Test Match Special - Remembering Edgbaston 2005

Episode Date: May 5, 2020

A special programme from 2015 as Michael Vaughan shares his memories of the 2005 Edgbaston Ashes Test. Plus, we hear from listeners telling us where they were when England won.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. The Dakar Rally is the ultimate off-road challenge. Perfect for the ultimate defender. The high-performance Defender Octa, 626 horsepower twin turbo V8 engine and intelligent 6D dynamics air suspension. Learn more at landrover.ca. Hello, welcome to a very special TMS podcast as we prepare to replay the entirety of perhaps the greatest test of them all, England against Australia, at Edgebaston in 2005.

You'll be able to hear the full match on Five Live Sports Excher from May the 7th, that's right across the bank holiday weekend. What better way to spend that. So this is a game that resonates with so many people. Everyone seems to know where they were when Steve Harmeson took that final wicket. And back in 2015 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the match, we invited listeners to send in their memories of the game and chatted to some of our team about their recollections of how it all played out. Stand by then for Michael Vaughan, Jim Maxwell and Simon Hughes

as we go back to 2005 and that most incredible of finale. England's striving for this last cricket. They've been doing that for a while. Harmison comes up in bowls and Kasparovic goes back and Parry's one as he caught down the league side. There's an appeal for catches out. England have won. England have won by two runs.

Wow, what a finish. What an incredible test match. That is astonishing stuff. And quite clearly, Steve Harmerston takes the winning wicket. And Garaint Jones takes a very good catch down the leg side. What a phenomenal test match. The noise. sphere, the Australian accents.

Jim, you shouldn't have been on. Why were you on? Brilliant commentary, by the way. Thank you. Well, Peter Baxter was producing the show at the time. As you know, there's a tradition to have the broadcaster from the team likely to win on at the time that the match finishes. And if you go through the archive, you'll hear Jonathan Agnew, England, Jim Maxwell or another Australian voice, Australia. But on that occasion, and it got to a point where I don't know whether England had given up in terms of the commentary box, certainly not out on the field.

Spirits were low. But I think you may have been on before me, and Peter Baxter thought, well, Australia's going to win this. So I went back on, and as Michael is sitting here now will recall, Lee banged one out to deep cover, and he picked out Jailo right on the boundary. A yard either side, the game's over, and Australia win by a wicket. didn't happen and then the next ball down the leg side. Thank goodness we didn't have DRS. That would have ruined one of the greatest moments.

We're glossing over that Jim. We're glossing over the fact that there's the hand might be slightly off the bat hand a little time. But it is amazing and you had to go suddenly in the blink of an eye from bracing herself to commentate on a magnificent Australian win under the circumstances to sounding as elated as you did

for an England victory by two runs. Well you go with the crowd is the way I can rule. review that today. No, you do. That's what all of us enjoy about being at big sporting occasions and, you know, I've done a lot of cricket, but I've done a lot of other sports and you just go with the crowd and it's quite infectious. It takes you up and...

That noise from that stand, whenever I hear that clip, that's what you hear. It's like a wall of noise. Yeah. Brilliant. Okay, Jim. It was a very exciting moment, I have to say, and I was a privilege to be in that position. I don't know whether it'll happen again because I'm sure it'll be a bit more forecastable and you'll have the chance, Aggers, when it comes around next time. One day, but there we go.

Thank you very much to Peter Baxter and Test Mat special. They'll have me on for the conclusion of that remarkable game. It's why Ingleby by two runs has got an Australian accent and for old Jeff Lawson as well. It's a lovely story actually. Thanks, Jim. You can pop off and have some lunch, and that's a flavour of what we're talking about during the next half hour or so. Michael Vaughn is alongside me here Simon Hughes

sitting to my left part of the Channel 5 commentary team of course has been picking out some moments I think Simon how many of that test match I mean it was a remarkable match in so many ways

yeah it was fantastic and I think that there are so many moments actually and I did a sort of a one day when it was a bit raining and I was trying to think of something to do for the summer I was looking back at that test

and compiling a list of the best ashes moments from history in a way and quite a lot of the best ashes moments from history are in that test match. Obviously, the Freddie Flintoff fantastic over. One of the ones I like, which I love, is Shane Warns' delivery to Andrew Strauss, which he bowled into the rough on the second evening, I think, and it turned so far that Hawkeye actually said it didn't exist as a ball,

which is absolutely impossible. It confounded even the computers, never mind Strauss, who walked across outside off stump to let it go and it bowled him behind his leg's leg stump. It must have turned almost 90 degrees. It was an extraordinary delivery. And then obviously the final moments, the Harmeson Slowable, on that third evening and many other things within it were just so kind of epic, really, as was the match.

Brilliant match. And Michael, do you still get a bit of a feeling when you come back here? Yeah, I mean, I think this ground always is one of special times for the England team. I don't know whether it's the pitch that suit the team, but I'm sure that has an effect. But I think the crowd here at Edgebaston always play a part. You know, whatever the occasion, you always feel that the crowd are right on top of you, the right behind you. And I think that test match in 05 was really, you know, I'm involved in it. So I'm just speaking of people who watched the game.

