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Ashes 2005: The Greatest Test Series
Brilliantly conveying all the drama and excitement of the series of a lifetime, this book documents the extraordinary events of the 2005 Ashes series between England and Australia that kept cricket lovers in both countries spellbound. The 2005 Ashes series—widely regarded as the greatest test cricket series in more than 50 years—comes alive in this nonpartisan account of one of the most partisan sporting events in the world.
- GenresSportsNonfictionHistory
192 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2005
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125 people want to read
About the author
Gideon Haigh
100 books109 followersGideon Clifford Jeffrey Davidson Haigh (born 29 December 1965) is an English-born Australian journalist, who writes about sport (especially cricket) and business. He was born in London, raised in Geelong, and now lives in Melbourne.
Haigh began his career as a journalist, writing on business for The Age newspaper from 1984 to 1992 and for The Australian from 1993 to 1995. He has since contributed to over 70 newspapers and magazines,[2] both on business topics as well as on sport, mostly cricket. He wrote regularly for The Guardian during the 2006-07 Ashes series and has featured also in The Times and the Financial Times.
Haigh has authored 19 books and edited seven more. Of those on a cricketing theme, his historical works includes The Cricket War and Summer Game, his biographies The Big Ship (of Warwick Armstrong) and Mystery Spinner (of Jack Iverson), the latter pronounced The Cricket Society's "Book of the Year", short-listed for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year and dubbed "a classic" by The Sunday Times;[3] anthologies of his writings Ashes 2005 and Game for Anything, as well as Many a Slip, the humorous diary of a club cricket season, and The Vincibles, his story of the South Yarra Cricket Club, of which he is life member and perennate vice-president and for whose newsletter he has written about cricket the longest. He has also published several books on business-related topics, such as The Battle for BHP, Asbestos House (which dilates the James Hardie asbestos controversy) and Bad Company, an examination of the CEO phenomenon. He mostly publishes with Aurum Press.
Haigh was appointed editor of the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack Australia for 1999–2000 and 2000–01. Since March 2006, he has been a regular panellist on the ABC television sports panel show Offsiders. He was also a regular co-host on The Conversation Hour with Jon Faine on 774 ABC Melbourne until near the end of 2006.
Haigh has been known to be critical of what he regards as the deification of Sir Donald Bradman and "the cynical exploitation of his name by the mediocre and the greedy".[4] He did so in a September 1998 article in Wisden Cricket Monthly, entitled "Sir Donald Brandname". Haigh has been critical of Bradman's biographer Roland Perry, writing in The Australian that Perry's biography was guilty of "glossing over or ignoring anything to Bradman's discredit".[4]
Haigh won the John Curtin Prize for Journalism in the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards in 2006[5] for his essay "Information Idol: How Google is making us stupid",[6] which was published in The Monthly magazine. He asserted that the quality of discourse could suffer as a source of information's worth is judged by Google according to its previous degree of exposure to the status quo. He believes the pool of information available to those using Google as their sole avenue of inquiry is inevitably limited and possibly compromised due to covert commercial influences.
He blogged on the 2009 Ashes series for The Wisden Cricketer.[7]
On 24 October 2012 he addressed the tenth Bradman Oration in Melbourne.
Haigh began his career as a journalist, writing on business for The Age newspaper from 1984 to 1992 and for The Australian from 1993 to 1995. He has since contributed to over 70 newspapers and magazines,[2] both on business topics as well as on sport, mostly cricket. He wrote regularly for The Guardian during the 2006-07 Ashes series and has featured also in The Times and the Financial Times.
Haigh has authored 19 books and edited seven more. Of those on a cricketing theme, his historical works includes The Cricket War and Summer Game, his biographies The Big Ship (of Warwick Armstrong) and Mystery Spinner (of Jack Iverson), the latter pronounced The Cricket Society's "Book of the Year", short-listed for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year and dubbed "a classic" by The Sunday Times;[3] anthologies of his writings Ashes 2005 and Game for Anything, as well as Many a Slip, the humorous diary of a club cricket season, and The Vincibles, his story of the South Yarra Cricket Club, of which he is life member and perennate vice-president and for whose newsletter he has written about cricket the longest. He has also published several books on business-related topics, such as The Battle for BHP, Asbestos House (which dilates the James Hardie asbestos controversy) and Bad Company, an examination of the CEO phenomenon. He mostly publishes with Aurum Press.
Haigh was appointed editor of the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack Australia for 1999–2000 and 2000–01. Since March 2006, he has been a regular panellist on the ABC television sports panel show Offsiders. He was also a regular co-host on The Conversation Hour with Jon Faine on 774 ABC Melbourne until near the end of 2006.
