My first Ashes memory was seeing Colin Cowdrey, my boyhood hero (above), celebrating his 100th Test - the first man to achieve the feat - with a century. It was at Edgbaston in 1968, and after that I was hooked. More intrigue was to follow when my other hero, Derek ‘Deadly’ Underwood (I was a Kent fan as a kid), bowled Australia out with literally minutes to go on the fifth day after an untimely rain delay and thanks to spectators helping to dry the pitch at the Oval.
I got Cowdrey’s autograph the following year at Canterbury (the only one I ever had) and then Underwood was in a TV commercial with my father that year and I met him and he posed for the picture above (top.). I became addicted to Test cricket and the Ashes in particular and I have pretty much watched part or all of every Ashes Test match since - that’s 161 Tests, of which England have won 47 and Australia 72.
Of all those, though, one stands out. Edgbaston 2005. Why? It had everything, as you’ll be reminded when you watch our film of this epic match on YouTube (or listen to the podcast.) It started when Glenn McGrath tripped on a ball errantly left out by the Australian coaching staff during the warm-ups. It continued with Ricky Ponting wantonly putting England on on a belter and England helping themselves to 407 in a day. An early version of Bazball. The ghosts of the previous Test at Lord’s (viewable here) were exorcised.
We had Freddie Flintoff (in his second Ashes Test after a dismal debut at Lord’s) bunting Shane Warne and Brett Lee for sixes - Botham ‘81 style - and KP unveiling his flamingo shot. We saw Flintoff and Simon Jones brilliantly exploiting reverse swing to give England a precious 99 run lead. We marvelled in Warne’s retort and the insane amount of spin he generated in his ball of the (21st) century to bamboozle Andrew Strauss just before the close on the 2nd day.
England collapsed to 75-6, Freddie seemed to have ricked his back trying to launch one over mid wicket, but miraculously recovered to bludgeon England to 182 all out, mainly by virtue of a rollicking last wicket stand of 51. Then he produced the over of the century to knock over Langer and Ponting (for a duck.)
We had Warne the batter sledging the fielders - “There’s only one person struggling out here and that’s you, you’re fucking shit,” he said to Strauss at silly point and then proceeded to launch Ashley Giles next two balls for six - followed up Harmison’s dramatic slower ball to knock over Michael Clarke with the last ball of the third day.
And then sensational Sunday - with Australia starting the day needing 107 to win with just two wickets left. Warne and Lee put on 45 before Warne trod on his stumps, and then miraculously Lee alternated taking fearsome blows on the body with bunts past the bowler to get Australia to within 8, in company with Michael Kasprowicz. They put on 50, Jones dropped Lee on the third man boundary, then it was 4 to win. All the papers were ready with English cricket obituaries with Australia about to go 2-0 up.
Harmison serves up a juicy full toss to Lee. He drills it past cover for the winning runs. But Vaughan has left deep cover out and it goes straight to him. Its a strke of genius. The batters cross for one, Harmison produces his timely armpit delivery, Kasper gloves it, Richie Benaud delivers his defining commentary - “JONES… BOWDEN !!…” and 6 million viewers who don’t want Test cricket to disappear into the ether (with the Premier League about to restart) can breathe again.
And then 10 minutes after the end before we’ve gone off air, a Channel 4 VT editor called Tiny says ‘Hey Yoz - look at this replay. Was Kasprowicz’s hand off the bat when the ball hit it?” And sure enough it was. It was one of a few incidents that eventually prompted the introduction of DRS.
More than that though, the match kept the series alive, reignited a latent interest in Test cricket and went on to captivate the nation. Freddie became a national hero. The Edgbaston Test was the catalyst that led up to the biggest event in English sport (the 2005 Oval Test) since the 1966 World Cup final. Or as The Guardian put it over a big picture of Freddie -
“in affectionate Celebration of English cricket which was reborn at Edgbaston on 7 August 2005.”
WATCH THE FULL FILM OF THE EDGBASTON TEST HERE
