Fourth Test – Trent Bridge
By now my test match
routine was settled. I arranged my
working week so I could spend as much time as possible close to the radio on
Thursday and Friday. The TMS coverage
that year surpassed even their usual high standards. The commentators are great; Agnew, Blofeld,
CMJ and Aussie guest Maxwell. The
summarisers included Boycott, Marks and Lawson.
Big news when I tuned in on day one, McGrath’s injury had flared up
again and he would miss the match.
Gillespie had been taking a hiding and he was dropped, the lightning fast
Tait given a debut. Australia were
creaking!
The match started,
England won the toss and threatened to dominate from the start. With the exception of Bell, all of England’s
top order scored good runs but none turned their start into a match winning
innings. Day one was reduced to 60 overs
by rain and finished poised with England 229-4.
Pietersen fell early
on day two leaving England in a tricky situation at 241-5 but step up Flintoff
who in partnership with Jones (85) tilted the game firmly in England’s
favour. Freddie made 102 and England
were eventually all out for 477. Then
Hoggard destroyed the top order taking three and leaving Aus 99-5 at stumps.
We were home for the
beginning of play, a hundred partnership between Katich and Clarke held England
up but Hoggy broke them up and we began to chip away again. The wickets were shared and eventually Aus
were all out for 387 leaving England 129 to win. It started comfortably enough with Strauss
& Tres racing to 36 but Warne wreaked havoc and all of a sudden we were
57-4 and I was shitting it. KP and Fred
then calmed things taking us to 103 before Lee roared in at extreme pace and we
were 116-7 with Hoggy and Giles at the wicket!
Surely they weren’t going to turn this around? Not revenge for Headingly, please NO!
It was
unbearable. I had TV’s on upstairs and
down with the radio in between and I was pacing between all three places. Upstairs then down, out in the garden between
overs, then back in the house. We crept
closer, from nowhere Hoggy played the best cover drive of his life and it went
for four!! Closer, getting closer, Giles
pushes for two and fucking hell yes!!
Relief!! Adrenaline!! And I
didn’t have to hide in the shower this time!
In three weeks we’d
just experienced three brilliant test matches with close, tense terrifying
finishes. And England had hung on to win
two of them!!
Fifth Test – The Oval
We had to wait two
weeks until the fifth and final test.
It’s fair to say that by this point the country had gone Ashes crazy and
everyone was behind the team. Could they
do what no English team had managed in nearly twenty years? England had been
the better team and if not for time lost on the first day at Old Trafford would
have been leading 3-1. Would Simon Jones
be fit? As time went on it became
apparent but who would replace him? So
with my Ashes routine in full swing my ability to follow the cricket was thrown
into confusion by a family holiday to Holland!
I took my radio and
TMS radio hat with me and was able to pick up coverage from time to time. I also managed to locate some English
newspapers to keep me in touch with what was going on. For Australia McGrath was back and for
England Paul Collingwood stepped in for the injured Jones, in what many thought
was a defensive selection. We only
needed a draw after all. Australia
needed a win to draw the series and retain the Ashes, a victory they scarcely
deserved. Yes they had played some great
cricket but we had been better.
I don’t remember much
about the first four days of the match. I
managed to get TMS with a decent reception most of the time. England won the toss and batted making 373
built around 129 from Strauss and 70+ from Flintoff. A decent score but we hadn’t managed to bat
Aus out of the match. Warne was at his
very best bowling long spells to take six wickets. In reply the much vaunted opening partnership
of Hayden and Langer finally fired, both made tons. Flintoff took five wickets and Hoggard four
as Aus were all out for 367. By Stumps
on the fourth day England’s second innings was poised at 24-1. We just needed to bat out the day to regain
the Ashes.
The fifth day was
always going to be nervous so I went to Amsterdam. I had my TMS radio hat on
but the signal was dodgy in the city. I
heard up until lunch with the score a precarious 120 odd for 5 but then lost
contact. Had an extremely nervous couple
of hours and even a visit to a coffee shop didn’t help. Sometime in the middle of the afternoon, I
found myself standing in the middle of Dam square in the sunshine, the signal
comes back and the first words I hear are “Lee runs in to bowl….” Lee?
We’re still batting!!!! They
haven’t got time to come back…..!!! I
punched the air, shouted & danced on the spot. The family thought I’d gone nuts but luckily
if there’s one place in the world we’re this kind of behaviour is almost
normal, it’s Amsterdam.
KP scored his maiden
test century, a brilliant 158 and received support from Collingwood and Giles
who made 59. England made 335, Warne
took another six wickets and McGrath three.
Brett Lee was wicketless but on another day, with a bit of luck he might
have won the match for Australia.
Back at our holiday
caravan I sat in a comfortable chair soaking up sunshine, sipping from a Bottle
of Amstel as the greatest series ever played came to a rather anti climatic
conclusion. That didn’t matter one
bit. England had won the Ashes!! Being abroad I missed the team’s drunken tour
of London and in hindsight I’m glad.
Men of the series were
obvious selections; For Australia Shane Warne took 40 wickets at 19.92
including three five wicket hauls. He
also scored 249 runs at 27.66 with a top score of 90. England’s Andrew Flintoff
took 24 wickets at 27.29 with a best of 5-78 and hit a century on his way to
402 runs at 40.2.
After beating a team
of Aussie legends, we passionate English cricket fans could now appreciate what
a great team they were. It was hard to
do this when we were in the two decades of pain but now we could be objective. Yes they were a superb team and in Warne,
McGrath, Ponting and Gilchrist they had some all-time great players (but not as
good as the West Indies!) At that time Australia had strength in depth, in 2006
they regrouped came back stronger to thrash England. However that was the end of an era for
Australian cricket.
Going into the 2005
England had a settled XI that was a proven match for anyone, that team reached
its peak in that Ashes series. Afterwards it broke up and we didn’t have the
strength in depth that Australia had.
Simon Jones never played test cricket again. Vaughan, Trescothick and Flintoff struggled
with illness and injuries. However
English cricket was in a better place than it had been for many years.
That was the greatest
test series ever played, a clash of champion and challenger that rivals the Ali
& Frazier duels of the seventies. On
paper England dominated the final four matches but that doesn’t tell the whole
story. England kept knocking Australia
down but they kept bouncing back swinging. It had the nerves and tension of a
penalty shootout that lasted six weeks. The
final outcome was not decided until the fifth day of the fifth test. The standard of cricket over the five matches
was simply brilliant, there were great moments in all disciplines from both
teams. Will we ever see two sides playing cricket as good as that again?
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