You know, someone like Greg James will say that this was the game of 05 that grabbed the nation in terms of cricket. It was that series which kind of got cricket trendy again and people started to talk about the game but it was really O5 Edgebaston which kind of triggered that series on to be the series that it was because you can't lose here it's going to be a potential whitewash

and you go 2-0 down against that great Australian team you don't come back so I think from everything I mean I look back to Steve Armstrongson's slowball on that third evening he never bowled slow balls I don't know where he bowled it from he's never bowled one since

so I don't know where that came from but it worked You look at Ashley Giles, he came into the game under so much pressure. There was talk of him being the wheelie bin, him being just a kind of a vacant member of the side. I think someone had written afterlaws that England basically have a team of 10 because Ashley Giles does nothing. So he got the wicket of Ricky Ponting. Ricky's quite unlucky because I caught it. I think it was just before lunch on day too.

Ricky had got 50 odd played beautifully. I remember him going from 30 to 50. I think in the space of six balls he hit 5-4s. beautiful kind of on drives, pull shots, and I thought, oh, here we go, Ricky Ponting, at his best once again. And he got out just before lunch. I think, again, remarkably, Damien Martin,

he was run out by me. You know, quite bizarre that I hit the stump, so I'd never done it again, and I don't think I'd done it before that. So there was real key moments in that. So I think the second in the second in is I look back, I think we really panicked. We had a 99-run lead in the first thing,

and we panicked. Properly panicked. But it also showed me, at the end of that test match, even though we were back in the series, it kind of reminded me how great a team they were. They'd lost McGraw on the morning. They'd made the wrong call at the toss, yet we'd still on the beat them by two runs. And it kind of gave us all a reminder in the dressing.

Yeah, I enjoyed this, but by the way, if we want to win this Ashes series, we've got to keep our levels improving because this is one Australian team. Did you panic partly because of that Warren ball to Strauss that turned so far on that second evening? You had that lead, you said, sort of a hundred lead, and then Warden produces that sort of miracle delivery. Was that part of the... Well, I think the more the panic was that we'd been trying to pull,

play this expansive, you know, really attacking game as it worked in the first inning, scoring 407 in, I think, 79.2 overs. You know, when you get a 99 run lead after the first in, really, you've got to play it down a gear or two and just play the moment and just batten a little bit of time. We kept on going for the big shots, and it really played into Australia's hand by,

I think it was 75 for 6 in the second year. And Freddie was injured as well, wasn't he? Well, then he batted, and he went into his shoulder. Yeah. And I thought he dislocated his shoulder, by the way he was on the ground. Then he started hitting the ball with one hand for a while. And then all of a sudden, the adrenaline or, I don't know, maybe his shoulder wasn't as bad as he first thought.

And he started chipping the ball. I think his innings actually in the first innings was key to the whole Ashes series because he was a player, like all these kind of out all-rounders with, you know, the X-Factor character, they need confidence. And in his first innings, his first 25 runs, if you could get the DVD of that first 25, it's the worst 25 runs that you'll ever see anyone's score. The ball was edging over the slips. He was playing a duck-hook to Brett Lear.

I remember it. He ducked hook the ball, and it hit the face. of the bat and it went for six. And he leading-edged warn, I think, over mid-off, just cleared mid-off as well. Yeah, his first 20-b. And then he was away. He started to play some strokes. He got the 50, his confidence rose, got the ball in the hand

and can and him. He was very lucky for me to have as a captain because I mentioned the crowd, but every time I felt the crowd, and there wasn't many moments during that series, but particularly that test match where I felt the crowd was flat. But every time I felt they were flat, I'd just throw the ball of Freddie Flint off, and I knew straight away that the cloud

would erupt into some kind of songs. Matt in Chersley says my 10-year-old son is proud to tell everyone how the final day of that test was his christening. I'd been tasked to getting him to sleep when Harmie took the last wicket. The room full of uncles and godfathers erupted, and he burst into tears. Incidentally, we're coming to H. Bassett on Sunday for his first ever test match. Let's go pick our way through this game. If you recall, he can't bat it first, so put into bat, he scored more than 400 runs in that first day.

Marcus Trisothic, setting the tone. Trisothic, forward edging down to third man now and there, four runs. Well, they're bowling to this ringfield with no third man. Triscothic clipping us away, wide of mid-on. And that's going to be four, although there's a man out there at Deep Midwicket. Certainly, England, looking to play very positively here against Shane Warn. Killespie Bowls again. Chisothic is aiming down the ground for four with a beautiful drive.

That hit the sweet spot. And he's forward, and he's driving. Magnificantly through the covers for another four. Cop that. Oh, 18 from the last. last over before lunch. 77 to Scothic on the opening day

of a test against the world champion. It was an extraordinary innings, isn't it? I can still seem a standing up and boof. Yeah, and I think sometimes, like this morning, Ingram lost a toss and they went out to bowl, and within a couple of hours, you could see there was a bit a nip. Now, on that first

morning at Edgebatten O'5, within two o's, you knew the nip wasn't there. You could just see from the way that the players were kind of just leaning forward, and the ball was going back down the ground, so mid on and off were fielding the ball. This morning for the first hour, nothing was going down the ground. So that's all the pitch is just doing a little bit more.

