Ashes 2005 - The Greatest Series Ever?

This month saw the climax of arguably the greatest series of test match cricket ever seen to date – and possibly the greatest series many of us will ever see. It seemed fitting that it lasted until the final session of the last day, a true reflection of how closely contested the series had been between two very fine sides.

At the beginning of the year I told some of my colleagues in an email that in the summer of 2005 “a titanic struggle between the two all-conquering superpowers of world cricket, England and Australia” would take place. At the time I’m sure this sounded more than a touch hyperbolic – little did we all know what a spectacle this Ashes series would turn out to be.

So much has been written about this great sporting event by some great sportswriters – Simon Barnes, Derek Pringle, Michael Atherton, to name but a few – writers from whom I continue to learn so much – that is hard to know what, if anything, I can add that can be of value. In truth, there isn’t really anything, so I’d just like to highlight the key facets of the series, which made the Ashes 2005 such a special and unique event.

Individual Performances

1981 will forever be remembered as “Botham’s Ashes” and it is conceivable that 2005 will, in a similar manner, be referred to as “Freddie’s Ashes”. However, while the burly Lancastrian deservedly won the player of the series for a remarkable all-round performance, what made the contest so remarkable, for my money, was that there were so many wonderful contributions from the players involved.

On the first day at Lords Steve Harmison and Glenn McGrath both gave fabulous displays of fast bowling, and got their names on the honours board with 5-wicket hauls. England’s fast bowler lived up to his moniker of “Grievous Bodily Harmison” quite literally, as all of Australia’s top three batsmen sustained blows to the upper body. Later on, Glenn McGrath, the metronome, simply blew away England’s top order and any realistic hopes of the home team starting the series with a win.

Staying with the bowlers, what can I say about Shane Warne? Not a lot – we all ran out of superlatives quite a while back. 40 wickets in a five match series, plus useful (and at times, infuriating) lower order runs simply defies belief. The greatest slow bowler of all time made a mockery of suggestions that, approaching 36 he was past his best and that his wicket-taking ability would be stymied by problems off the field. I feel privileged to have witnessed a true genius at work – and indeed, to have met him at a county match during his first season at Hampshire - and a little sad that he won’t be playing another test match in this country.

One player, however, upstaged Warne with his all-round performance. Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff had never played in an Ashes series before, and held the dubious honour of the most caps earned by an England player never to have faced the old enemy. He knew that to deserve the title of the world’s greatest all-round cricketer he would have to deliver in this series – and deliver he did. Remarkably he managed not only to rediscover the form he showed with the bat against the West Indies last year, averaging over 40 in the series, but also was England’s leading wicket-taker with 24 scalps. For me his two most important contributions were his century at Trent Bridge, which led to Australia being forced to follow on for the first time in 192 tests, and his spell of bowling on the penultimate day of the Oval test which denied Australia the first innings lead everyone expected – and which could have ended England’s hopes.
Freddie is most definitely NOT the “new Botham” – I’ll scream if I ever hear that awful phrase again – he is the one, the only, Andrew Flintoff – the best all-round cricketer in the world.

Talking of centuries, the last time England played Australia most of them seemed to flow off the bat of Michael Vaughan. Not so this time – several players made it to three figures at important times. Vaughan only made one – a sparkling innings at Old Trafford – but now even I am happy to concede that it is worth him making fewer runs with the bat for his superb captaincy. England’s future captain, Andrew Strauss struggled against Warne initially but managed to record two centuries in the series – the only player on either side to do so. Ricky Ponting played a heroic innings at Old Trafford to avoid going 2-1 down in the series, and the two Australian openers, Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden re-discovered form at the Oval to ensure they would keep their places in the side.

The best innings of the series – and probably the best I have ever seen – was saved until last. Kevin Pietersen was a controversial selection for some, but not for me. I remember asking a fellow spectator at the Nat West series final “Do you think they’ll pick him (Pietersen) for the tests?” “Well,” came the reply “I wouldn’t want to be an England selector living in this country if they don’t.” Enough said.

KP justified his selection in the first test with back to back half-centuries in a losing cause. After that, he seemed to lose his way somewhat. But I kept thinking of what Warne had written about him in his column for The Times: the England selectors, he argued, would be making Australia’s task much easier if they didn’t pick “the most dangerous player in England”. Pietersen’s innings on the last day was not merely dangerous – it was explosive. After a nerve-racking morning in which four wickets fell, his pyrotechnics after lunch very quickly put the game – and with it The Ashes – out of Australia’s reach. He was simply awesome. So many times he hit the ball into the air and I thought to myself, that’s going to be caught, only to see the ball land twenty rows back. Obviously I had forgotten who was at the crease. I wonder how much sales of Red Bull have soared since that day?

But lets not forget one man who never made a century in the series: Marcus Trescothick is the only player in the current England side to have featured in two losing Ashes series, and in doing so averaged just 29 against Australia. The old enemy clearly had the wood on him and Shane Warne had claimed that “everyone” knew how to get him out (a rare injudicious remark from the great man). Well, it could be that Tres had worked on correcting the technical flaw that “everyone” knew about, but I like to think he went into this series feeling more relaxed, knowing there were other players down the order capable of putting a big score on the board, and bowlers who could defend those runs. Trescothick’s highest score in the series was 90, but he nonetheless averaged a very healthy 43 – beaten only by Pietersen – and gave England solid starts. It is difficult to imagine how England could have dominated all but one test without his contributions at the top of the order.

