moments. I have funded this series myself - the ECB have kindly allowed me to use the archive at no cost - because it was so memorable, the last on terrestrial TV, and was the reason many people I meet got interested in cricket. So a small donation to this site to watch these episodes is all I ask to cover my costs. For a modest subscription you’ll get all these episodes and a host of other exclusive written and video content. Contributions will be put towards other future audio and video content. Look out for notifications of releases of The Greatest Ashes and help sponsor our work. Thankyou
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