let the drama begin

This series will have to go some to top 2005.

By Simon Wilkes

Andrew Flintoff insists his England troops will cope with the pressure during the forthcoming Ashes - but I'm not so sure the sports writers in our office will do as well on past evidence.

I've been a sports journalist for near-on 10 years now and thought I'd experienced most sporting highs and lows - until last summer.

Most men insist we have a dream job whenever we say what we do (and in getting paid to watch sport they have a strong case) - but last summer was the stuff of nightmares at times.

First up we had the adrenaline rush of seeing Steve Harmison clatter the new ball into Justin Langer's elbow and Ricky Ponting's helmet, then the low of seeing Glenn McGrath rip through our top order with ruthless efficiency.

Then we had the joy of Ponting getting it so badly wrong by losing all of Australia's first-innings momentum in sending us into bat for the second Test - along with his foul-mouthed hissy-fit at Duncan Fletcher following his run-out by a specialist reserve fielder.

But the real gut-wrencher came at Edgbaston, where Simon Jones' drop in the deep at third man with Australia needing around 10 runs for a totally unexpected victory led to several queasy stomachs in the office on a Sunday morning - and it was nothing to do with hangovers.

Thankfully Richie Benaud was to utter the words...'Harmison, Jones...Bowden!!!!!' merely minutes later and an England victory was greeted with grown men running around our Leeds-based office like headless chickens before realising we really ought to write about this amazing Test match.

I witnessed a mirror image of the celebrations when Monty Panesar dropped an easy catch off Dhoni from Shaun Udal's bowling in India - only to be given a replica chance two balls later and this time hang on to help secure a Test win and 1-1 series draw under Flintoff.

But the Ashes is a different kettle of fish in terms of emotion, and I was not alone last summer in celebrating the fall of another Aussie wicket after an ad break on Channel 4, only to realise - thanks to widespread ribbing from all around me - that it was a replay.

When you take into account all the drama that unfolded during the memorable 2005 series, be it Matthew Hoggard driving a fired-up Brett Lee through the covers to put us in a 2-1 lead with one Test left, Shane Warne dropping Kevin Pietersen - and the arguably the little urn - early on in his stunning innings of 158 or Flintoff staggering from one booze-filled celebration party to another, we can only dream that the 2006/07 battle reaches such heights.

Either way we'll be there, sick bag in place, watching through closed hands - but loving every single minute of it.