“England had been 307-8 overnight and were all out for 332. The last time I had looked at the score on my phone, the Australian openers were making an untroubled start. When my tea came I checked the score again and almost choked on my Earl Grey. Australia were 117-7″ – Jonathan Calder recalls the second day of the final Ashes Test, his favourite cricketing moment of the year.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
“One of the greatest achievements we were able to do as a team over the summer was that when the going got tough we got closer rather than further apart. When you are in line for an award like this you are keen to win it because it shows what you are doing is quite important to people” – Andrew Strauss is hoping for team success at the Sports Personality awards tonight.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
“I can understand fully guys who have been playing four or five years who start thinking ‘I’m desperate for a break’. [And when players start] prioritising their cricket, that’s dangerous… That’s one of the thing we missed out on, going straight into the one-day series rather than celebrating properly and getting the whole nation behind the team and promoting the sport a bit more. I think we missed a trick there” – Graeme Swann thinks the calendar might be getting a bit too crowded.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
“Ricky Ponting told me at Chester-le-Street that he would rather have lost the ODI series 7-0 than lose the Ashes, which reflects his opinion of what was the most important element of this busy season” – Jonathan Agnew reveals how we and The Old Enemy have at least one thing we can agree on – a love of Test cricket.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
“The [Oval's] groundsman would have been a strong contender for England’s man of the series, had there not been so much competition from the umpires, and Ricky Ponting, having already received two fat lips during a fielding mishap, did well not to draw more blood from biting through his tongue when stoically declining to point the finger at the officials. There is now a case for teams preparing a Justin Langer-style dossier before a Test series. ‘Billy Bowden. Don’t bother appealing to the first ball of a game, as he’ll still be fast asleep. Or gazing at himself in a vanity mirror.’ ‘Rudi Koertzen. Don’t just appeal for lbw if you hit the pad, ask for bowled, stumped, caught, hit wicket, handled ball, and obstructing the field as well. He’ll definitely give it out, but not for the right reason’” – Cricket writer Martin Johnson reflects on how it’s all in a day’s play.
“As I write this I am 38,000 feet above sea level, hurtling towards New York City at 533 statute miles per calendar hour. Happily Alan, the captain of the plane, has personally popped down to tell me the current cricket score – my chosen career and its attendant baggage of fame have their advantages (carry-on baggage of fame, I suppose one should term it). The flight deck had tuned in to the BBC’s 198 longwave transmissions of TMS to receive the news that England were 100 for 3″ – Stephen Fry’s surely unique Ashes experience.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
“I still think it was won in Cardiff. Australia had to win that Test. Ricky Ponting’s side was never good enough to squander an opportunity like that and still take the series” – Vic Marks on Test Match Extra.
“I think you can learn to be an excellent captain, and Strauss’s own progress in this regard during this Ashes summer is proof of that. He still has some way to go before you would call him a very good captain, in all areas, but he is a very steady hand on the tiller and also a very driven person, in his own understated way” – Jonathan Agnew on Andrew Strauss’ future prospects.
“This is what it’s all about, it’s the reason you play cricket. When you think about all the hard yards you put in, the hours on the training ground and in the nets, and all the bad times; this makes it all worthwhile. This means everything, it really does” – Paul Collingwood.
“It’s hard to know what to say right now – it’s an emotional moment, these things never come easily. At times we thought we’d never get there, but we’ve done it” – Andrew Strauss, victorious Ashes-winning England captain.
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