2005 Ashes series
The 2005 Ashes series was that year's edition of the long-standing cricket rivalry between England and Australia. Starting on 21 July 2005, England and Australia played five Tests, with the Ashes held by Australia as the most recent victors. The final result was a 2–1 series win for England, who succeeded in their biennial attempt to win the urn.
In March 2005, Australia captain Ricky Ponting said this Ashes series would be the closest since Australia's dominance began in 1989. Since 1989, when Australia started their winning Ashes streak, England had lost by more than one match in all but one of the series played, that of 1997. During that period, Australia were the pre-eminent team in the world, while England had dropped from being the top-rated in 1981 to sixth for much of the 1990s, reaching a low point in 1999 with a series loss to New Zealand leaving them bottom of the unofficial Wisden Cricketers' Almanack rankings. However, since the previous series in 2002–03, England had improved on their fifth place in the official rankings, and were second before this series. Australia were still top-ranked, but England had won 14 and drawn three of their 18 previous Test matches since March 2004, and had won six successive series. Nonetheless, before the First Test some Australians, including fast bowler Glenn McGrath, were suggesting that a 5–0 win in the series for Australia was a serious possibility.
On the day after the series it was "hailed as the most thrilling series ever". Three matches in particular were very closely fought, with one match decided by a two-run margin, one match drawn with only one wicket remaining, and one match won by three wickets. The outcome of the contest was not decided until the last day of the series.
Australia won the first Test comfortably, but in the second Test at Edgbaston, considered to be one of the greatest of all time, England levelled the series with a two-run victory, the narrowest win in Ashes history. The third Test ended in a draw, and England won the fourth Test in Nottingham by three wickets, losing seven men in a chase of 129, after England enforced the follow-on after gaining a lead of 259 on first innings.
The fifth and final Test started on 8 September, at the Oval in London. It entered its final day with England batting in their second innings, 40 runs ahead with nine wickets in hand. Australia needed a win to force a 2–2 series draw and retain the Ashes; any other result would give the Ashes to England and end 16 years and eight series of Australian dominance. After a day of fluctuating fortunes, England established a lead of 341 after Kevin Pietersen's maiden century of 158 runs, and Australia batted for one over before the teams went off for bad light, and the match was declared a draw, ensuring the return of the Ashes to England.
Squads
a Collingwood was added on 1 August for the second Test, but sent back to his county on 3 August.b An injury to Simon Jones saw Anderson come into the squad for the fifth Test, while Tremlett was dropped because he was "not on top of his game" according to England's chairman of selectors David Graveney. Collingwood was also called up again.
c Clark was called up as cover for pace bowlers McGrath and Lee before the third Test.
Match details
First Test
The first day of cricket at Lord's saw 17 of the total of 40 wickets fall, and though Australia lost 10 of them, the BBC saw it as "advantage Australia". Ricky Ponting won the toss and chose to bat, and Steve Harmison shook up the opening batters early on, hitting the Australians with bouncers; the second ball of the match hit Justin Langer on the elbow but he went on to make 40 and top score for Australia. The pitch offered bounce and swing from the start, while Matthew Hoggard got a ball on line to swing between Matthew Hayden's bat and pad and into his off stump. Hayden was gone for 12, having, according to the BBC report, "played nervously from the word go". Australia still scored at a rate above 4.5 runs per over in the mini-session before drinks, which was taken when Harmison cut Ponting on the right cheek, and in his next over Harmison got his first wicket of the series as Ponting edged him to Andrew Strauss at third slip for 9. Langer was next to depart, having scored at above five an over when he top-edged a pull shot to Harmison at square-leg for 40 off the bowling of Andrew Flintoff, whose first over in Ashes cricket was a wicket maiden. In the next over, Simon Jones was brought on, he got an immediate reward, with Damien Martyn caught behind for 2, and in the penultimate over before lunch Michael Clarke was leg before wicket to Jones, leaving Australia five down after the first session of play.Adam Gilchrist, Simon Katich and Shane Warne all played a part in getting Australia past 100, forging innings in the 20s, but Flintoff had Gilchrist for 26 before Warne and Katich added 49 for the seventh wicket. Harmison, coming back for a second spell, was wicketless in his first two overs but after drinks he took four wickets for seven runs in 2.2 overs as Australia were all out for 190. He finished with five wickets for 43 runs. Glenn McGrath was the not out batter, ending with 10 runs, and he also opened the bowling with Brett Lee. England batted for six overs until tea without losing a wicket, scoring 10 runs, but McGrath, who bowled his usual accurate line and length, reaped the rewards after tea. Marcus Trescothick fell first ball after tea, edging to slip to become McGrath's 500th victim in Test cricket, and Strauss fell in similar fashion three balls later. Michael Vaughan and Ian Bell survived six overs, adding seven runs before McGrath had them bowled in the 13th and 15th over respectively. With Flintoff bowled by McGrath in the 17th, and England had lost five wickets for 21 runs, with five of their top six batters out in single figures. However, Kevin Pietersen and Geraint Jones batted together to make England's highest partnership of the innings, adding 58 and, according to the BBC report, "treating Jason Gillespie with some disdain". A short ball from Lee was too much for Geraint Jones, though, and he fended it to wicket-keeper Gilchrist, out for 30. Ashley Giles hit two quick boundaries to bat out the over, but the last ball of Lee's next over was glanced to the keeper, and Giles was out for 11, and England were 92/7 overnight – needing 98 for the last three wickets to get level with Australia.
