I was watching the Saturday of the Oval test of the 1985 Ashes at home on TV with my family. England were taking wickets, and the rest of my family were hoping they'd stop it. It was explained to me that, although we wanted England to win, we didn't want them to win quickly - we had tickets for the Monday. In those days, of course, Monday was the day after Saturday.
We travelled up from Bristol and arrived before the first ball. I forget how long before the first ball. (One year later we arrived at least two hours before the first ball, and saw the whole of Richard Hadlee's extraordinary practice session.) My strongest memory was of Les Taylor, large moustache, unusual action (I learnt the phrase 'deceptively fast' that day), and taker of the wicket that won the Ashes - Murray Bennett, caught and bowled.
We ran onto the pitch, and I clambered towards the balcony where the players were celebrating. There were famous photos of David Gower spraying champagne around, and Ian Botham standing on a chair behind him pouring Castlemaine XXXX on his head - I was just out of shot. Gower politely suggested we should move back if we didn't want to get sprayed. I stayed put.
James Sherwood
James is a stand up comedian and comedy writer. He writes and performs most of the jingles for Test Match Sofa.
Follow James on Twitter @SherwoodJam
www.sherwoodcomedy.com
James Sherwood
James is a stand up comedian and comedy writer. He writes and performs most of the jingles for Test Match Sofa.
Follow James on Twitter @SherwoodJam
www.sherwoodcomedy.com
Memory added on July 12, 2014
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