The Ashes are coming. I’d love to talk about something else here but I feel as it’s this close (23 and a half days by my count) that I can’t. I’ve photographed 80 Men’s Ashes Test matches. Perth should be my 81st if I survive the long journey from London. I must be getting old? No need for any comments on this by the way. A hypothetical query that was.
I do remember the excitement before the Ashes in 2005. It was incredible. Australia were sending a team of absolute superstars which included Hayden, Langer, Ponting, Gilchrist, Clarke, Warne, Lee, Gillespie and McGrath. The others in the squad weren’t too shabby either.
England had performed really well in Test matches leading up to the 2005 series and I’m pretty sure they’d won nine and only lost one in their previous twelve Tests. Good form by Michael Vaughan’s lads. England hadn’t won the Ashes since 1986-87, but I for one thought that they had a good chance of reclaiming the famous urn.
A huge talking point before the first Test at Lord’s was which batter would England pick to bat at number 5. Graham Thorpe was the man in possession but Kevin Pietersen had played magnificently in some one-day matches in South Africa and then the ones in England against Australia that preceded the Ashes. The England selectors would have to choose, and just before the Test it was announced they had gone with the man with the skunk hairdo - that’s Kevin Pietersen by the way.
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