Everything's hitting the outside edge. So in the dressing room, I remember sitting there, and within three or four overs, I knew. I knew we had a great chance. I could just see from the, I think Trez played a cover drive. I think it might have been the second over to Brett Lee.

He just lents on it. It flew through the covers. And I knew that with the way that the players played, then we had a great chance of posting something, you know, decent to put them under pressure. I never thought we'd hit 407 in 79. noticed, but I knew we'd get something near to be able to put them under the pressure that

they needed to be under. One other thing I wondered about that particular game, well, that innings, was, was that the first time that the Merlin bowling machine was properly used? Because I remember seeing some pictures of Strauss batting in the nets, practicing, coming down the wicket to Merlin,

the thing that looks like a washing machine, and hitting it back over the top of the machine, and he then did it in the match. He came down the wicket to warn early on and bunted him over the top. When When did that Merlin bowling machine come in earlier than that? That's a good question. I think it was around that time.

I know that Merlin was basically based at Loughborough. And I knew that around the time, we were so, we were getting used to all the different spinners around the world, and Merlin was playing quite a pivotal part in that. I can't remember that the father and son who actually curated Merlin, but they could make Merlin travel. So Merlin would then travel on the road and get in this car and come to a lot of the venues. Matt Pryor, I think somebody prior,

wasn't it? Matthew Pryor, who was a journalist on the Times. Yeah. You know, it was probably here, and it was more the intent. You know, you can face Merlin as much as you want, but as long as you have intent and that was my message throughout the whole week was well, lads, we have to have intent against their bowlers. We've got to look to score. I've got to try and put

them on the back foot. And I didn't really worry about it going wrong because we'd done so many things wrong at Lourdes with the bat. I just wanted the players to free up and try and score as quickly as possible, just to try and see what would happen. And fortunately, it worked on day one. 90 from 102 balls, hit 154s, 2-6s.

We've got Kevin Peterson, 71 from 76 balls, Andrew Flintoff, 68 from 62 balls, 407 all out in, well, less than 80 overs, 79.2 overs. Matt In Stroud was there. He said, my first and only day is an Ashes test match. I loved watching Tuscothic, KP, Freddie smashing the ball all over the place. The atmosphere was like nothing I've ever experienced before.

The Barmy Army was in fantastic voice. to the day was who wants a kit cat to which we all responded, we want a kit cat and they ended up hitting a copper on the helmet and he wasn't very impressed. So there we go, 407 all out. Australia, the first sitting is 308 in

reply with three wickets of flint off, three for Giles, three for 78. Inglow England again with that lead of 99, 182 all out with Shane Warren taking 6-446 with flint off the last week in 73, yeah, with Simon Jones is 12, absolutely.

And Freddie, I think, hit nine or ten sixes in the game, which is an Ashes record as well. It's extraordinary. He hit four in that innings, and he hit five in the... Nine, wasn't it? Yeah, nine sixes? Yeah. Excellent. Okay, so 182.

So, England, Australia set 281 to win then, and they were going well before Andrew Flintoff delivered one of the great overs. He's on his way. He's there. He bowled his. He bowled him, has bowled him. He's got through bat and bad. Three and four balls for Andrew Flintov and he's broken through. And he's been given not out.

Wow, they all think they've got in there. They're all appealing. He's been given net out. This is the last ball of the over. It's 48 for one. And Flintov goes roaring in again. He's there. He bowls to Ponting.

Oh, my word, he's caught behind. Is he there? Biss he is. He's caught behind. A fabulous over. A wonderful over. Has seen off Ricky Ponting after Justin. Lange up.

Oh, I remember that. It was fantastic. And our commentary box is lower than here. And we were down there on the first floor, and you were right in the game. And Flintoff was bowling from this end. Oh, it's fantastic. It's the noise of the crowd.

It was, you know, like a, I guess, a, you know, a strike of score in the winner in the cup fight. It was one big eruption of the noise. I mean, obviously, I was not a cricket-sounding crowd. No, I don't think, you know, I don't think you get that here. I think it is more of a,

and they're very well-behaved in the, very jovial and they're polite to the opposition, but it does feel like Edg, Baston, Trent Bridge, headingly, you get that kind of football feel to the crowd, which is right behind the England team. And it does, it chees you up, it gets you going. Chris Sanford, as I vividly remember the Flintoff over, I lived in Ireland at the time,

and our daughter was only one month old. She was sitting on my knee as I watched that session, and when Flintoff got punter out, I celebrated so loudly that my daughter started crying and filled her nap. That's a rather unfortunate But it was, it was a great ovoys now, it's fast And Flintoff is a sort of man, isn't he, Fred?

I mean, he just, he thrives on that backing that noise, that support, all of that. I mean, I suppose everyone does really, but when you're running in, you're bowling fast And it was a quick over. Yeah, it was quick, but it was more, you know, my worry as well, because, you know, I'd seen the way that Hayden and Langer had played

Harmeson, played Jones, played Matthew Hogard, I think they might have faced a couple of overs of Ashter-Jiles, nothing was happening. There was nothing happening. There was no swing. There was no bounce. They were just hitting it in the middle of the bat.

