10-08-2025
Gary Pratt: Unlikely Ashes hero on life 20 years after Ponting run-out
G ary Pratt had just finished a busy shift at Lorimers, the cricket shop he runs in his hometown of Bishop Auckland, County Durham, when we met. A few weeks of glorious sunshine meant that orders for new kit had the team at the family-run business rushed off their feet.
The conditions were not so kind to us that evening, though. Torrential rain had scuppered our plans to meet at Richmondshire Cricket Club, where he was supposed to play against close rivals Barnard Castle. So instead we sheltered up the road from his shop, meeting for a pint at The Stanley Jefferson pub to chat about how life has treated him 20 years on from when he became an unlikely hero of the 2005 Ashes by running out the Australian captain Ricky Ponting as a substitute fielder.
