1 review for Jones, Simon – The Test my life & the story of the 2005 Ashes

1. 

   Ken – August 10, 2015

   KEN PIESSE reviews The Test, My Life and the inside story of the greatest Ashes series by Simon Jones, hardback, $35

   From teen terror to Ashes Test hero, Simon Jones’ career was eventful, successful and sadly, ever-so-short.
   Still capable in his mid-30s of bowling 80 mph mark from just five steps, he was a cricketing meteor whose body was too fragile to handle the demands of express bowling at the international level.
   Jones oozed vitality and fitness as he signed copies of his honest and highly-readable autobiography during the opening 2015 Ashes Test in home-town Cardiff in July. Yet he has long been retired, having played no meaningful cricket for two years and more. And the last of his 18 Tests was in 2005, the acclaimed greatest series of them all.
   ‘Sometimes I’m asked,’ he said, ‘if I would trade having played in 2005 for a career of 40 or 60 Tests that didn’t include a series like that. Perhaps when I was struggling to come back, I would have said yes. But now (in retirement), no way. Not for the world.’
   Along with player of the series Andrew Flintoff, Jones was pivotal in terrorising Ricky Ponting’s Australians throughout 2005, his reverse swing at pace and ability to strike early in a spell an irresistible trademark.
   The Glamorgan ‘sheepshagger’ – as he was called by his first Test captain Nasser Hussain – was whole-hearted and competitive, ignoring the pain barriers to his long-time detriment.
   Recently, in a chat with Ricky Ponting about 2005, Ponting told of his recurring nightmares about facing the Welsh expressman, so lethal was he in at his top with his sheer pace and reverse swing.
   ‘We had team meetings that were just about how to play you,’ Ponting told Jones.
   In 2005, playing four of the five epic Tests, Jones claimed a wicket every 34 balls compared with Flintoff 48, Matthew Hoggard 45 and Steve Harmison 56.
   Given the horrific knee injury he’d suffered in the opening Test downunder in 2002-03 it was a remarkable comeback. And the respect for Jones is immense.
   Of course, his is a familiar story. Despite all the best intentions and do-good advices from the sports scientists, fast bowling and young bodies remains a lethal mix. For the fastest like Jones, breakdowns are inevitable.
   The fastest teen bowler in the world at 18, Jones always wanted to bowl fast. Ironically time under Rod Marsh in Adelaide at the old Australian Cricket Academy and with another Aussie Troy Cooley was a turning point in the career of a good time boy who was to make good, if only briefly.
   The insights and dressing room banter add fibre to the book which is built around in-depth accounts of the ’05 Tests.
   He says he was never a great one for sledging but others were, like Steve Kirby, who famously told Mike Atherton one day that he’d seen better batsmen in his fridge.
   Jones’ liking for a Stellar or three saw him celebrate wins wholeheartedly and without the modern invasions of social media. He remains amazed no-one was hurt after he piggybacked Geraint Jones’ partner outside the Walkabout bar in Birmington after the 2005 Edgbaston cliffhanger, only to stumble and both of them end up laughing uproariously kissing concrete.
   On another drunken occasion he and Steve Harmison were drinking piss (literally), having been set up by fun-loving teammate Andrew Flintoff.
   Jones talks fondly of his Adelaide experience under Rod Marsh, then involved with England. On night one, the team’s fitness man told the young English lads there was an opportunity to see Robbie Williams.
   ‘Who’s that,’ said Marsh.
   ‘He’s a bloody singer mate, you ignorant %#@&’ said a derisive Graeme Swann in his best Aussie twang.
   Unsurprisingly, Swann wasn’t to feature in England’s best teams until Marsh left.