You felt that they were going to get to this target quite comfortably. One or not both get big hundreds see the game home for Australia. And you could tell within a ball that Frintsoff had just found his rhythm. You know, it's a bowl and sometimes it takes two or three overs

to get the rhythm. But you felt straight away that Fred had got his rhythm and he kind of just gained energy from the crowd. He could sense. And I felt it straight away as a captain that, as I said before,

I threw the ball to Flinton. say come on make something happen and everyone in the crowd would lift you know all the crowd would suddenly start being on the feet they'd be singing and then the key wicket of just in langer bit lucky you know the the drag on back to the stunts but those i think four balls to rickie ponton you can't play them you know back in back in with the angle back and then the away shape and the straight we place it quite well straight back but there's just enough movement there and the carry through to geront jones and i knew straight away i mean i was there watching obviously desperately hoping to get pontings week but i just heard the nice little

click. I heard the click. I could feel the outside edge and away we go. He was such a key wicket Ponting because he was in great form at the time. He played brilliant in the next Test Match, didn't he? Chris Brown in knots as I remember listening to that flint off over. I was on the tractor during harvest time on the farm.

My dad wasn't too happy that I'd stop working, but when I told him Ponting had gone, we all stopped working and listened together to Test Mat special. It must have been quite something to make farmers stop harvest and he's right, but it was it was gripping, it was colossal. And On to, I think one of, I mean, I'm glad you picked this, Simon, for you all, because

yeah, I was, actually, as a commentator, I saw some quite key moments in this test match as well. This, I will never forget, because the game is in the balance. It was towards the end of the Saturday when Steve Harmeson came in to bowl to Michael Clark. In comes Harmeson, and he bowls a slower ball. He's bowled him! What an amazing delivery! That is absolutely stunning. Clark has been bowled by a loopy slower ball.

it was an extraordinary piece of bowling. Amazing. I feel like now. The last ball. Well, I'd taken the extra eight over to try and win the game and, you know, up until that last day,

I was thinking, I've made the wrong call here. You know, the boys are tired. I shouldn't have really taken them through that eight over period. Warren and Clark had smashed. I think they'd smash about 36 in that eight over period.

I think Shane won had lapsed lock jars into the standard about three times. I thought, oh, no, I've made the wrong call here. And Steve Armisen's never bowed a slow ball before that slow ball. and he's never balled one since.

It really had no idea. You look at it, you know, on a replay, it's so obvious. You know, he basically stops in his action and goes, oh, Michael, I'm going to buy you a slower ball. It's going to come out, you know, it comes out of the front of the hand, and Clark just plays across it. It dips, it obviously, well, well, it was very full, wasn't it? And it was a real full straight, half volley, really.

He retired that ball as soon as he got Clark out. It was never to be seen again. It's funny, isn't it, though, because I love that ball as well, and it's because it's partly because it's one of the most underused balls in test cricket. You know, you see so many different slower balls and slower bounces and things in one day games, but in test cricket, they never use them. Batsmen get on top of the bowling. You never see someone come up with something different like that, and it was inspired.

Dear old, it was, it was one of those. And I'll tell you what also, because it was just a moment of sheer brilliance, isn't it? I mean, all the coaching and everything else you go through, this was just something off the cuff. No, absolutely. And you want that. from bowlers occasionally don't you? Just something I mean I like the way Mark Wood obviously not playing in this test match but suddenly

does a short run or bowls suddenly won wide of the crease and it just keeps the batsman thinking all the time it's nice to see that so to your memories of that Edgebison test match 2005 starting with Jamie Harrison we were going to

watch a cricket final Huddersfield League cricket final over in Elland near Halifax and we were on route to the final as the last over was being bold and listening keenly and I remember the wicket falling and three of us in a car on the M62 just going absolutely radio rental bonkers arms going off the lot and I remember some peculiar looks from the other lanes looking at us obviously not listening to the cricket also but amazing on holiday in Sicily

one of those old mobile phones it froze four runs to win and it took me 40 minutes to finally get the news that England had won I almost fell over I was so relieved I live about a mile from Edgebaston County Ground and I often try and get to the first

day of a test match against Australia I've done so since I was about five or six years old when my dad took me anyway I tend to listen mainly to test match special to follow my cricket. Ten years ago, I'd been doing this in Birmingham, going past the counterground,

and then for the last couple of days, I was in Scotland on the island of Lewis visiting my wife's Scottish heritage relations. And for me, this most significant moment was at the end when Flintov goes up to Brett Lee, to commissary, console, whatever he was it did. I thought it summed up sportsmanship to a tea.

