I can’t think of an England player that every supporter and player would have loved to see more with the three lions on his chest. Simon was right up there with the best that I was fortunate enough to captain.
- Michael Vaughan,
What a player, what a man. Simon was the unsung hero in the 2005 Ashes. His crucial wickets and aggression took us over the winning line.
- Kevin Pietersen,
Simon Jones only played eighteen Test matches, but to me and most England fans he will always be a legend. His bowling during the 2005 series, against the best Australian team in history, was simply magnificent: fast, furious, swinging both ways like a deranged boomerang, and devastatingly successful. A class act.
- Piers Morgan,
Profoundly moving
- Tom Holland, Daily Telegraph
Exceptional... reminiscent of a mud-and-grit David Peace novel.
- David Hamilton, The Wisden Review
[A] brutally honest rollercoaster of an autobiography
Western Morning News
Numerous of the protagonists who took part in the 2005 Ashes have written books – but nothing half as gripping or revelatory as Simon Jones’s account
- Tom Holland, Independent
It is one of the most striking cricket autobiographies of recent times
- Richard Whitehead, Cricketer
The Test is one of the best [books] you are ever likely to read about that landmark series, or indeed any series… an essential read for all cricket fans
Choice Magazine
An absolutely cracking read, brutally honest, visceral, edge-of-the-seat stuff
- five stars, Cricketer
Winner of the Wisden Book of the Year
Eighteen years, eight series, eight defeats. These are the facts. I look around the room. We’re a young team. Strauss, Flintoff, Vaughan, the new guy, Kevin Pietersen. None of us remember England holding the Ashes. We are a generation that have grown up in Australia’s shadow.
In 2005 Simon Jones took part in the greatest Ashes series of all time. As a devastating fast bowler in a brave young England team, Jones went toe to toe with the might of the seemingly unbeatable Australians. Over the course of fifty-four days Simon would experience the greatest highs of his career, and plunge to the lowest depths. The series would change his life for ever.
In chapters that alternate between an unforgettable, insider's account of each of the five Tests and the remainder of his life, Simon presents the raw and unvarnished truth behind international sport; the joy and the sacrifice, the physical and mental cost and the unrelenting pressure. Heroes emerge, and cricketing legends are made human.
Winner of the Wisden Book of the Year
Eighteen years, eight series, eight defeats.
In chapters that alternate between an unforgettable, insider's account of each of the five Tests and the remainder of his life, Simon presents the raw and unvarnished truth behind international sport;