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

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.