And surrounded by Scots, I said later to one of my wife's cousins, I put it's one of the only times you support England, isn't it, when we play Australia at cricket, just to be met by a very terse norm. I remember that test really well because I was driving with my mum, my dad and my brother and we'd been visiting York for the day and we were on our way back to my mum and dad's house in Ilkley.

and my mum is from York she's a proper Yorkshire woman so she was really pessimistic oh they're going to screw it up oh they might as well give them the ashes they're stupid just stupid this kind of thing basically she talks like Jeffrey Boycott so she was getting

increasingly pessimistic as Australia was slowly ticking the runs over and in fairness my brother and I in the backseat were also getting a bit nervous and then suddenly Kasparovic just nicked one and it was absolutely fantastic you know my mum just piped down

and I think she almost wanted England to lose, but we were just celebrating and just couldn't get back to Oakley quick enough so we could actually have a look at that final ball. And then there was all the whole Freddie Flintock business, having that quite word to Brett Lee. It was amazing. And my mum is increasingly miserable about this series as well.

But yeah, amazing memories for us. Thanks for those. Jamie Harris and Richard in Golders Green. Here's a fellow with the old-fashioned phone that blew up somewhere overseas. He had to wait 20 minutes, dear me. Roy Peters and then Simon Thake from Ilkley there at the end. Here's a nice one from Michael Perrin, who says,

I was plying my trade as a shelf stacker in the local South Shields branch of a popular supermarket chain in my teenage years. I went AWOL from the chilled provisions aisle, which was my station, to join six or seven AWOL father's stroke husbands in the electrical aisle, gathered round a 16-inch portable tuned into the cricket on mute. we never gave up hope and after we confirmed the finger had been raised for the tenth time that innings we embraced as brothers

that went back to stacking cheese isn't that nice Simon all this and you know we're not going to fall out with our friends next door Terrestrial telly had a part to play didn't it well it because people could latch onto it as the game was unfolding and when it gets exciting the whole country

can can enjoy it I mean so there was seven million watching not only that but not only the audiences in Britain. And in fact it went up to 9 million in the end. But also we got on Channel 4 at the time. We got emails from people saying, I'm following this in the Malaysian jungle on a laptop

and the Navy out at sea. So, you know, there were people all over the world who kind of, who'd heard about it, the Great Fine worked very well and by the end of the series, you know, there were 9, 10 million people watching it. Matthew Walker says I had an under 16 game at 9 o'clock in the morning. We bowled them out for 60.

Not sure I've bowled so well in my life. Knocked off the runs in six overs. and managed to get back to the clubhouse eating microwave chips watching the rest of the match. Let's get back to your memories then, starting with Mark Etherington. I don't remember very much about the first two days, but I remember quite a lot about the Saturday because I was getting married that day. And quite often on wedding days, the morning is quite certainly for the groom anyway, is quite relaxed. So I sort of sat around and watched, of course, it was on terrestrial TV, so I was watching it all morning.

and then somewhat unwillingly had to drag myself away from the TV to go and get married so I did that and then of course was completely occupied for the rest of the day but luckily the vicar who was conducting the service was a big cricket fan so he would every so often keep us posted of which Australian wicket had fallen and kept the whole congregation sort of up to speed and then of course the Sunday well I woke up as a husband for the first time and the cricket was so gripping. I couldn't possibly not watch it, so my first morning as a married man

was spent watching that incredible morning's cricket, and that will stay with me for absolutely ever, as will my wife's reaction, but that's another story. Simon Brewer, I was with friends, we were in the countryside, we were enthralled, as we had been for the previous few days, and as the unfolding drama took place, we became more and more convinced that it was going to be Australia's hour and day

and so we went to the garden unable to watch any more of it and left one of the 13-year-old sons in the garden to shout out developments as they unfolded to us sitting in deck chairs and as the final climactic moments took place he bellied out

that England had found that last wicked and we rushed in in disbelief and probably jumped and danced around like teenagers exulting the triumphing the triumphed. from the glorious moment of that summer. Hi, TMS. Tim from Manchester here.

I was lucky enough to be out the ground that day in the city end. Such a tense morning, filled with hope and eventually despair and then euphoria. I can't remember a time I've experienced more euphoria than when the last week it fell. It was about two minutes of jumping up and down, screaming, shouting. Everything. It was just amazing. Hi, my name's Simon. I'm 34. I live in Worthing. These are my memories of the Edgebaston test match 10 years ago. I just started going out with my girlfriend that summer and it was probably the first time I've been around her parents' house. We around her parents' house for the weekend. They live up in Suffolk. And none of them went to cricket at all.

So it was suggested that my girlfriend and I go for a walk on the Sunday morning and I remember waking up. It was a nice sunny day and it was going to be pretty hard for me to say, no, I just want to stay in and watch cricket all morning. even though that's clearly what I would prefer to do. So we set off a walk about 10am and there was anxiously hoping it wasn't going to be too long so I could get back and watch the conclusion of the test but as there was only two wickets to go I thought well it's pretty much in the bag

and I remember getting in the car driving back and seeing that Australia's got quite a lot of runs and things were getting a bit tight. I think fortunately Shane warns the wicket fell when we're in the car back to her parents' house so they're always feeling a little bit more hopeful that things were going to take. turn out okay. But I remember getting back and watching the conclusion from my girlfriend in her

parents' lounge and actually things were getting very, very tense. And then ultimately I remember us leaping around the room in celebration when Cassifer Rich's Wicket finally fell. And that was the start of a great summer. And obviously something special for us because 10 years later we've married and got a couple of kids. So all around it was a good result in the end. Lovely memories of work rather. Well, don't they recording like that? Thanks very much indeed who's taken part in that, sorry we couldn't play them all, but there's some lovely memories indeed of a very special game. Tom in Lancashire was driving to Cornwall for a family holiday.

