Shadow-jousting with the Queen

The 1997 series was the closest Australia have come to losing the Ashes in the past 16 years. It also happened to be Michael Kasprowicz's first England tour, on which he shadow-jousted with the Queen and finished with seven wickets at The Oval.

"I'd had a good year with Queensland, it got me back into the Test side and there was the thrill and excitement of being on an Ashes Tour. My first Test wicket [in his third match] was Mark Butcher at Edgbaston and that is a great memory. The attack that day was McGrath, Gillespie, Kasprowicz and Warne - it's possible it could be the same one for the first Test this time too.

That day I was batting before lunch on day one, which was a shock. [Australia were 54 for 8 on the way to 118.] The early impact can create a determining tone for the series - they trumped us on day one, batted well and beat us. But at Lord's Glenn McGrath took 8 for 38 and we started turning things around even though it was a draw.

We were 1-0 down at Old Trafford for the third Test, but Steve Waugh came out and got a hundred in the first innings to show the fight was there, then he got another in the second innings. It was a great example of a how a team can play when it's right down to the wire. We could have been 2-0 down after three games.

The fourth Test at Headingley was close too, we were in trouble at 4 for 50 and Matthew Elliott was dropped early and made 199. They are the moments in the games that create the turnaround. People are saying that we are currently dominating and that it's getting dull, but there have still been moments like those in our recent matches.

The highlight for me was The Oval when I got a seven-for. It was reverse-swinging that day, which I knew a little bit about at that time. For me that was the best bit, but we did lose. At 3-2 it was a close series.

Off the field we went to Buckingham Palace for a reception with the Queen. I'd been watching the Edinburgh Military Tattoo on TV a few weeks before and her soldiers had lost to the gladiators in something like jousting. After her address I was chatting to her and said: "Your soldiers didn't do well at the military tattoo." She knew what I was talking about and took a jousting pose, thrusting one leg forward. She was a lovely lady and said she sat at home watching the cricket.

I missed the next Ashes Tour after coming back from shoulder surgery. I'd gone to India, played one Test and was dropped. It would've been great, but I'm grateful to be going back this time."

Michael Kasprowicz was talking to Peter English.