Ten Years Hence...!

When you look into statistics, you can't help but believe me when I say that The Ashes fought between Australia and England is the fiercest rivalry in the history of Test Cricket. Take a note of this: 68 Ashes Series played between 1882 to 2015, Australia have won 32 of those and England have the had the last laugh on 31 occasions. But nothing, not another Ashes series, or any other Test Series for that matter, came close to matching the EPIC that was Ashes 2005.
Having been continuously humiliated since 1989, the English players walked on to the Lord's outfield hoping to at least make a match out of this. And things seemed to be going their way with the burly Harmison bowling at his fiercest best. Justin Langer hit on the elbow, Ricky Ponting cut on his right cheek trying to pull a Harmison short one. Yes you read that right! Ponting failed to connect a Pull Shot and was left with a bleeding cheek! And Australia were bundled out for 190 and England looked to erase all bad memories of The Ashes of the recent past, but Glenn McGrath had other plans and the English batsmen had no choice other than bowing down to the brilliance of the man and yet again being handed over an embarrassing beating by the Aussies.
Things were back to square one, England were back to being under-performers and the second Test match began at Edgbaston with another Aussie victory on cards, but not before McGrath was ruled out due to an injury that came from a freak accident during pre-match warm up. And did the English batsmen make good use of the opportunity, scoring more than 400. After a batting collapse in the third innings, England set the Aussies a target of 282 runs. The Australian opening pair started of well, looking all set to make a mockery of the target, but that was before Freddie Flintoff came and bowled the over the series. Words cannot express what transpired during the next few deliveries that flew out of Fintoff's hands, but here's a short account of what happened:
1st Delivery- Good Length out side off to Langer. Nudged away to Backward Point.
2nd Delivery- Langer Bowled by a leg cutter.
3rd Delivery- Ball nipps back from outside off and traps Ponting in the crease, hitting him on his pads. LBW appeal turned down.
4th Delivery- In swinger taking the edge of Ponting's bat, fails to carry to Slip.
5th Delivery-  Another LBW appeal, turned down.
6th Delivery- NO BALL! Ponting lets it go outside the off stump.
7th Delivery- GOOD BYE PONTING! Ball pitching on middle and slightly moving away, takes the edge and carries straight into Geraint Jones's gloves.
Now watch the video footage and you'll know what I'm talking about
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH2UnMxR3IM

When you watch Flintoff standing stiff with his hands raised up to celebrate the fall of a wicket, you'll then know what legends are made up of.


And then wickets continued to tumble and England finished off the day with the wicket of Clarke of the last ball before stumps being called. England now needed two wickets on the fourth day and Australia needed 107 runs to win. The third day of play had seen the fall of 17 wickets.
Australia inched closer and closer towards the target, Shane Warne taking his score into the 40s before he trod onto his stumps, leading to the arrival of last man Kasprowicz to the crease. The last wicket stand between Brett Lee and Kasprowicz saw the batsmen defy everything that English bowlers could bowl at them. With just three runs short of taking a 2-0 lead, Kasprowicz gloved one to the wicket keeper and all was done, sparking wild celebrations among the English players.
The picture of Flintoff squatting to console a dejected Brett Lee is now a part of cricketing folklore.
You know sport is truly special when you feel nervous even when you watch replays, and Edgbaston 2005 retains that quality.

The third test at Old Trafford was a continuation of England outplaying Australia in all aspects of the game. There was a wave of disbelief all over the cricketing world with what England were doing to the Aussies. Australia though managed to bat out a draw and hence the scenes moved to Trent Bridge.

Flintoff didn't seem to let anyone else hog the limelight as he went about making a mockery of the Aussie pace attack (sans the services of Glenn McGrath yet again, this time due to a shoulder injury), scoring a quick fire century.
The pressure seemed to get to the Aussie captain  Ponting as he volleyed a series of abuse towards the English pavilion as he was upset being run out by a substitute fielder. This English team were giving the Aussies the time of their lives.
England did make heavy weather of their chase, but did manage to cross over the line with three wickets in hand.

All the attention then shifted back to the capital city London, The Oval hosting the fifth and final installment of the series, with England looking for a draw (at least) and Australia looking for a victory and draw the series 2-2 and take back home the wretched Ashes.
The Rain Gods seemed to favour England. It rained, but not enough to take an Australian victory completely out of picture. But then in walked funky haired Kevin Pietersen and what followed was mindless, insane assault by Pietersen that took the game substantially far from Australia's clutches. The match ended in a draw, sparking nation wide celebrations in England.

Flintoff was adjudged Man of the Series and rightly so, taking 24 wickets and scoring 402 runs, and proving to be the difference between the two sides.
The English team was welcomed home with a rousing reception and they paraded through the streets of London as tens and thousands of Londoners thronged the streets to catch a glimpse of their Ashes Heroes and that magical Urn that returned after all that painful wait and on that day, the English Cricket team were kings in Trafalgar Square.


Andrew Flintoff went on the captain the side for a short period of time and then went away from the game after tormenting the Aussies once again in the 2009 Ashes (that proved to be a semi-classic). He went on to try his hand at boxing and returned back to domestic cricket in 2014.
Steve Harmison didn't play a single test after the 2009 Ashes, picking up the last three dismissals of the series, and is now the manager of Ashington in the ninth tier of English Football.
English Skipper Michael Vaughan didn't captain the side in another Ashes series and retired from all forms of cricket in 2009, and is now a Broadcast Commentator.
Ian Bell, James Anderson and Micheal Clarke have moved from being relative new comers to linchpins of their respective sides
Australia managed to convincingly beat England next time around in 2006-07 with a 5-0 whitewash and Australian legends Juntin Langer, Damien Martyn, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, bid good bye to game.
England managed to win three out of the next five Ashes, the two times they lost both being embarrassing clean sweeps.
I've grown up from a bright eyed sixth grade kid to a sleepy Engineering student.
Cricket has been polluted by the likes of extra short formats, but those six weeks of cricket during the English summer of 2005 brings back fond memories to every fan of Test cricket and if the series beginning on July 8th 2015 could retain even half of the tension and excitement that was produced ten years back, then we are in for another summer of intriguing Test Cricket.

-Subramaniam Nagaraj
 Test Cricket for life