There’s nothing like an Ashes summer.

The legendary cricket battle between England and Australia has been thrilling generations since the 19th century, but the 2023 series that ended last week was one of the most dramatic.

Bowler Stuart Broad won the final game for England with the final delivery of his career. It seemed inevitable after he scored a six with the last ball he faced as a batter. The victory tied the series 2-2, denying Australia a first Ashes series win in Britain since 2001.

But this post isn’t a match report. Brilliant reporters have chronicled the series in thousands of words in print, on air and online. Instead, I reflect on a lifetime of enjoying the perennial clashes between two of cricket’s superpowers.

David Steele and George Davis

It all began during the summer of 1975. That was the year that snow halted cricket games in June, followed by one of the finest summers since the war. Australia’s fast bowlers Lillee and Thompson had terrorised England down under the previous winter, and the return series began in similar fashion. Hapless captain Mike Dennis gave way to Tony Greig, who turned to an unknown, silver-haired county player David Steele to calm English nerves.

“Who the hell is this, Groucho Marx?” Lillee is said to have shouted as Steele came in to bat on his test debut at Lord’s. Steele was lucky to be there at all, as he was nearly timed out after getting lost walking from the dressing room to the pitch, ending up in the Lord’s basement. BBC commentator (and legend of the 1956 Ashes series) Jim Laker misnamed him Dennis Steele repeatedly. But the debutant had the last laugh, hitting Lillee for four off his first ball, and going on to score a half century. He was affectionately dubbed the bank clerk who went to war, and was voted sports personality of the year.

My abiding memory of that Ashes season was waking up on the four day of the Headingley test. As at the Oval in 2023, Australia were chasing a big total to win, 445. There was a sense of expectation with the Aussies on 220 for 3, and I couldn’t wait to see the action. (The joy of a long school summer holiday!) But then came the crushing disappointment: the game had been abandoned. It wasn’t the usual culprit, the weather, but protesters who were to blame. They had dug up the Leeds pitch overnight, poured oil over it and left graffiti proclaiming ‘George Davis is innocent’. Davis had been jailed for armed robbery, but was later freed after the successful campaign to highlight his case. He was soon back behind bars after being found guilty of bank robbery. Second time round no one campaigned to free him.

The summer of 1977

Two years later, England regained the Ashes with a 3-0 series win against an Australian team weakened by the loss of players who had signed up to Kerry Packer’s rebel World Series Cricket, which rocked the sedate cricketing establishment to its foundations. (The episode later featured in my university law studies, as three Packer players successfully sued the ICC for restraint of trade and inducing them to break their WSC contracts.)

The highlight of that summer was Geoffrey Boycott’s return to test cricket after his self-imposed exile – boycott? – from international duties. It began badly, with the returning Yorkshireman running out Derek Randall on the Nottinghamshire hero’s home ground, Trent Bridge.

But glory was to follow, on Boycott’s own home turf, Headingley, as he scored his 100th hundred. As I heard the Test Match Special radio commentary of the milestone, I raced into the house to see the replays on television. I was always a TMS fan, partly for convenience (I could listen wherever I had a radio), partly because I enjoyed the commentary and analysis of John Arnott, Fred Trueman, Don Mosey and Trevor Bailey. I was less impressed by the schoolboy humour of Brian Johnson and Henry Blofeld.

The Ashes regained, 2005

The 2005 Ashes series in England was special as one of the closest ever, with England regaining the famous urn on the last day of the last test. It was the last test series shown on free-to-watch television in Britain, and the last commentary here by legendary broadcaster and cricketer Richie Benaud.

It was magical for me as I was there at the Oval on the second day, thanks to my friend and former colleague Andrew Baud. I’d done some freelance work for Andrew earlier in the year, and a day at the Ashes was a fine reward for it.

We were lucky enough to share a cab from a pre-match event at County Hall to the ground with Alec Stewart, the former England cricket captain. It was an enjoyable if short conversation.

Above: scenes from my video of day 2

Play began with Geraint Jones and Ashley Giles resuming for England. The home team added a further 54 runs to reach 373 all out. It was a special moment seeing Shane Warne in action, getting Giles lbw to end England’s first innings.

Sadly play ended as Australia unexpectedly decided to go off for bad light. (Back then, the batters had the choice if offered by the umpires; now the umpires alone decide.) Soon after, the rain arrived and play was abandoned for the day. My day at the Ashes was over. After a thrilling last day, when Kevin Pietersen scored a magnificent 158, the match was drawn and England reclaimed the Ashes for the first time since they lost to Australia in 1989.

