International Cricket in 2005 - Australians in England

Australians in England

Australia arrived in England in June, and were welcomed by losing a Twenty20 international by 100 runs. They recovered, however, to tie the NatWest Series tournament, after finishing second in the group stage of the three-team tournament (see below). In the NatWest Challenge, the 2-team ODI tournament immediately following the Series, Australia went one down in the first match but came back with two big victories chasing a target. Ricky Ponting made a century in the second ODI and Adam Gilchrist in the third. Australia were favourites going into the Test series (The Ashes), but they had been upset in the ODI series, and some thought their confidence was not perfect. However, after being bowled out for 190 by a good spell of fast bowling by Steve Harmison who took five for 43, the Australians dominated the rest of the match. Glenn McGrath ripped the English batting line-up to shreds as they crashed to 155, and after Australia's second innings England were set a world-record 420 to win. They whimpered to 180, and Australian commentators were once again talking about a 5–0 victory.

However, England came back. They dominated the first three days of the second Test, leaving themselves to take two wickets for 107 runs on the final day - Australia eked out 104 of them before Harmison took the vital wicket, levelling the series. A DVD of this match was later released, entitled The Greatest Test, which adequately described the feelings in the cricketing community about the match. The third Test was almost as closely fought, and despite one day being rained off, England set Australia 423 to win in a day and 10 overs. However, this time Australia survived, thanks to captain Ricky Ponting scoring Australia's first century of the series with 156. There was no such luck for the Australians at Trent Bridge in the fourth Test, however, as the Australians surrendered a 259-run lead on first innings, and despite an injury to fast bowler Simon Jones, who had taken five wickets in the first innings, England prevailed to take a three-wicket victory and ensure at least a drawn series.

England went into the final Test at The Oval needing a draw to win the Ashes, as a drawn series would give them to their previous holders. They got it, thanks to rain, dropped catches from Australia, and centuries from Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen. England batted first, and Andrew Strauss and Marcus Trescothick set the pace with a good opening partnership. Strauss just batted on, making 129 and boosting the England total to 373, but the Australian opening batsmen - who had struggled earlier on in the series - fought back now with 185 runs for the first wicket. The English weather once again plagued the Australian batsmen, raining off almost half of the second and third day's play, and on the fourth day, light conditions were poor. Australia had to bat on, however, to put pressure on the English, and Andrew Flintoff and Matthew Hoggard could plough through Australia's batsmen. The men in baggy green lost their last nine wickets for 103 and their last five wickets for just 11 runs. Kevin Pietersen finished off the match with a stunning maiden Test hundred to ensure that Australia would only get to face four balls in their second innings. The match was drawn, and Vaughan finally got to lift the small urn in front of a delighted Barmy Army, 16 years and 29 days after David Gower had given it away to Aussies in 1989.

Australians in England 2005. Test match length: 5 days. Test series result: England won 2–1. ODI series result: Australia won 2–1. One-off Twenty20 International: England won.