‘The greatest Test series ever’ was how the 2006 Wisden Cricketers’ Almanac described the Ashes series of 2005.
Australia had held a vice-like grip on cricket’s most famous piece of history – the Ashes urn – for 16 years.
Heading into the series, Australia were clear favourites to retain the urn once again. They were undefeated in nine preceding Tests and had only been beaten twice in the previous two years. However, the hosts too were silently confident of putting up a good fight against their traditional rival. England’s record in the two years preceding the Ashes 2005 was almost as good as Australia’s. They had only lost four Tests out of 28 and were even unbeaten for 13 Test matches in a row. But what numbers won’t say is that England had played a majority of those Tests at home and against lesser fancied opponents.
 English team celebrating their Ashes victory soon after the Oval Test in 2005. |
In a thrilling start to the series, a hostile spell of fast bowling from Steve Harmison helped England bowl out the visitors, who had opted to bat first for a rather modest total of 190. But the champion team that it was, the Australians fought back hard and skittled out the hosts for 152, with the metronomic Glenn McGrath doing the bulk of the damage. England, despite a terrific start on day one, never really recovered and were bowled out for 180 in the second innings. Australia had overcome a false start to post a huge win by a margin of 239 runs to go 1-0 up in the series.
From Lord’s the Ashes action moved to Birmingham for the second Test. A drama unfolded just before the start of the Test match. Minutes before the start, Glenn McGrath — the most crucial element in Australia’s Ashes campaign — was ruled out. He had stepped on a ball during practice and had injured his ankle. England capitalized on the fact that their chief tormentor was out of the way. They scored more than 400 runs on the opening day – a feat achieved for the first time in over four decades. All the big players rose to the occasion; Marcus Trescothick made 90, while Kevin Pietersen chipped in with 71. The bowlers too responded by dismissing Australia for 308.
 In the fourth Test at Nottingham, Andrew Flintoff played a sparkling 102. He finished the series with 402 runs and 24 wickets. |
In England’s second innings, it was the turn of the magical Shane Warne to step up and fill for the injured McGrath. As he had done so often in the past, Warne bamboozled the English team and picked up six wickets. England were dismissed for 182 and Australia were back in the game. However, an inspired spell from Andrew Flintoff, who had scored two useful half-centuries earlier in the match, reduced Australia to 175 for 8. The tourists were almost down and out at the end of Day three.
There was more drama to come. Brett Lee, Shane Warne and Michael Kasprowicz hung around to annoy the English and took Australia to the brink of a famous and unlikely win. However, with Australia four runs from 2-0 lead, Geraint Jones took a brilliant legside catch off Kasprowicz’s glove and England had leveled the series. Though television replay suggested that umpire Billy Bowden’s decision to rule in favour of England might have been incorrect. Replays suggested Kasprowicz might have taken his hand off the bat as he gloved it – in which case it should have been ruled not out. However, in sport, luck tends to favour the brave and the team that has the momentum, and in this case it was with England.
Vintage Vaughan In the Old Trafford Test, Captain Michael Vaughan led the way with a fine 166, as England posted 444 on a beautiful batting surface. Here, he is deservingly holding the Ashes. |
Ashley Giles set the tone by picking up the openers. Later, with some fine display of conventional and reverse swing, fast bowler Simon Jones picked up six wickets to bowl out the visitors for 308.
It was a shocking batting display by the Aussies; Shane Warne’s 90 was the top score of the innings, with the next best being the 38 runs contributed by the sundries.
Andrew Strauss’s 106 helped England declare at 280 for 6 in the second innings, leaving Australia to chase 423 on a crumbling fourth-innings track. Australia collapsed once again – this time against some hostile fast bowling by Flintoff. But captain Ricky Ponting played a truly magnificent innings of 156 and it looked like he had bailed his team out. However, when he was dismissed 18 minutes before the scheduled close on the final day, England looked all set to go 2-1 up. Interestingly, McGrath and Brett Lee survived the most tantalizing 17 minutes of their lives, as Australia escaped with a draw. The two teams were one-all after three Tests.
England’s confidence was soaring after two good showings and appeared to be the better unit suddenly. Questions were suddenly being asked about the Australian team. Ricky Ponting’s captaincy was under the scanner and McGrath’s pre-series comments of a 5-0 whitewash had only added extra pressure on the team.
The Freddie & Simon showThe first innings of the fourth Test at Nottingham was almost a repeat of the previous Test. England posted 477 after batting first and then bowled out Australia for 218. This time Flintoff shone with the bat with his first century in Test cricket in 13 matches, while Simon Jones again proved lethal with his reverse-swing to pick up five wickets. Australia were handed the ignominy of having to follow-on – an embarrassment they hadn’t experienced since 1988.
Set to chase 129 for a win, England stumbled and collapsed to 57 for 4 before Pietersen and Flintoff took them to the brink of victory. However, yet another collapse meant Australia had a sniff of a chance. But the England lower-order hung around to take their team to a famous three-wicket win. England were 2-1 up, and they could not lose the series.
 In the fifth and final Test at Oval, Kevin Pietersen batted for 285 minutes for his spectacular 158 and helped England draw the Test. England won the series 2-1. |
The teams headed to The Oval for the final showdown. Australia had to win the Test to retain the urn, while England only needed a draw to take back the famous urn. And rightly so – as many Englishmen might agree – England played a defensive brand of cricket after having attacked Australia all summer. England batted first yet again and posted 373, but this time the scoring rate dropped to around 3.5 runs an over when it had been hovering around the 4-runs an over mark in the earlier Tests. Australia, despite their openers coming good for the first time in the series, struggled for pace and batted 107.1 overs for their 367. With time being ‘the’ crucial factor in the scheme of things, Australia ran into a stubborn Pietersen, who batted 285 minutes for his spectacular stroke-filled 158. However, things could have been different had Australia not dropped Pietersen when he was on nought and again on 15.
Australia barely had the time to have a crack at the target, and a draw meant the urn would finally change hands. England were convincing winners – even if the 2-1 series result didn’t say how superior a team they were compared to the Aussies.
English euphoriaThe euphoria of an Ashes win was so huge that the entire England team were paraded on an open-top bus at Trafalgar Square. A special stamp was released to mark the occasion, and to top it all several of the English players, the support staff and the chairman of selectors David Graveney were included in the Queen’s Birthday List of Honours. The England captain, Michael Vaughan, coach, Duncan Fletcher, and chairman of selectors, David Graveney, were created ‘Officers of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), while the players who took part in the series, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Ashley Giles, Stephen Harmison, Matthew Hoggard, Geraint Jones, Simon Jones, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Strauss and Marcus Trescothick were each appointed a ‘Member of the Order of the British Empire’ (MBE).
However, there were questions asked about the legitimacy of England’s shock victory many years after the dust had settled around a thrilling series when Marcus Trescothick, one of England’s key performers, revealed in his autobiography that England had used an artificial substance – saliva-laced with mint to maintain the cricket ball. That explained the lethal reverse swing that the English bowlers were able to generate (even with a semi-used ball) – which the Aussies struggled to generate even with a very old ball. Yet, ’05 Ashes series will be remembered as one of the most fiercely contested Ashes series of all times.
