Ashes book publicity gathers pace

Extracts from Justin Langer's chapter in Match of My Life - The Ashes will be published in The Times Ashes Handbook on Saturday, November 18.

The Daily Mail plans to run a spread with extracts from six chapters, including Bob Willis, Jeff Thomson and Geoffrey Boycott, on or around Thursday, November 16.

An abridged version of Jeff Thomson's chapter will also be appearing in the Herald Sun, Melbourne, on either Saturday, November 4 or Saturday, November 11.

Extracts from other chapters will be appearing in newspapers around the country, including the Yorkshire Evening Post, the Leicester Mercury and the Birmingham Post.

Finally, excerpts from the book will appear in the sports section of NTL's website from Friday, November 10.

Match of My Life - The Ashes, edited by Rob Wightman and Sam Pilger, is published by Know the Score Books on November 8, 2006. It is available from all major bookshops and www.amazon.co.uk, priced £16.99. ISBN: 1905449631.

Quote of the Day

"The verbal hostility you sometimes got from fast bowlers never bothered me because I never listened. I had the ability to switch off, so whatever they said to me was a waste of time. It was like talking to a brick wall." Sledger's nemesis Geoffrey Boycott.

Random Ashes fact

Despite being England's most prolific Test run-getter, with 8,900, Graham Gooch took 10 years and 39 innings to make a century against Australia. That was his 196 at Old Trafford in 1985.

Magic numbers

21 days to go before The Ashes. Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has played in 21 Tests against England, winning 13, losing five and drawing three. Although he has scored 1,402 runs against England, his Ashes average of 41.23 is significantly lower than his Test average of 58.22.