Every ball went exactly where I wanted it to go until the ball that got me out

When you play test cricket, you don't give the Englishmen an inch. Play it tough, all the way. Grind them into the dust.

Test Cricket is not a light-hearted business, especially that between England and Australia.

Reading poetry and watching cricket were the sum of my world, and the two are not so far apart as many aesthetes might believe.

There are people who wish to draw attention to themselves by attacking me

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

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.