On the fast track
It's time to rewind back to the Ashes of old
Judhajit
25-Feb-2013
It's time to rewind back to the Ashes of old. Jim White catches up with Dennis Lillee in Sydney Morning Herald as the fast bowler goes on to talk about his will to win, white-line fever and Mitchell Johnson.
"Right from a young kid, it was always Australia versus England, the only thing that counted. I grew up by that. I guess obsessed is too strong a word, but it played a huge part in my cricket life.
"To me, it was battle. Australia versus England was a war. You wanna try to smash them into the ground … One of my teammates told me I had white-line fever. Soon as I stepped over that line on the field my personality changed."
First, send the Australians to quaint Sussex by the sea, which is so genteel even the seagulls wear blazers. Then, when the Ashes start, the baggy greens, soaked in Pimm's and politeness, will be totally unprepared for a war, phoney or otherwise. Rupert Bates in the Sunday Age soaks up the atmosphere, but believes it's all part of the English master plan.