May cricket continue to flourish and spread its wings. The world can only be richer for it.
Every ball went exactly where I wanted it to go until the ball that got me out
When considering the stature of an athlete or for that matter any person, I set great store in certain qualities which I believe to be essential in addition to skill. They are that the person conducts his or her life with dignity, with integrity, courage, and perhaps most of all, with modesty. These virtues are totally compatible with pride, ambition, and competitiveness
I was never coached; I was never told how to hold a bat.
When you play test cricket, you don't give the Englishmen an inch. Play it tough, all the way. Grind them into the dust.
The game of cricket existed long before I was born. It will be played centuries after my demise. During my career I was privileged to give the public my interpretation of its character in the same way that a pianist might interpret the works of Beethoven.
Reading poetry and watching cricket were the sum of my world, and the two are not so far apart as many aesthetes might believe.
Many cricketers who had more ability than I had, Why they didn't make more runs than I did, I don't know
I saw him playing on television and was struck by his technique, so I asked my wife to come look at him. Now I never saw myself play, but I felt that this player is playing with a style similar to mine, and she looked at him on Television and said yes, there is a similarity between the two...his compactness, technique, stroke production - it all seemed to gel!
There are people who wish to draw attention to themselves by attacking me
Despite recent sad developments, cricket will survive and remain our most noble game and I shall always remain proud of the part I played in its history and development.
Test Cricket is not a light-hearted business, especially that between England and Australia.
About the last thing I ever wanted in life was a knighthood, and even today some forty years after the event, I find it difficult to come to terms with a life where old and valued friends insist on calling me 'Sir' instead of Don, simply because they think it is protocol. But I have consciously shouldered these burdens because I felt that I was the medium through which cricket could achieve a higher status and gain maximum support from the people, not only in Australia but throughout the world.
