Kasprowicz recalls being thanked "for saving Test cricket" for his Ashes 2005 Birmingham dismissal

Melbourne [Australia], November 8 (ANI): Former Australian pacer Michael Kasprowicz spoke about the hilarious reaction of a guy in India to his infamous Ashes 2005 second Test dismissal, which caused England to level the series, saying that while in India recently, a guy thanked him for "saving Test cricket" through that moment.

The Ashes 2005, which marked England's first series win against Australia since 1986-87, has gone down as one of the finest Test series of all time in terms of excitement, star power, announcing young talent before the world and thrill. One of those moments was during the second Test at Birmingham, when a delivery by Steve Harmison gloved him and went straight to Geraint Jones behind the stumps, denying Australia a 2-0 lead by just two runs while chasing 282 runs.

The moment marked a turnaround in England's fortunes in the series. They had looked down and out after a 239-run loss at Lord's in the series opener. But after a win in the second, the third Manchester Test was drawn, and a fine all-round show by Andrew Flintoff inspired England to a three-wicket win at Nottingham. The final Test was also drawn, giving England the prestigious Ashes urn.

Speaking on SEN Sportsday, Kasprowicz said, "No, not at all (if his dismissal saved Test cricket)," Kasprowicz said.

"I was in India recently, and a guy came up to me, and he said, 'Pleased to meet you. Thank you for saving Test cricket'."

"I said, 'You are welcome, but what do you mean, mate?'. He said, 'Well, if you and Brett Lee scored those runs, you would have been 2-0 up in the series and Australia would have gone and won the series and Test cricket would be dead."

"So, I actually, I joked with him.... You have got to give back to the game what the game gives you," he added.

The former pacer highlighted how all the England players got MBEs for their series win, and junior cricket participation shot up in both nations, but he was dropped from the side soon after.

"All the England players all got MBEs, I think the junior participation numbers went up by 20 or 30 per cent in both countries. DVDs called The Greatest Test was sold, and do you know what happened to me? I got dropped. There you go (laughs)," he concluded.

Kasprowicz also thinks till this day that he was not out since "his right hand was actually off the bat".

"Binga (Brett Lee) cracked one through the covers and I think on TV I heard people say they thought that was it, but I went straight to Kevin Pietersen on the boundary, and it brought me on strike," Kasprowicz explained.

"Then two balls later and I copped a short ball from Harmison, I didn't duck it and sort of played it standing up, and it flicked my right hand now. My right hand was actually off the bat at the time, so it should not have been out."

"But I would have been really disappointed if I was a bowler and he gave that not out, so, it was a tough decision," he concluded.

The Ashes in Australia will start from November 21 onwards at Perth, with Steve Smith leading the side in the match due to the absence of Pat Cummins due to a back injury. England would be aiming to go for their first Ashes series win in Australia since 2011 and overall first after 2015.

Australia's First Test squad for Ashes: Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster.

England's squad: Ben Stokes (c), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Mark Wood. (ANI)

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