The Spin | A bittersweet time travel back to Edgbaston 2005: why not?

The BBC is replaying the whole TMS commentary of the second Ashes Test from 2005 as live from Thursday, if you don’t have anything else on

Who fancies a Proustian rush? Actually, who fancies three-and-a-bit days of Proustian rushes? From 10.30am on Thursday, the BBC is replaying the full Test Match Special commentary of the second Ashes Test of 2005. It appears Sky Sports are also repeating the whole thing, though I can’t quite work out why the programme begins at 12.30pm on Thursday. Those five syllables – Edgbaston ’05 – have already sent me to several happy places and the re-listen hasn’t even started yet.

This column isn’t long enough to tell the story of the whole game, and this needless sentence isn’t doing me any favours with the word count either, so let’s focus on the day life changed: 4 August 2005. The exponential drama of the match, culminating in England’s heart-stopping two-run win on the Sunday morning, sometimes obscures a first day that should never cease to astonish.

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