Edgbaston set to serve another thriller
So the Ashes battle resumes at on Thursday, a ground which holds some pretty good memories for England in recent clashes against Australia.
Four years ago, of course, it was the scene of one of the greatest Test matches of all time when .
I was working on Five Live that Sunday morning where we were broadcasting from what is affection ally known as the "potting shed", a small temporary structure placed on top of the pavilion.
What was great about that location was that you could easily nip outside and get a fantastic view across the ground and most importantly drink in what was a quite amazing atmosphere.
In this job you normally try not to be too badly affected by the results of the matches - you are normally tied up in sorting out the logistics of the programme - but I remember that day as the match reached its thrilling climax I became a fan again for just a few minutes as the Australians got closer and closer to their victory target.
There was so much at stake that day as I am sure had Australia scored those extra two runs, they would surely have won the series with ease. Instead, England's dramatic win opened up the whole summer and of course led to arguably the greatest Ashes battle of all time.
The Aussie batsman dismissed at the end that day was a guest on TMS in Cardiff and he related a story about being stopped in the street in India one day when a man shook his hand and thanking him for getting out.
Kasprowicz said the man told him that moment had "saved the future of Test cricket".
There certainly is a very special atmosphere created at Edgbaston, a ground which I visited regularly as a cricket mad kid growing up in the West Midlands. Even Edgbaston's greatest supporters would admit it is not the most picturesque ground in the country, but when it comes to creating a fantastic sound there are few better locations.
I remember watching every ball of the where England won the opening game of the series in thrilling style with Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick skittling out the Aussies on the opening day before Nasser Hussain and Graham Thorpe put England in command.
I was one of those singing "Ashes coming home" on the Edgbaston outfield on the Sunday night of that game. I should have known Australia would come back and take the series...
My other main Edgbaston Ashes memories centre on the and games where again England proved victorious. In 1981 it was all about Ian Botham's amazing bowling at the death as he somehow conjured up another incredible victory while four years later, I remember the whole series turning on a bizarre incident as Australian wicketkeeper was as he looked to be saving the game on the final afternoon.
We will be remembering some of these great Edgbaston Ashes Tests during our coverage of this week's clash in Birmingham - and remember if you would like to relive any of those great games you must take a look at the Test Match Special Ashes Archive.
Jonathan Agnew leads our commentary team at Edgbaston alongside Christopher Martin Jenkins and ABC Radio's Jim Maxwell. Expert analysis will come from the irrepressible Geoff Boycott and Test Match Special favourite Vic Marks while making his TMS debut will be former Australian opener .
As well as scoring nearly 8625 runs in his 103-match Test career, "Haydos" showed what Australia have been missing since his international retirement by top-scoring in the recent playing for the .
He is also famous in Australia for his prowess in the kitchen where his is a best seller. I have already warned him that we are expecting him to bake us a cake...
Actor , star of programmes like , and , will join Jonathan Agnew during Saturday lunchtime to give us his "View from the Boundary".
Whately once admitted to Morse writer Colin Dexter that he'd rather have been a professional cricketer than an actor and encouraged him to write a special cricketing episode "Inspector Morse: Deceived by Flight" in which Sergeant Lewis had to go undercover in a cricket side.
As well as ball-by-ball commentary on TMS we will of course have extensive coverage over on Five Live with Mark Pougatch and Pat Murphy, joined by Jason Gillespie and the hero of , Dominic Cork.
Former England captain Graham Gooch will also be with us at Edgbaston as Five Live Sport comes live from the ground throughout the week plus don't forget on Saturday morning from 11am tune in for Five Live's new cricket comedy show "Yes it's the Ashes" presented by stand-up .
David Garrido will report live from the ground for Radio One whilst remember to check online for details of our legendary daily TMS podcast with Aggers and Geoff Boycott.
So join us from 1025 BST on Thursday morning with 2005 Ashes hero Ashley Giles helping us to build-up to what promises to be another Edgbaston Ashes thriller.
Hello I'm Adam Mountford and I'm the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio Cricket producer. My main
responsibility is to produce Test Match Special but I also look after our cricket coverage on other ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ outlets. My blog attempts to give you a flavour of life behind the scenes of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Cricket team. .
Comment number 1.
At 29th Jul 2009, montgenevre wrote:I hope 'Haydos' is as good as Dizzy Gillespie was in the TMS box. His straight forward opinion with daft accent put Dizzy on a par with Boycs. Others probably won't agree but I don't care.
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Comment number 2.
At 29th Jul 2009, saintlymark wrote:Could be an interesting debut test for Hayden, what with all the rain forecast! Lol hope he has a few good anecdotes to share up his sleeve!
Efdgbaston has traditionally been a good venue for England over the years, so its a bit sad that the forecast seems to make a result look unlikely, but fingers crossed we get a decent game.
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Comment number 3.
At 30th Jul 2009, Ben Milan wrote:Matthew Hayden scored 'nearly' 8625 runs in his Test career? Where has that 'nearly' come from?
Quite a nice article, seeing another viewpoint, that of someone who has to try and stay focused on logistics and not get caught up, it must be difficult to turn away from a match coming up to a thrilling end to deal with technical questions. I liked the article until the end - when it just turned into advertising.
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