England cut the deficit on the second morning, but were still bowled out before they could build a first-innings lead. Hoggard departed for a 16-ball duck, cutting a delivery from Warne to Hayden in the slips. Pietersen now started to attack, taking 21 runs off seven deliveries before he was out caught by Martyn, a diving catch just inside the boundary, and England were nine down for 122, still trailing by 68. The English 10th wicket pairing of Simon Jones and Harmison added 33 after that, a stand that was the fifth-highest of the game thus far and which reduced Australia's lead to 35 runs. In the field, England started by having Langer run out for 6 in the fifth over, but Hayden and Ponting rebuilt to bat until lunch unbeaten.
Though Hayden was bowled by Flintoff for 34 three overs after lunch, the batters from three to six all passed 40; it was to be the only time in the series that Australia accomplished this feat. Clarke needed an extra life to do it, but made England pay after Pietersen dropped him on 21, and thus the partnership was allowed to last for 34.3 overs, with 155 runs being scored. Flintoff was smashed to all corners, with 84 runs being scored off him in his 19 second-day overs, but in the last 10 overs England came back to take wickets. Started by an inside-edge from Clarke off Hoggard, which left Australia's 24-year-old batter bowled for 91, and Australia lost a further three wickets for 24 runs before the end of the day. The Australian lead was still 314, twice England's first innings total and then some, and Katich was still batting, not out on 10.
Four overs into the morning, specialist spin bowler Giles was involved in a dismissal for the only time in the match, having Lee run out for 8. However, Gillespie batted for an hour and 15 minutes, and took part in a 52-run stand with the recognised batter, Katich before Simon Jones got his reward with an away-swinger that crashed into Gillespie's off stump, after having three catches dropped. The last-wicket partnership rubbed it in with 43 more runs before Katich was caught by Simon Jones off Harmison, but England were set what would be a world record 420 to win.
They started positively, riding some favourable umpiring decisions; Aleem Dar turned down four strong lbw appeals off Warne. Strauss and Trescothick could thus add 80 for the first wicket before Strauss edged a short ball from Lee back into the bowler's waiting hands. Vaughan got off the mark with a four with his second ball, before facing 24 dot balls in the next three-quarters of an hour. Meanwhile, wickets fell at the other end, as Trescothick departed for 44, edging a straight ball from Warne to first slip after having taken him for 10 in the previous over, and Bell was out LBW to a ball that did not turn. Three overs later, Vaughan was bowled cleanly by Lee and Flintoff gave a catch to Gilchrist, England were five down for 119, and though Pietersen once again put on more than 40 runs with Geraint Jones, England still needed 301 for the last five wickets, which would mean five partnerships higher than England had managed all match.
Rain frustrated both Australia and neutral fans who wanted to see cricket played on the morning of the fourth day, but at 15:45 BST the rain relented and the covers were taken off. Then, it took 10 overs for Australia to wrap up England's innings, McGrath taking four of the five wickets required and Warne the last; Giles, Hoggard, Harmison and Simon Jones were all dismissed for ducks, and England could only cut 24 runs off Australia's eventual win margin of 239. Twenty-two of those fourth-day runs came from Pietersen who was left stranded on an unbeaten 64 to have a Test batting average of 121 after his first match.