England's wonderful victory over the Australians in the fourth test earlier today, and our retention of the Ashes, had me thinking about my earliest memory of these contests. When England took on Australia in 1953, they had not held the Ashes for nineteen years. I was eight years old and the significance of this fact had passed me by. The first four tests in the series were drawn, two because of bad weather.The final test match took place at the Oval from 15th to 19th August. My brother John and I happened to be staying with our maternal grandmother (Nanan) in Rotherham and on the fourth day, England were closing in on victory. My memory is of Nanan telling us that her next door neighbour had invited us to watch the climax on their tiny TV. We were ushered into their front room in time to see Dennis Compton hitting the winning runs. The celebrations apparently eclipsed those of 2005.
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