Above: my photos of Freddie Flintoff and Michael Vaughan after play ended for the day

Bazball nearly triumphant: Ashes 2023

I hadn’t heard of ‘Bazball’ until I went to the launch of Mike Brearley’s new book in Chorleywood in June. The former England captain – victor of three Ashes series, including the miracle of 1981 – was talking about the aggressive, thrilling cricket England’s men’s team have adopted under coach Brendan ‘Baz’ McCullum and captain Ben Stokes.

The big question as the 2023 Ashes began was whether Bazball would succeed against the test cricket world champions. England started as they meant to go on: Zak Crawley hit Pat Cummins for a boundary off the very first ball of the series at Edgbaston.

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, I spent hours listening to Test Match Special on BBC Radio. In 2023, I was addicted to TMS during this enthralling series, listening on the BBC Sounds app when cycling – taking the Ashes with me as the TMS trailers put it. On the Sunday of the Edgbaston test, I tuned in for the first time on a ride, and enjoyed the TMS team’s insights into the modern game as I pedalled along the lovely wooded lanes around Burchett’s Green, Berkshire. I also liked Glenn McGrath’s sometimes biting comments as England lived and died by their aggressive tactics. It was a particular joy to hear veteran Aussie broadcaster Jim Maxwell, especially when he announced a break for the Shipping Forecast. He reminded me of the pleasure of listening to visiting commentators Alan McGilvray and Tony Cozier on TMS in the 1970s.

I also enjoyed Gideon Haigh’s entertaining columns in The Times, especially his pointed comment that this was an Ashes series, not an Ashes summer, with the last game ending on the last day of July. Australia played six tests in 54 days to clear the way for the dubious joys of the Hundred. By contrast, that 2005 finale at the Oval ended on 12 September.

The most notorious moment of the 2023 Ashes series was Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey’s stumping of his counterpart Jonny Bairstow in the Lord’s test match. It provoked a heated debate about the spirit of cricket, which reached its ridiculous peak when the British and Australian prime ministers felt obliged to weigh in. Shamefully, MCC members abused Australian cricketers as they made their way through the hallowed Long Room at Lord’s soon after the incident.

The stumping marked a turning point in the series. Ben Stokes, who was batting with Bairstow at the time, was provoked even beyond typical Bazball aggression, rampaging to an extraordinary 155. England lost that game narrowly after Stokes was finally out, but turned a sense of grievance into a series-equalling performance in the remaining three matches. If it hadn’t been for the inevitable Manchester rain, England would surely have won the series 3-2 and regained the Ashes.

I listened to the aftershocks of the Bairstow incident and the end of Stokes’s tour-de-force on another weekend bike ride. As TMS commentators asked if Lord’s had seen scenes like it, my mind went back to a dismal summer’s day at Lord’s in 1980. The home of cricket was hosting the centenary test, marking the 100th anniversary of the first time England played Australia at home. On the third day, the crowd’s frustration boiled over as they watched a series of pitch inspections and MCC members jostled umpire David Constant and one almost pushed him to the ground. (The captains, Ian Botham and Greg Chappell, rescued the poor official.) When play finally began at 3.45pm, a police guard was stationed in the Long Room to keep order.

MCC interviewed 19 members about the incident, but eventually it emerged that the only action taken was the sending of a stiff warning letter. As the writer Geoffrey Moorhouse concluded, ‘It was a classic example of what MCC committees do … dwelling on every question from every conceivable angle until everyone is so confused by the alternatives that no clear decision seems possible or even desirable.’

Poignantly, that ill-fated centenary test marked one of just four test appearances by Jonny Bairstow’s father David, who also kept wicket for England. It also featured legendary broadcaster John Arlott’s final commentary.

Back to 2023. I hope that the drama of the latest Ashes series will help redress the balance in favour of test cricket. We all saw that a five day cricket match can equal the shorter forms of the game for minute-by-minute excitement.

Postscript

I have just one regret about the 2023 Ashes: I couldn’t chat to Dad about the drama. Bob Skinner died in February, aged 96. As I said in my tribute at his funeral:

“Bob loved sport, and was a talented cricketer like [his brother] Bert. For many years they and their brother-in-law George played together in a Cardiff cricket team. Bob treasured a childhood gift from his father: a cricket bat signed by the England and New Zealand cricket teams in 1937. He once used it to score 74 at the old Glamorgan ground at Cardiff Arms Park, but, as Dad admitted, his impatient nature was fatal for an opening batsman: he would try to hit the ball for six and was soon plodding miserably off the field, trusty bat under his arm.” 

I can just imagine Dad looking down on the Bazballers, applauding their audacity, and holding back from criticising their sometimes fatal impatience, seeing a reflection of his youthful impetuosity at Cardiff Arms Park.