
'We felt like Premier League footballers' - Jones relives 2005 Ashes
England rocked the Aussies early on - literally and figuratively. Ricky Ponting was hit in the grille in a first innings during which they were dismissed for 190 - but a Glenn McGrath-inspired Australia went on to win that Test comfortably by 239 runs."When Steve Harmison hit Ponting, which never happens by the way, nobody went to check on him," Jones says."The Australians said this was a different team, like a pack of wolves coming in for the kill."And it was. We wanted to take them down."If 2005 was one of the most iconic series of all times, the second Test at Edgbaston has gone down as one of the best individual matches of any series.Andrew Flintoff was at his imperious best with bat - making 68 and 73 - and ball, claiming seven wickets including an iconic second-innings over during which he dismissed Justin Langer and Ponting. His act of sportsmanship - commiserating with Australia batter Brett Lee when England had scraped to a two-run victory, after Harmison dismissed Michael Kasprowicz - is an image that is etched into Ashes history.Etched into Jones' memory is how Harmison's final wicket saved him from "getting his P45" having feared he'd "dropped the Ashes" when he spilled Kasprowicz on the boundary earlier in the day.
Jones' days in the sun were to come in the third and fourth Tests. England was in full Ashes fever by the third Test at Old Trafford - Jones' tale about 10,000 fans being turned away refers to the final day at Manchester.If 2005 was the zenith of Jones' career overall, his second-innings dismissal of Michael Clarke was the crowning moment.Clarke looked well set on 39 until Jones, having lured the Australian with outswingers on repeat, delivered the perfect inswinger.It's a delivery that has gone down in folklore - both for the iconic sound of off stump being upended, but also for the stump mic recording of Clarke's painful "oh no" realisation there was nothing he could do to reverse-engineer Jones' perfect reverse-swing ruse.England didn't win that Old Trafford Test but Clarke's dismissal, and a backs-to-the-wall Australia being forced to bat out for a draw, illustrated a turning of the tide. "It sounds like music," Jones says of the Clarke delivery."It's the best noise in cricket. People want the noise that stump made as their ringtone and stuff. I love the fact that people are still playing it now. It's a long time. But people still think it's one of the best balls that has ever been bowled, so it's a really proud moment."
England and Jones' 2005 stories have a lot of common ground.But there is one key, painful error where they diverge.While England have used that series as the springboard to write a number of famous Ashes victory stories in the 20 years since, for Jones it was a full stop.The Glamorgan fast bowler was injured in the fourth Test at Trent Bridge and never played for his country again.It's a fact that could leave Jones bitter - but it is quite the opposite.There is a touch of the Tennyson - "tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all" - to Jones when asked if he'd have given up that endless 2005 Ashes summer for a more elongated Test career."At the time, I didn't realise that would be my last Test for England," said Jones, who played 18 Tests for England."It was like going from the penthouse to the outhouse."I had the best summer of my life in an England shirt and then to never play again… but I'm a big believer in what will be, will be. It's better to have experienced it. Would you rather play 100 Tests and not have 2005, or would you rather play the 18 you played and have 2005?"It would be the 18 Tests with 2005 included every day of the week."It didn't get better than that."

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