He says I was 12 at the time when the final wicket fell. My dad started celebrating wildly and nearly swerved into a lorry on the inside lane whilst cars all around were sounding their horns. But this was down to his driving. Or at that given moment, there was an abundance of cricket fans on the M6. We will never know. But it certainly was one of those moments.

Imagine what the relief must have been like 10 years ago, which I described, first of all, so let's get you on this, because you've done the videos and so on. I described today's rather our sort of cricket supporters comfort blanket, Edgebass in 2005, when things are going badly wrong, we're going, oh, but don't forget Edgebass in 2005. I sometimes, I still watch the, occasionally watch the DVD of that last day and sort of wonder what's going to happen.

I still can't quite believe the ending in a way. and actually it's interesting all these recounts of it mentioning family so it brought a lot of people together didn't it and all these memories are mostly quite happy ones with people getting married afterwards and

it does seem to sort of have a very bonding sort of effect this memory. It'd be quite interesting and I don't want to say it's winding up sort of way but it happened to have any Australian reaction as to how they were because it'd only been in bed ironically Jim Maxwell of course

we have here who was doing the radio commentary and the final words of the TV commentary were Richie Benno are they? And in actual fact it's one of the most famous sort of, you know, epic bits of commentary because it's just two words. As the ball goes down the leg's side, he just

shouts, Jones! Bowden! Billy Bowden the umpire giving it out and that's really all it needed to be said after that it was the pictures took over with Vaughney virtually kissing Freddy I think weren't you at the end or the other way around Freddie was lifting you up.

Of course, had gone to see Brett Lee, of course. Well, Steve Armisen went to see Brett Lee first. But Steve Armisen wasn't quite camera savvy. Well, he wasn't there long enough. No, you just kind of give him a shake-hand pat on the back. But then Freddy was going everywhere as we all were. You don't really know what to do. You just kind of go with the emotions.

And, you know, I think probably being out in the middle, you're under more control because you can control a little bit of what's going to happen. I mean, I remember being at Trent Ridge in 2013 for that. that game. When Brad Haddon looked like he was going to win the game for Australia and I hated watching

I hated commentator because you can't control anything. When you're down in the mix of it, you're getting nervous and you think, particularly when Simon dropped that catch at third.

Man, I thought the moment, a guy, I always knew would get a moment. Not an easy catch, was it to be fair. No, it wasn't, he's always difficult at third man, you don't expect

the board had come down to you but it was a catch which he probably would have taken more often than not. And I thought that was it. I thought, you know, you don't get that many moments, 12 runs to win,

you get that chance, drop it. And then the way that the ball was inside, edging past the stumps, and then the odd ball was, I remember hitting footholes and that flying over Geront Jones's head down the leg side for four. Then there was an edge I think through the slips for four. And I just started, well, maybe this is not meant to be.

You know, we've played well for four days, and that's all I ever was concerned. I was upset at Lourdesk because I didn't think we'd play to the potential of what we'd shown for a year and a half. You know, edge bass, and I'd felt yeah, it'd be disappointed to lose, but at least we've played. At least we've played a decent game of cricket. So I was proud of the team in a

but you know the emotions have known that you're back in the series you know it takes a while to be back in that dress room to look around and go wait a minute we've won here you know we're won one with three to play it's just from where we were a week ago at laws to think that we're now back in this series was was a great feeling what about what i mean during that last bit when it looked like australia were going to win and you said there was the edges and the balls down the leg side for four buys and so on presumably i mean you looked calm on the outside certainly on camera you looked as if you were fairly sort of of phlegmatic, but what were you feeling like inside? No, I mean, I was pretty calm because I felt that the team were delivering exactly what we were trying to deliver. I mean, I only used to fret a little bit as a captain when I felt that they weren't delivering a plan, you know, when the plan wasn't quite being delivered to what we talked about, or the bowlers were getting a bit clever and a bit funky in terms of their own figures, and that wasn't happening.

I think, you know, having the field is out on the edge was purely to take the game as deep as possible. It was to try and make sure that we had as many balls. We only need one wicket. So I didn't understand me. I was, oh, get the field in. Why would I bring the field in to allow Brett Lee to smack a four? That's four runs, you know.

That might have just been a one. So we get another ball at Michael Kaspovich. And that's all I kept on saying to myself, let's have as many balls as we possibly can at this pair. And, you know, I actually looked at Australia. When they were needing 60, 70, then 60 and 50, they were just swinging the bat. They didn't have a care in the world.

They didn't think they could win at that stage. As soon as it got to under 30, I felt they started to think about it. The game changes then. Yeah, it does. It becomes harder for them. As much as it's hard for us, it becomes a lot harder for the batting team.

When they look at that scoreboard and the Aussie crowd, and there's a big section in the far stand singing, every single run all the way down. And when it started to get to within 20, you could see there was more chatting between Kaspovich and Brett Lee in the middle. Before that, they weren't really talking. They were just hitting it and trying to hit a few to the boundary. It was going to the boundary.

