England reclaim Ashes

It was a historic day in English cricket as a jubilant Michael Vaughan celebrated with his team-mates on an exhilarating victory in the Ashes 2005 Cup, being the first English captain to bring back the Ashes to England after 16 years. The Barmy Army along with the rest of the English crowd was overjoyed with what was quite possibly the most intense Ashes series ever. Despite Warne's commendable efforts, there was little he could do to halt a highly determind and disciplined English side. Australia's gradual decline was quite evident since the day were comprehensively defeated by minnows Bagladesh.


Vaughan is jubilant
as he lifts the Ashes

Image Courtesy: Cricinfo
England went in to the match knowing they only had to tie the match to reclaim the Ashes Cup while the Baggy Greens had to win the match only to share the cup with England. Having an upper hand in the series, the English side decided to continue playing with a positive mindset and aim for victory, rather than settle for a tie, the sign of an ambitious and highly perseverant side. Although they could only achieve a draw, it was quite evident from their game play and tactics that they were in no mood for showing complacency by drawing the match.


Warne had the English
batsmen in a spin

Image Courtesy: BBC
Although Warne had a fantastic series, claiming his 600th test dismissal and bagging 40 wickets in just this series, he was understandably unhappy with the result of the series. It was also good to see Matthew Hayden returning to his dangerous self, scoring a magnificent 138 in the first innings of the deciding test. At one point, McGrath looked absolutely lethal when he removed a well settled Vaughan and Ian Bell for a duck in consecutive deliveries. McGrath was precariously close to achieving his second Test hatrick when he pitched a bouncer to Kevin Pietersen, and got a deflection off his right shoulder in to the hands of Adam Gilchrist. Billy Bowden adjudged it not out, which turned out to be the right decision.


Pietersen single-handedly
saved England the Ashes

Image Courtesy: BBC
Kevin Pietersen having survived on the first ball from McGrath, was dropped at close slip by Matthew Hayden off Shane Warne's bowling in the next over. A few over later, he was dropped once again, this time at first slip off the bowling of Brett Lee, surprisingly by Shane Warne, who is known to have safe hands. Having being given two real chances, Pietersen capitalized the opportunity to score a magnificent 158 off 187 deliveries, smashing 15 fours and 7 sixes in his innings. Pietersen will have felt a little better being dropped twice, since he had dropped all 6 out of 6 catches in the series.


"Freddie" Flintoff was named
man of the match for his overall
exemplary performance

Image Courtesy: Manchester Online
Also noteworthy was Flintoff's stellar performance with the ball and the bat in the last Test. Flintoff scored a handful 72 in the first innings to help his side reach a defendable total, but it was his performance with the ball that left the Australians in shambles. The Australians were comfortably placed at 323 for the loss of three wickets in their first innings when Flintoff launched an excellent spell, grabbing a few wickets in quick succession that left the Australian batting exposed, only to be preyed upon by Hoggard.

Scorecard @ cricinfo

Victory in the Ashes series will give the English side a huge boost to their morale and will prepare them for their forthcoming tour of Pakistan. The Aussies on the other hand, will want to contemplate on what exactly went wrong and how to rectify their gradual decline in International cricket. Australia has some exiting prospects such as Jimmy Maher and Shawn Tait. It is time for the Australian side to revamp it's team before they face the same problem as the Pakistani side did in the 2003 World Cup or that India is facing at this time. Will this charged up English bowling attack survive the under the swinging blade of Afridi? Will their rock solid batting line-up be able to withstand the ferocious pace of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami? We will find out soon enough when England travel to Pakistan late in October this year.