Surprise package of the series was of course a young Welshman by the name of Jones. Without wishing to gloat, I told people before the series he could produce something special and indeed he did – 18 wickets at 21 apiece. No mug with the bat either, as a series average of 33 suggests. It was such a cruel blow that he was ruled out of the final test with an injury – a match I feel England could otherwise have won – and preventing England naming an unchanged side in an Ashes series for the first time in 120-something years. Hopefully he will recover in time for the winter tours and his modelling career will also continue to blossom, giving the game greater exposure and making it easier for me to persuade young lady friends to sample a day at a test match.

Whilst there have been so many outstanding individual performances in the series, it is doubtful whether England could have won the biggest prize in cricket without a very important asset: team unity. The importance of this became manifest in the one day series that preceded the test matches: when Simon Jones became involved in a confrontation with Matthew Hayden, having inadvertently hit him in the chest while fielding off his own bowling, he was swiftly backed up by Collingwood, Flintoff and Strauss. The message was clear: take on one of us, and you take on all of us. Also a key moment during the second test was when Flintoff, bowling the penultimate over on the third day, made sure with his fielding off the last ball of the over that Michael Clark, the last specialist batsman, would remain on strike in the last over so that Harmison would be able to dismiss him. This England side play as a unit: no amount of superstars will ever make up for this.

How the series captured the nation’s interest

In the build up to the Ashes series I tried to get many of my friends, who don’t follow cricket, interested in the game. At the time I saw this as doing my little bit to getting the whole nation behind the team. As it turned out, I needn’t have bothered. Whilst there were no other major sporting events this summer that would have competed for the public’s attention, I am flabbergasted at the amount of interest the game has generated.

I received my application forms for Lords last year, and managed to return them by the deadline just before Christmas. I knew that all five test matches would sell out; such would be the interest among us aficionados of the game. What I never expected was to read about tens of thousands of people being turned away from the last day of a test match, or to see people watching from rooftops or trying to catch a glimpse of the action through the gates of the Oval on the last day.

I recall on the first day of the Lords test arriving at the gym for a PT session; a group of the staff were assembled around the television in the juice bar watching the end of Australia’s first innings. Whilst I was slightly surprised by this, in the following weeks the interest I witnessed whilst going about my day-to-day activities just snowballed, and it was a joy to behold.

Before I knew it, everyone was talking about cricket. It soon got to the point where I could no longer go out wearing my England one day shirt without people coming up to me and asking what the score was. (This was fine during the last four tests, but when I was drinking in pubs in London after my two days at the Lords test, where England had not fares so well, it was rather less welcome.) By the time of the Oval test I was having fairly lengthy discussions about cricket with complete strangers in pubs. Not something I had ever experienced before and definitely not something I expected. Even now, at the time of writing, nearly two weeks since the end of the series, a gentleman delivering local papers spotted me wearing my Ashes t-shirt and struck up a conversation about the series.

I remember at the end of the fourth test walking back from my garage, a short walk from my house. As I passed the pub a man sitting on one of the benches outside asked me if I had been watching the cricket. I simply gave him the thumb’s up. And then, as I passed the little park behind my house, I noticed a small group of young men playing cricket with a makeshift bat and ball – beach cricket, except they were playing on a concrete basketball pitch. I have read about people playing cricket in similar circumstances in India – I had never seen it with my own two eyes though.

One particularly nice thing that happened this summer was when a former colleague and friend of mine, Jim, with whom I had lost touch, sent me a text message saying how much he was enjoying the cricket. At work I had become used to him taunting me about how boring cricket is and the lack of success enjoyed by the national team. We managed to rekindle our friendship, due in no small part to our new-found mutual interest, and one of my fondest memories of the summer will be of watching the nail-biting finish to the fourth test at Jim’s house while enjoying a pizza lunch.

Many of my other friends became interested, even without my help: I recall asking my massage therapist, Louise, at the beginning of the summer if she would be watching any of the cricket and was told in no uncertain terms that she was not vaguely interested. That changed, of course, and in due course she was telling me how she had watched some of the action, as well as the victory celebrations in Trafalgar Square (how I wish I’d been there) and she was able to name several of the players – they are well on their way to becoming household names.

Even the players’ wives have started to become celebrities: Rachael Flintoff has appeared on the National Lottery programme and this week was the centre pages pullout in Zoo weekly. She, along with Matthew Hoggard’s wife Sarah, has also written a column for The Times. Kevin Pietersen has also done a photo-shoot for a magazine with his mum, Penny.

My only hope is that the players don’t get carried away with their newfound celebrity status. I doubt they will – they all seem very down to earth, family-orientated men. And they are clearly loyal to their mates: how touching that the leader of the barmy army be invited to join the players in the celebrations in Trafalgar Square.

The spirit in which the series was played

Has there ever been a sporting event quite like this I wonder? One which started with open hostility, the champion trying to assert his superiority over the young pretender, and the contender making a statement that he is not going to be bullied. The two heavyweights slugging it out to the last round, the mutual admiration and respect growing as the rounds pass. The crowd, willing the local hero on, taunting and jeering at his opponent, only to find themselves later expressing admiration and even love for the defending champion as it becomes clear that a great era is approaching its end.

And so it was with the Ashes 2005. The Australians arrived here in June, having not lost a series for four years, and holding the Ashes for 16 years. England have improved beyond all recognition since the two teams last met in 2001, and were the only team to be undefeated in test cricket in 2004. Australia were still the world champions however, and the benchmark against which England’s progress would be measured.

England enjoyed a crushing win in the teams’ first meeting, a Twenty20 encounter at the Rose Bowl in Southampton. One thing, more than the not insubstantial margin of victory, stood out for me: The bowling of Andrew Flintoff to Brett Lee. There was clearly some rancour between the two, perhaps a result of Lee’s over the top celebrations at dismissing Flintoff in a semi-final the previous year. Little did I know what was to come.

England made their aggressive intentions clear in the first test at Lords. Ricky Ponting sustained a nasty blow to the head courtesy of a bouncer from Steve Harmison and was unlucky to be cut on the cheek as a result of the grille smashing into his face at the point of impact. It was noticeable that as he removed his helmet and blood dripped onto the pitch, not one England player showed any concern. This was a deliberate and calculated show of aggression.

As it turned out, Australia went on to win the match easily and made their usual boasts of a 5-0 predicted victory. The teams moved on to Edgbaston, and things changed. Australia were down for the count on the fourth morning, needing 107 runs for victory with just two wickets remaining. They nearly bloody got there as well, thanks largely to Brett Lee, England claiming the last wicket with Australia needing just two runs. The crowd erupted and the England players rushed to congratulate each other. Except one, that is – Andrew Flintoff elected instead to console his stricken opponent, Brett Lee, who had fought so hard to lead his side to victory. Flintoff has come to recognise Lee as a kindred spirit – someone who plays the game with aggression, giving his all, but at the same time always with a smile on his face.

Since this outstanding moment (which will doubtless appear in more photographs when Flintoff wins the Sports Personality of the Year Award), the respect between the two sides has been palpable. There was applause and handshakes when an opponent had played well, and concern when a player was hurt: for example, Shane Warne congratulating Flintoff on yet another fine knock, and Kevin Pietersen showing concern for Katich when he was hurt fielding.

This newfound respect was no more apparent than in the final test. A match that was so vitally important to both parties: England needing only a draw to regain the Ashes – Australia needing a win to hang on to them. A single moment of this match summed up the spirit of the series: a mutual recognition of each other’s efforts between Matthew Hayden and Andrew Flintoff, when the latter had dismissed the former. One said: well-bowled mate. The other: well-played mate.

And so it continued. Even when Pietersen hit his amazing 158 to ensure the Ashes came home, the Aussies applauded. Shane Warne, who had dropped him before he got off the mark, made a point of running after him as the left the field. What he said to him was, apparently “Enjoy this moment, it is special.” You could argue that he did it only because Pietersen is his protégé, a member of his Hampshire side. I beg to differ – I think under the circumstances, Warne would have done something similar to any of the England batsmen. After the game – as I believe was the case after most of the matches since Lords – both sides had a beer or several together in each other’s dressing rooms. If these two sides had a drink together in recent times, I certainly never heard about it.

Perhaps the greatest contribution to the spirit of the match came from England’s 12th man: the crowd. Whenever I have been at an Ashes test match, the only noises emanating from the crowd regarding the great Shane Warne have been in reference to his waistline, his ability to “bounce on the ground” and more recently – endearing themselves to no one – the well-being of his estranged wife, Simone. It wasn’t until the final act that the crowd acknowledged the true genius of the man and he was greeted with chorus after chorus of “there’s only one Shane Warne” and “we wish you were English”. So do the selectors, no doubt. Glenn McGrath also received applause from the crowd on returning to the boundary. Neither of them will play a test match in England again. And as this pair of legends left the field with their arms around each other, it was reminiscent of Courtney Walsh and Curtley Ambrose leaving the exact same stage together five years ago, and many a tear was no doubt shed around the ground.

Maybe, just maybe, more tears will be shed around the world when Steve Harmison and Andrew Flintoff walk off the field together for the last time?

And finally..

Can there have been a more wonderful way for Richie Benaud to say goodbye to the millions whom he has graced with his inimitable commentary for the last 42 years? His farewell was immaculately timed (but not for Kevin Pietersen), understated, and like his commentary style, quite beautiful.

Oh, just one other thing..

This is quite funny actually, looking back: when I received my application form from Lords I returned it, applying for days 2 & 3 of the test. My rationale at the time was, I would have relocated to Munich by then, and so if I was coming back to England for the cricket, I may as well make a mini-break out of it. With hindsight, would I have missed the Ashes series 2005 for a job in Munich? Don’t be silly. Would I have missed it for the world? Nah.

Copyright © Jonathan Weedon, September 2005