Adam Gilchrist hit rock bottom after Australia lost the 2005 Ashes. Four years on though, he has perspective and a fitting new ambassadorial role. The Observer's Anna Kessel meets him:

Only reflecting on that intense period now does Gilchrist realise how isolated he felt at the time. Those around him barely knew what state he was in. "No one else really knew what was going on. Team-mates, not really. We were all going through such similar rides, anyway. All on the same journey. All away from home. Mel [his wife] was trying to make me aware of it at the time. I was becoming more moody when I'd never been a moody, bring-the-game-home person. Cricket had never before affected my life and my mood and my thoughts, but through that time it began to. My moods and my mindset were being dictated to by results: low-score life was bad, big-score life was good. I had never been that type before." In the aftermath of the defeat, why did the team not share the loss and ­support each other? "I've come to the ­conclusion that we don't do that enough, or we didn't when I was playing. It might be against the male instinct. I'm probably a little bit the other way. I've always been keen to express my emotions and my feelings. There was the odd time when I felt a ­little bit alienated from the group."

In the same paper, Emma John interviews Mitchell Johnson on relationship counselling, expensive jewellery, driving a truck full of plumbing supplies and more.

When you were trying to make it as a state cricketer you used to drive a truck. What was in your truck?

Plumbing supplies. I'd be up from 4.30am till midday and do my deliveries then train in the afternoon. My truck was more like a ute [pick-up] and you had the toilet pipes on the top. And I didn't have an accident - [Australian-born West Indies cricketer] Brendon Nash did the job before me, and one time he didn't tie the pipes on to the roof tight enough. When he braked they came off all over the road.

And Rob Smyth lists out 10 unlikely Ashes heroes from Bobby Peel in 1894-95 to Gary Pratt in 2005.

In the Sunday Times, Martin Johnson talks to Andrew Flintoff who still prefers to be considered a batsman who also bowls instead of the other way round.

“Early in my career I was regarded as more of a batsman than a bowler and I still see myself that way. Scoring runs actually gives me more pleasure and satisfaction than taking wickets but all the stop-start cricket I’ve had because of the injuries has affected my batting more than my bowling. I’m confident it’ll come right again and on a personal level the next Test century of my career will be more rewarding than a five-for.”

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