Haigh has been known to be critical of what he regards as the deification of Sir Donald Bradman and "the cynical exploitation of his name by the mediocre and the greedy".[4] He did so in a September 1998 article in Wisden Cricket Monthly, entitled "Sir Donald Brandname". Haigh has been critical of Bradman's biographer Roland Perry, writing in The Australian that Perry's biography was guilty of "glossing over or ignoring anything to Bradman's discredit".[4]
Haigh won the John Curtin Prize for Journalism in the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards in 2006[5] for his essay "Information Idol: How Google is making us stupid",[6] which was published in The Monthly magazine. He asserted that the quality of discourse could suffer as a source of information's worth is judged by Google according to its previous degree of exposure to the status quo. He believes the pool of information available to those using Google as their sole avenue of inquiry is inevitably limited and possibly compromised due to covert commercial influences.
He blogged on the 2009 Ashes series for The Wisden Cricketer.[7]
On 24 October 2012 he addressed the tenth Bradman Oration in Melbourne.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 25, 2019
A classic day-by-day recounting of an even more classic test series. The thing to note is that the book is a mere collection of pieces written with a deadline in mind through the series. Despite such pressures, the writing output is immortal with a balanced mix of humour, societal analysis , cultural references and cricketing technique. The vocabulary might well be intimidating for a South Asian like me but the author's turn of phrase is so delectable -just like Shane Warne's spells that enthralled the crowds in the summer of 2005.
February 17, 2016
Gideon Haigh is widely recognized as the best, and most objective, cricket writer around. I only just found out he has one Australian and one English parent, and dual passports, so that helps. This book was written day-by-day, without hindsight, so gives a real flavour of the fantastic tension throughout the 2005 Ashes. My wife and I were at each of the five pulsating days of the fifth test at the Oval, so I was delighted to re-live those wonderful days when the Ashes came home after 16 years!
December 29, 2012
Such a frustrating read. This book captures all the excitement of the 2005 Ashes series and is written with some humor and style but, certainly in the edition I read, was so littered with grammatical errors that it ruined the reading experience for me. It made me question the star rating system (again). Do I give the author five stars for an engaging book or the publishing house one star for a very crappy job? The answer is an unsatisfactory-to-all three stars.
August 6, 2022
The test series between England and Australia men in 2005, a series anointed even by some outside England and Australia as "The Greatest Test Series Ever!" inspired a lot of books about it, together with lots of "my stories" by mostly England players and i think i read quite a few of them though i do tend to steer clear of "my story" books from players still working. This book, written by Mr Haigh considered by many certainly me as one of the better cricket writers, stands out in my opinion as he concentrates just as much on the writing as the cricket.
Before the series England were thought to have a chance but this was a formidable world champion Australian team full of great, some all-time great player. The accounts of the shift of momentum that slowly but surely meant England went from "maybe they might win this" to "blimey they really are going to" is wonderful.
I started spending too much time and wasting too much passion on England cricket in 1985 and even thinking carefully the middle three matches still stands in my memory as the best consecutive sequence of matches involving England i remember and this book read almost twenty years later brought a lot of memories back. This is a very very good cricket book especially if you like to read about England winning or maybe Australia losing.
Before the series England were thought to have a chance but this was a formidable world champion Australian team full of great, some all-time great player. The accounts of the shift of momentum that slowly but surely meant England went from "maybe they might win this" to "blimey they really are going to" is wonderful.
I started spending too much time and wasting too much passion on England cricket in 1985 and even thinking carefully the middle three matches still stands in my memory as the best consecutive sequence of matches involving England i remember and this book read almost twenty years later brought a lot of memories back. This is a very very good cricket book especially if you like to read about England winning or maybe Australia losing.
April 19, 2025
Maybe I've read one too many cricket books but this one did not do me right. There are a couple of errors unless I'm going crazy. The author just uses too many metaphors and other devices I can't name and it lowkey drove me crazy. The actual accounts of the days play hardly seem in depth with no reading of the scorecard and players innings in the paragraphs. The Author just sounds like they love their own voice and their own sayings or whatever. Not the biggest book but it took me a long long time and at least I now have the satisfaction of not having to pick it up and read it again. It's just shallow in depth too. If you want a physical recollection for your family bookshelf sure go ahead but there are most probably better books on the greatest test series of all time.
January 18, 2021
The writing is exceptional in this collection of essays. Don't read this if you're looking for play-by-play accounts of Ashes 2005 - possibly the greatest test series I've watched with the exception of Australia in India 2001, but if you're looking for some high quality writing with smart humor thrown in, you should totally read this book. Recommended for cricket followers, particularly those who are in love with real cricket (also known as test cricket).
October 8, 2023
great coverage of one of the most intiguing ashes series for many a year. More due to its unexpected results as well as the closeness of teh overall series. Gideon in fine form here covering the all the days of the five tests as well as the time in between. One for the true test believers
December 15, 2017
A good accurate read. Well done Gordon Haigh. It really felt like you were back in 2005 battling for the Ashes. If you're a cricket nut and you're maybe 60 or over, you should enjoy this one.
June 7, 2013
This book is excellent. At various stages its made me laugh out loud and bought a lump to my throat. A brilliant account of an unforgettable test series.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews