WORDS OF WISDOM BLOWERS’ BEST BITS

“Flintoff now, great leap, he bowls, Gilchrist has edged it... oh! He’s caught it; it’s an absolutely staggering catch by Strauss! He edged it, Strauss flung himself miles to his left and, one handed, somehow managed to hold on, it was an extraordinary effort” – on Andrew Strauss’s extraordinary catch at second slip during the 2005 Ashes.

“Ashley Giles trundles in to bowl rather like a wheelie bin.”

“Here’s Willis, in, bowls to Bright, Bright’s bowled! The middle stump’s out of the ground; England have won. They’ve won by 18 runs. Willis runs around punching the air, the boys invade the ground, and the players run, helter-skelter, for the pavilion. Well, what a finish.” – on the moment Bob Willis secured England’s Ashes Test victory at Headingley in 1981.

“Well you might, you never know. After all Fred Truman’s daughter married Raquel Welch’s son. So anything is possible isn’t it?” – responding to Geoffrey Boycott’s assertion that he is unlikely to meet the singer Katy Perry because she is American.

“Oh! Look! I’ve just seen a crane at Lord’s actually moving, doing some work. I’ve seen cranes all around this ground for years and they’ve always been still. That big white one there is moving. A moving crane, a yellow helicopter, what more has the day got to offer?” – on the Lord’s skyline