And then I kept on looking and thinking, wait a minute, they're thinking as well. As much as we're thinking very hard and getting a little bit worried that we might lose, I think they're thinking of winning as well, which can always be, you know, tail-enders when they start to think it's a bit of a concern. It's funny, actually, because there was a sort of tension in the commentary as well, I remember. I was in the truck, actually, just out the back of the stand with the Channel 4, you know, VT operators.

And we knew it was the last year of the Channel 4 contract. It was the last year probably of Test Cricket on Terrestrial TV. We all wanted it to be, you know, a great series. And we could see this whole potential climax just slipping away. with Australia winning, going 2-0 up, and you could see, as Michael said, probably a fairly straightforward Australian victory of the series afterwards.

So we were all, there was about 25 of us in that big truck out the back there, the VT, the guys manning the replay angles and a couple of graphics people and me and one or two others. We're all sitting there kind of, come on England, like this. And you could feel that the atmosphere, the excitement, gradually deflating as Australia got. And they kept looking at me as the only person

who played any sort of decent cricket going, can we still win this? Until 10 to win, I said yes, we are going to still win this game. And then with 10 to win, I thought, no chance. And when I saw Steve Harmeson bowl that full toss to Brett Lee with four to win, and he smacked it right in the middle of the bat.

Couldn't they did it any better, like a tracer, straight to Simon Jones. I talked to Simon Jones about this recently because he's done a nice book actually looking back at this series. And he said basically, a foot either side, a yard either side, it was four, end of the game. And he said actually when he fielded it as well,

he was kind of almost thinking, God, if I threw the throw the ball over the keeper's head, you know, it's overthrows and I've given the game away, but somehow he said I managed to pick it up cleanly, didn't bobble through my legs or anything, and he threw it cleanly into the keeper, and the batsman swapped ends just for a single, and then Casper was out.

Kate says, I was, well, I was, very happy memories of all this. My husband and I were on holiday in Cornwall, sitting on the cliffs by a ruined engine house at Botalloc Tin Mine. I think that's how you call it. Is it Botelac or Botelac? Anyway, Botelac probably. Huddled round our old transistor radio

as the events unfolded. Everyone that passed on the coast path wanted to know the latest score. That engine house has been known as Flintoff Tower ever since. Chris Gad, I hear about Australians. Here we go. Oh dear, I've just read the last line now.

Chris Gab was living in Queensland at the time, so I assumed he was an Australian. And I sat up all through the night to watch the game. I couldn't sleep afterwards. and instead was at work early to ask my Aussie workmates if they'd seen the cricket. Proud to be a POM that day. Okay, well, I thought you were in Australian.

I saw the word Queensland there, but it must be amazing for Australians to be listening to actually to that match. Because they must like us. Well, I think it wasn't on Channel 9, was it? I'm not too sure, but if you actually, you know, what... It was on a satellite channel, so actually not a lot of Australians couldn't see it. Jim, Jim's just reminded him it. SBS. Yeah, SBS.

which is another publicly funded broadcaster, because... Channel 9 thought it wasn't going to be much of a series, didn't they? The two series in a row that 9 didn't take. That's their main broadcaster. The government came in and put the money up. The ABC didn't want to do it, and it was on SBS. So they got... Good audience for them.

They got serious BBC-type coverage in a way because there's hardly any ads. Robin Bristol says I had... I left a desk job at a bank after seven years and began to stand as a delivery driver around South Wales in the summer of 2000. I listened to as much of the 2005 ashes as I could on Longwave. Beautiful countryside, sunny days and TMS on the radio. What more could you possibly want? Well, the finale of the Edgebasson test

as possibly the most enjoyable sporting moment of my life tainted only by the fact that I just entered the Brindgles Tunnel. Get these of tested by some Welsh pronunciations here. At the very moment, the Harmison stepped up and won it. So I missed, I missed a very famous moment of live sporting commentary. because, of course, the radio would have gone off, but I didn't care. England had won. I wonder how many people were supposed to go to church that Sunday and didn't.

Because it was, I mean, sporting notoriety is so conditional on when it happens. You know, don't do anything on a Friday morning because no one's going to be watching. But if it's Sunday morning or Saturday night, Sunday morning is a great time for a climax because it started at, you know, I think actually play might have started 10.30 that summer, possibly. because Channel 4 used to bring their times forward to start earlier so we could get the Simpsons in at 6 which is slightly ludicrous but anyway so you know people who were probably

perhaps fancying going to church or doing whatever they do on Sunday morning might have sort of locked into the cricket at 1015 and saw well see how it goes and the whole morning was taken up probably most of the afternoon as well celebrating I'm pretty sure we've had emails in the past from Vickers who have owned up to the fact that they had a radio up their cassock

and a bit of an earpiece. Organists, definitely. We're listening to you, actually. Had that going on in the organ loft. Jim in Leamington Spars says, I had recently moved to an old Victorian property in need of renovation. When England took the final wicket on the Sunday morning to win,

I jumped in the air, my head hit the light shade above, and a huge dust cloud gently billowed out, filling the whole room. There we go. See, we love this match, Jim, don't we? Because we won, after all. Well, it was the remaking of the ashes, wasn't it? Do Australia, I mean, do you look at it with as much affection as we do?

