Ian Chappell has been in the commentary box for some of the greatest Ashes moments in the past 40 years.

The former Australian cricket captain, Channel Nine veteran and now ABC Grandstand commentator knows the game better than anyone.

He has seen the good, the bad and everything in between when it comes to one of the greatest rivalries in sport.

With voting for the 40 for 40 Ashes moments set to close soon, Chappell shared his thoughts on the Ashes moments that left an indelible mark on his memory, including one moment that he would have missed if not for the wise words of father.

1982 Boxing Day Test: Thomson and Border almost save it

Needing 74 runs for an unlikely victory on the final day at the MCG, Allan Border and Jeff Thomson fought tooth and nail to get within one shot of victory, only for Thomson to fall, cruelly, to a loose Ian Botham delivery.

"It was just the excitement of it and the fact 80,000 turned up on the last day when it could have been all over in one ball," Chappell says.

"I didn't think there was any way that Australia would get there. But, once England started putting the field back, to me that's a ridiculous tactic, and it still prevails today and I'm yet to see it work.

"I don't know why captains do it, but they do keep doing it and, while they keep doing it, they'll keep the opposition in the game.

"Bob Willis just pushed everyone back and, basically, wasn't trying to get Border out and once you stop trying to get batsmen out, it doesn't matter how good they are or how well they're playing, it just deflates everything.

"For starters, the bowler has to look down from the top of his run and see — other than bowled and LBW — how he's going to get this guy out. If you take that away from the bowler, crikey it makes a big difference.

"England were lucky in the end."

Amazing Adelaide: Warne inspires Aussies to victory

What looked like an inevitable draw turned into a famous Australian victory, as Shane Warne, Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath tore through the English batting line-up to knock them over for 129 in the second innings.

Chasing 168 for victory — and with the end of day five drawing ever closer — Michael Hussey and Ricky Ponting turned on the jets to lead their team to the win.

"I think Warnie was the only guy in the Australian side who thought that could be won," Chappell says.

"To come from that position, the excitement and the tension, that's always, to me, the interesting thing as a commentator. When you get tense finishes they're the most fun to commentate on

"You know that the crowd is up and about but, as a commentator, you don't let it affect you.

"That's probably a hangover from my batting days. You don't notice the crowd. You don't deliberately shut them out, but you just naturally seem to cocoon yourself

"By a couple of wickets in, I thought Australia were going to get there. For me, the most interesting part was the tactical part early on in the day when you got the sense that Warnie felt that game could be won, which flowed through to the other Australians.

"Then there was the tactics from England, and you know from experience as a player that the longer you keep the opposition in the game the more nervous you get.

"If England had moved on and scored quickly then, eventually, Australia are out of the game and then their only choice is a draw.

"But while England kept scoring slowly, that kept Australia in the game. To me, that early part of the tactics, that was the most interesting part of the day.

"There's no doubt that Warnie dragged them along with him. Then England scoring slowly convinced the rest it could be done."

Edgbaston: Lee and Kasprowicz fall short in greatest series of all

Needing 282 for victory, and having seen the top order get some starts but ultimately tumble, Brett Lee and Michael Kasprowicz put on a last stand for the ages, that — like Border and Thomson 24 years earlier — fell agonisingly short.

"That 2005 series is probably the best series I've seen since the tied Test in 1960-61," Chappell says.

"The Test at Edgbaston is the one that stands out. I was commentating, but I must have been in India or Sri Lanka, and there were a few Englishmen there in the commentary box.

"It was exciting for me because I was able to go the Englishmen and say, 'You're gonna lose' because I didn't have to suppress my barracking.

"It started out as a bit of a joke but then, as it kept getting closer and closer, I thought, 'Jesus, they are gonna lose this'.

"There was that one shot from Brett Lee that went like a rocket, straight to the fielder. If that goes to the boundary, Australia wins the game.

"As an ex-captain, this is the interesting part, I've always felt that the hardest job as a captain is when you still have to take wickets but you have to start thinking about saving runs.

"To get that balance right as a captain is not easy and that, to me, makes the tactical battle that much more interesting.

"In your mind, you're thinking this will be a real test for Michael Vaughan with how he places the field.

"I think he got the balance pretty well right. He was trying to get the Australians out but he had the fielders in the right places to stop runs.

"I didn't have a TV to watch it on but I knew it was over when the Englishmen in the commentary box started to breathe again. A great exhale of breath."

The 2019 Headingley Test: Ben Stokes pulls off one of the greatest escape

Needing 359 for victory in the second innings, Ben Stokes completed one of the great Ashes innings to lead England to the unlikeliest of wins, as Australia woke up to the news that their team had let the third Test slip.

"That's just one of the great innings played in those circumstances," Chappell says.

"To finally get the team home, it was riveting television. And it was brilliant cricket on behalf of Stokes.

"I think there was a point where I thought, 'I've got to go to bed', and then I thought, 'No I can't, I've got to see this out'.

"My father and I, when I was a kid, 11 or 12 or something like that, we went to Memorial Drive [tennis centre in Adelaide] and we watched Pancho Gonzales play Ken Rosewall.

"It looked like Gonzales was going to win in three sets. In fact, they brought the microphone out to do the presentations when he was serving for the match and Rosewall broke his serve.

"I remember Pancho in the crossover knocked the head of the microphone off with his racquet.

"We go into the fourth set and I'm looking at my watch, and say, 'Martin, I've got school tomorrow, we'd better go', and he said, 'Son, when you start to watch a sporting event, you see it out to the end' — and Rosewall ended up finishing in five sets.

"So, when I was watching that Headingley knock of Stokes, I thought of Martin. I thought, 'I have to see this through to the end', and I'm glad I did.

"It's probably got to be the greatest comeback in Test cricket. That is virtually the same as Border and Thomson, but they won.

"For Allan Border, there wasn't really the option of hitting sixes because the boundary was so far out and he didn't have those modern bats.

"When Stokes hit a couple of sixes and fours early in that innings, I thought, 'He's a smart cricketer, he's realised that you're not going to get them in ones and twos with a No.11 at the other end'.

"I thought, tactically, his play was brilliant. Those games are just very bloody exciting."

Old Trafford 2005: Ponting's class saves the day for Australia

With 423 on the board as the unlikely total to chase down, skipper Ricky Ponting puts on a masterful display to score 156 from 275 balls. The Australians put up 9-371, holding on to that final wicket to force the draw.

"Draws can be very exciting. Probably as exciting as a close-run chase," Chappell says.

"I think Ponting's knock is the best innings I've seen in trying to save a Test.

"He finished up saving it — only by one wicket and he wasn't there at the end — but, without his innings, they wouldn't have gone close to saving it and, to me, that's the best fourth innings knock I've seen to save a Test.

"Even when you try to save a game, you still have to look to score. If the target is not so far out of sight that it's impossible, it makes the fielding captain think about saving runs, and it dilutes their field placing a little bit.

"But also, if you just get into a totally defensive mind, it doesn't help your batting, you bat at your best when you're thinking about scoring runs.

"If you're thinking about scoring runs, you're thinking positively and, if you're thinking positively, that has a good effect on your footwork.

"I thought Ricky got the balance right that day. If a ball came along that he thought he could hit it to the boundary, he attempted to hit it to the boundary — and, most often, he did it hit it to the boundary.

"Mentally, he got it absolutely right. For a very attacking batsman to play that way and not not take too many risks was really impressive. Tactically, i thought he was spot on."

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