The Ashes’ Strangest Moments: Extraordinary But True Tales from Over a Century of the Ashes

In this entertaining collection of true stories, Mark Baldwin recounts some of the most unusual incidents in the history of the Ashes – the mythical prize at the heart of more than sixty series between England and Australia since its beginnings in 1882.

Featuring some of the greatest cricketers, from W G Grace to lan Botham, and Fred ‘The Demon’ Spofforth to Shane Warne, here are stories both famous and obscure from every Ashes series ever played. Billy Barnes, for instance, when warned by officials not to keep arriving drunk at matches in the 1880s, replied, How many of you gentlemen could make a hundred – drunk or sober?’ Warwick The Big Ship’ Armstrong, a heavyweight Australian captain, trained for the 1921 Ashes series by shovelling coal.

There was the controversial 1932-33 Bodyline series; England’s momentous victory in the Coronation year of 1953; their dramatic last-minute win following a freak rainstorm that flooded the Oval in 1968; Botham’s Ashes of 1981; the plague of injuries that forced out all but four of England’s original sixteen-man squad in 1994; and on to the recent domination by today’s Australians.

This fascinating dip into cricket’s archives offers a unique look at the curiosities of this endlessly popular series, and will delight cricket fans the world over.