And, yeah, we do. Well, look, this is hard to say. There's a period there, obviously, where Australia was winning with so much formality in all these matches. Even the newspapers were starting to get bored with writing about it because there wasn't anything to write about it. The same old 11 was playing all the time. The same old results were going around.

So needed a defeat to get things going probably. It was the greatest injection spurt for ink. this cricket you had for years, surely, that game, Michael, winning that game for England. Yeah, I mean, when you're playing it, you don't really get a feel, you get an idea, you know, with the press coverage and obviously the crowds and the lockout of Old Trafford and all the 10,000 that couldn't get into to watch that final day. That queue outside Old Trafford on that last day, trying to get in, was amazing. But it's probably around now that the last two of the years, when I've been involved in junior

cricket, going around to watch my little lad play in a lot of the junior under nines, 10s, and the amount of parents that come up to me and said you realize that my young Johnny is playing because of the only reason that we got Johnny into cricket was because we all watched in 05 and I think Glenn McGrath just last week said that it's the greatest series that he's ever played and you think of how many Aschie series he won

how many series he won to think that he still cast even though he lost that 2005 the series was the best that he was to be involved in it. And he missed two of the games as well. Shane warns as a Zaka the same and it's more the game was sold I think you know we're delighted we won I've got the chance to lift up the urn,

but I think it's the fact that the game of cricket was sold, and so many kids got into cricket because of the series, and so many people who didn't necessarily want to watch cricket, started to watch cricket, because it was being talked about, and it was played in the right kind of spirit. Will from Bradford was on his way by car for a family holiday up north. It involved a two-hour ferry trip,

the Scots called drizzly damp weather, Dreech, which I didn't know, and that's probably not very well pronounced. And it was sufficiently dreech to keep everyone in their cars. waiting on the quayside prior to boarding the ferry. Radio reception wasn't the best. But huddled in our car, we were just able to make out that Australia were inching closer to victory.

With reception coming and going, the tension became unbearable. And for a split second, we feared Kasparvich had hooked Australia to victory. Then what relief? We knew immediately that our prayers had been answered as occupants of many other cars simultaneously launched themselves onto the quayside for a shared mass jig of delight.

double whiskeys on the ferry kept the party spirit going. Well done radio. And TMS for bringing us all together. What a lovely memory that is. Dreech. Do you think I've pronounced that right now? I've given a few testers. There's Dreek. They call it Hossingdown. Oh, we've got a Scottish producer.

And he says it's right, does he? Dreek. Dreek. I mean, of course, that last wicket was a sort of a moment in itself, because we've alluded to it briefly that it was given out by Billy Bound and a Kiwi. Yes. So that was another bit of joy for the English,

so that a key we'd given an Australian out. But also that when I was in the truck, you know, probably about seven minutes after all the euphoria had died down, one of the videotape operators said, Simon, can you just look at this dismissal again? Because I think it doesn't look out. And we looked at it in very, very slow motion, and the hand was just off the bat

when the glove had been rushed. So it would have, if Australia had had a review, which they may not have if they'd had a review they could have reviewed it and it would have been given not out do you watch it

Michael do you still look back at it oh no because it's been replayed recently yeah because of the 10 years I'd not really seen it up until probably a month and a half ago I think it was on Sky

the whole Ashley series and I think there was a two hour show and my daughter wanted to see it she says come on that's watch and she actually looked to me and she said I didn't realize she played that much they put you back in your place

don't they these kids Now, the last email I'm going to read, Sam in London, says I'll watch the finale of the edge bass and test with my granddad. We're on the phone to each other, watching it on separate TV screens 150 miles apart. We shared the terror and the joy of that last hour of play together. He passed away not long after. He was my role model, my hero, and most importantly, my cricket coach, and I'll forever associate that test with him. That's a nice way for it to finish. England's striving for this last wicket.

They've been doing that for a while. Harmison comes up and balls and Kasperovich goes back. one as he caught down the leg side. There's an appeal for catches out. England of won. England of won by two runs. Wow, what a finish. What an incredible test match.

That is astonishing stuff. And quite fittingly, Steve Harbison takes the winning wicket. And Gareit Jones takes a very good catch down the leg side. What a phenomenal test match. Amazing finish. Billy Bowden waited for a moment and the England players are surrounding themselves and slapping each other on the back. Flintov came over and shook Brett Lee's hand. It really is so special going back and hearing your memories of what that game meant to you and where you followed it. We hope you're enjoying the chance to listen to some matches back in full. There are so many to look forward to during May and June. Just look out on social media and the BBC Sport website for all the details.

And don't forget to subscribe to the Test Match Special podcast to hit the button on BBC Sounds. Alan Shearer and Ian Wright are in my kitchen. What's going on here? The all-new Match of the Day Top Ten podcast, answering a huge football question every week. This has not been easy, hasn't it? Like the Top Ten Premier League strikers. Personally, I think it's really hard to have Shearer anywhere near the top 10. The Match of the Day Top Ten podcast.

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