Product Description

BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew presents an Ashes special - a collection of anecdotes and reflections featuring players from England and Australia. The Ashes remains one of cricket's most celebrated rivalries. This fiercely contested test series has a history of duels and battles that live long in the memory. Among those stars from England and Australia recalling their favourite stories and dramatic moments from the crease are Ian Botham, Merv Hughes, Darren Gough, Mike Gatting, Graham Gooch, Alec Stewart, Derek Pringle, Gladstone Small, Jack Russell, John Emburey, Angus Fraser and Derek Underwood. Hilarious, embarrassing and memorable, this is a special recording which captures the passion and pride of this legendary series. It features many new interviews specially recorded for this edition, introduced and linked by Jonathan 'Aggers' Agnew.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20861 in Books
• Published on: 2009-07-02
• Format: Audiobook
• Binding: Audio CD

Customer Reviews

Soft-balled chatter
This is a two CD collection of - almost sound bites - an introuduction plus 27 cricketers speaking of their Ashes experience from the seventies onwards. I am a fan of the game and have - at Lords or the Oval - been present at some of the matches discussed yet found this very dull. There are no great yarns, amusing stories just a tepid collection of comments more technical that after dinner repartee. Nothing that was said by these former players was anything other than I might have expected, no surprises or adding insight to the men or the game. A naked Shane Warne locked out of his hotel room, tedious and trivial.

It was lacking in characters and none of the usual suspects, commentators I am irritated by (the Blofeld, Boycott, Dickey Bird brigade) or the past doyens (Jonners or Arlott). They tell better stories. The fact is brilliant entertainers on the field are almost always dismal entertainment off it. So will the BBC produce a similar CD of 40 years of Grand Prix drivers in the same format? These monosyllabic automatons, skilled though they are, would make the cricketers more interesting. This raw data format doesn't work.

As for this Ashes Tales I put it on twice in the car for a 5 hour journey, the second time round I had forgotten what I had listened to. It's that sort of background, instantly forgettable, chat.

Cricket
I found this exceptionally dull, as said before it is almost a collection soundbites that don't stick in your memory until even the end of the CD. If you are a die hard cricket fan then you may enjoy this, but i would advise spending your money elsewhere.

Boring
I was a bit disappointed with this. I quite enjoy cricket and have been entertained in the past by the memoirs of Brian Johnston and others so thought that with a large number of famous cricketers recounting their stories, it should make for an enjoyable listen.

With a collection of anecdotes, I feel that they should either be funny or provide an real behind the scenes insight. Sadly this collection did neither of these things.

It felt as if the anecdotes were for the benefit of other cricketers who may understand some of the references to particular incidents, which are never fully explained here.

A wasted opportunity. Pity.