Philip Neville: One of the illustrious Neville siblings, his elder brother Gary was captain of both Manchester United and England's national football teams, and Phil's twin sister Tracey an England Netball international. Not to be outdone, Philip decided against a life playing alongside his brother, pursuing his other passion: cricket. While Phil was a gifted footballer, by the age of fifteen, he had broken records by gaining entry into Lancashire's second XI, as well as captaining England's Under-15s. A long and successful career followed, for both Lancashire and England. A talented all-rounder, his medium-paced seam deliveries often managed to catch the new ball with a wicked reverse swing, confounding batsmen across the world; while his batting prowess saw Neville deployed at number five for England, a linchpin of the middle order. The highlight of Neville's career, of course, is the Test Series simply known as
"Neville's Ashes". In one of the most widely followed cricket series in recent history, Britain stood entranced as England captain Michael Vaighan faced Ricky Ponting's Australians in a thrilling five game encounter. Recovering from a superb Australian performance in the First Test, England, led by their talisman Neville, fought back. An agonising draw in the Second Test was followed by a rain affected Third, in which Neville took the wicket of final batsman Brett Lee with only three balls left in his over, and the light fading fast. The last two days of the Fourth Test, in which Neville and his best friend and Lancashire team-mate Andrew Flintoff saved a collapsing top order to steady a severely wobbling England, was the innings that catapulted Neville from "Gary's little brother" to "England superstar". After Flintoff fell to Shane Warne, the spinner's 600th career wicket, Neville carried the tail order through the day, with partner Steve Harmison, of all people, scoring the winning runs. The fifth and final Test, with the country at a standstill, saw Neville take his tally of wickets up to twenty for the series, posting his second century of the campaign before it ended in a draw, with England as victors by two tests to one. This, the first Ashes victory for England since 1989, and the last to be shown live on terrestrial television, captured the public imagination like none since, and will always be known by the name of the sporting hero who brought the urn back home: Neville's Ashes.
Now retired from international cricket, Philip Neville still plays County Cricket for Lancashire, is a regular guest commentator on BBC Radio 4's
Test Match Special, and an avid supporter of Bury Football Club.
AN: This was prompted by an interview with Flintoff, who claimed that Neville could have kept him out of both Lancashire and England's first teams, had he not chosen football instead. I didn't want to do that to Freddy, but Phil is now the star of the 2005 Ashes Series.
