The 2005 Ashes - Hampshire's man on the inside
29.07.25, 17:06 Updated 29.07.25, 17:18
Most Ashes Test series before 2005 were over before they had even begun.
Steve Waugh famously called it mental disintegration. England supporters just got used to calling it Glenn McGrath being proved right. Again.
As July dawned 20 summers' ago, though, there was a different feeling permeating around the cricket grounds of England.
And a 23-year-old from Hampshire was about to find himself in the thick of the action. The irony was that he earned his place in England's squad for the opening Test of the series at Lord's after smashing Simon Jones around the park with the bat, rather than anything he did with the ball.
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