The Test: My Life, and the Inside Story of the Greatest Ashes Series

Description

Winner of the Wisden Book of the Year Eighteen years, eight series, eight defeats. These are the facts. I look around the room. We're a young team. Strauss, Flintoff, Vaughan, the new guy, Kevin Pietersen. None of us remember England holding the Ashes. We are a generation that have grown up in Australia's shadow. In 2005 Simon Jones took part in the greatest Ashes series of all time. As a devastating fast bowler in a brave young England team, Jones went toe to toe with the might of the seemingly unbeatable Australians. Over the course of fifty-four days Simon would experience the greatest highs of his career, and plunge to the lowest depths. The series would change his life for ever. In chapters that alternate between an unforgettable, insider's account of each of the five Tests and the remainder of his life, Simon presents the raw and unvarnished truth behind international sport; the joy and the sacrifice, the physical and mental cost and the unrelenting pressure. Heroes emerge, and cricketing legends are made human.

Simon Jones MBE is a former professional cricketer who played for England, Glamorgan, Hampshire and Worcestershire. In 2005 he tore through the Australian batting order, swinging the ball at pace, and inspiring some of England's greatest ever victories as they regained the Ashes for the first time in almost twenty years. That series he dismissed every single Australian batsman apart from Glenn McGrath, taking 18 wickets at an average of 21. Injury forced him out of the final match at the Oval and prevented him from playing Test cricket again. He subsequently fought for eight years to return to the top level despite a series of further setbacks. Now retired, he lives in Cardiff with his wife Justine and his two young sons.

"I can't think of an England player that every supporter and player would have loved to see more with the three lions on his chest. Simon was right up there with the best that I was fortunate enough to captain." -- Michael Vaughan "What a player, what a man. Simon was the unsung hero in the 2005 Ashes. His crucial wickets and aggression took us over the winning line." -- Kevin Pietersen "Simon Jones only played eighteen Test matches, but to me and most England fans he will always be a legend. His bowling during the 2005 series, against the best Australian team in history, was simply magnificent: fast, furious, swinging both ways like a deranged boomerang, and devastatingly successful. A class act." -- Piers Morgan "Profoundly moving" -- Tom Holland * Daily Telegraph * "Exceptional... reminiscent of a mud-and-grit David Peace novel." -- David Hamilton * The Wisden Review *