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,
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, 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, 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. 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.
Second Test The psychological battles before the match included many Australian statements to the press about how the pitch "played into [their] hands", that England had been "spending too much time talking", and that their top order had been "taking bad options". It was also suggested that the team that won the toss should choose to
bowl first to stand the best chance of victory, as had happened in 12 of the 13 Tests at Edgbaston since
1991. An hour before the first ball was bowled, Australian seam bowler Glenn McGrath tore the ligaments in his ankle after treading on a stray cricket ball while playing rugby during a pre-match warm-up.
Michael Kasprowicz took McGrath's place in the team. Ricky Ponting won the toss and opted to bowl, but
Jonathan Agnew of the BBC claimed "it was clear that his decision had backfired" once England started batting, a view supported by Channel 4 analyst
Simon Hughes. England took advantage of being inserted and came back strongly, becoming the first team to hit 400 runs in a first day of
Test cricket against Australia since
1938. The English scored at a pace above four an over in their opening partnership between Marcus Trescothick, who hit nine
boundaries off Brett Lee, and Andrew Strauss, who scored freely off Jason Gillespie and Kasprowicz. Their 112-run
partnership was the highest by England in the series thus far; the Australians had only surpassed that once, through Damien Martyn and Michael Clarke's 155 at Lord's. Although Warne produced an outstanding delivery to dismiss Strauss bowled for 48, to add to Australia's woes, Trescothick was caught off a
no-ball on 32, and eventually went on to make 90, being the second man out shortly after lunch, with the score 164/2 after 32.3 overs. In the next five overs, England lost both Ian Bell, who notched up his third successive single-figure score, and Michael Vaughan, who pulled a short Gillespie delivery to the hands of Lee, but that did little to slow the scoring rate. 132 runs had been taken in the morning session; the afternoon yielded 157. Kevin Pietersen, in his second Test match, hit ten fours and one six, and made a 103-run partnership in 105 balls with Andrew Flintoff. Flintoff scored 68 off 62 balls, and Lee's 18 balls of the afternoon session were taken for 26 runs, including two sixes. Ponting and Langer then hit runs just as quickly as England had done, before the
umpire's finger went up twice more before lunch; Ponting swept a shot off Ashley Giles to the opposing captain Vaughan for 61, and Martyn was run out taking a single for 20, again by Vaughan. Langer and Clarke continued after lunch in the same vein, hitting 76 runs in an hour and a half, but a couple of wickets within five overs took Australia to 208/5, needing 199 for the last five wickets for parity. The partnership between Langer and Adam Gilchrist saw them to tea with no further loss. The pair looked to close England's lead and batted unbeaten after tea for eight overs, but again the England bowlers intervened, this time in the shape of Simon Jones, whose
reverse swing caused the Australian middle and lower order a great deal of problems, and he was rewarded for his efforts when he trapped Langer with a
yorker – gone for 82, which was to be Australia's highest score in the innings. Australia's last four, which now included Kasprowicz, who had a batting average 10 runs higher than McGrath, were nevertheless all dismissed for single-figure scores, Flintoff taking the last two men lbw with the last two balls, although there was some argument about whether the first dismissal, that of Gillespie, should have been given. England began their second innings with a 99-run lead and looked to continue their aggressive batting intent to build their lead before stumps on day 2. After Trescothick and Strauss had hit five boundaries in six overs and taken the second innings total to 25 for 0, Ponting brought on Warne in the seventh over. Warne broke through with his second ball of the innings with arguably one of the best deliveries of the series by any bowler. Strauss, seeing the ball pitching at least a foot outside his off stump, stepped across his stumps intending to pad it away or leave it to go through the keeper; however, Warne's
leg break turned right across Strauss and bowled him behind his legs, hitting middle and leg stump, dismissing England's opener for just 6.
Nightwatchman Hoggard survived four balls to end the day, when England held a lead of 124 runs, with nine wickets in hand. Australia continued their new-found momentum at the start of day 3, as Lee took three wickets in the first 12 minutes of play: Trescothick slashed a wide delivery and got an edge to the keeper, captain Vaughan got his third single-figure score in the series as he failed to cover his stumps to a straight delivery, and Hoggard edged to Hayden in the slips for 1, leaving England 31/4 with Bell and Pietersen at the crease, having lost four wickets for six runs. Pietersen survived what looked like an edge from the first ball he faced, and went on to make 20 before he was given out in a similar situation from Warne. His 41-run partnership with Bell took England's lead past 150, but despite having batted for over an hour, Bell still needed 29 more for his half-century when he gave a tiny edge to Gilchrist. England's last recognised batting pair, between Flintoff and wicket-keeper Geraint Jones, saw England to lunch, but Flintoff had suffered an injury to his left shoulder and looked in obvious pain, England kept on the pressure, getting three more wickets before the scheduled close of play: Giles dismissed Katich and Gilchrist, and an in-swinging ball from Flintoff took care of Gillespie, who was trapped lbw. An extra half-hour of play was allowed, as a result was nearing, but Warne and Clarke defied the English bowling attack. Warne "took the attacking approach", With Australia edging towards victory, taking the pragmatic and sensible approach of preferring singles to risky boundaries, England were now bowling aggressive short balls at the tail-enders, hoping for short catches or to surprise the batters with yorkers. With four runs needed to win, Lee drove Harmison's attempted yorker towards the cover-point boundary, where it was fielded; it was timed so well that had Lee placed it five yards either team of the fielder's initial position, it would have likely won Australia the match. The batters crossed for a single, leaving three runs to win with the weaker batter Kasprowicz on strike. Harmison delivered another short ball, which Kasprowicz fended off and Geraint Jones took an athletic catch down the leg side. England appealed, and Kasprowicz was given out caught by Bowden. Subsequent replays suggested that the ball contacted Kasprowicz's glove while not in contact with the bat handle and that he should have been given not out, but England were nonetheless declared victors – if in almost the narrowest way possible – and the series was drawn level with three matches left. After a short engagement with his team in victory celebrations, the subsequent reaction of Flintoff to the winning dismissal was to console the despondent batter, Lee – a gesture which was widely commented upon as indicative of the good
sportsmanship and mutual respect between the teams which characterised the series. England's two-run victory was the narrowest win (by runs) in Ashes cricket history to date (there had been two Ashes Tests won by a margin of only three runs). It was also the second narrowest margin of victory in Test cricket history behind only the West Indies' victory by a single run over Australia in Adelaide in
1993, which was later matched by New Zealand's one-run win over England in Wellington in 2023.
Third Test Day 1 With the series square after England's close win in the second match at
Edgbaston in
Birmingham, neither team could secure the series win after the third Test at
Old Trafford in
Manchester, so there was still all to play for. The match began with England winning the toss, and choosing to bat first, thus giving Shane Warne a chance to become the first man to take 600 Test
wickets in England's first innings, and he did so by getting Marcus Trescothick out caught behind by Australian wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist when he mistimed a sweep shot, earning Warne a standing ovation from the Old Trafford faithful. After naming an unchanged line-up, England were immediately faced by the pairing of Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee. There were doubts about whether they could play before the match started, because of the injuries they had sustained earlier, but they both passed fitness tests. Though Andrew Strauss succumbed in the 10th over, England lost no further wickets before lunch, and only one more before tea. There were many missed opportunities for Australia, who dropped Trescothick, Michael Vaughan (twice) and Ian Bell on the first day, Following a brief rain interval England then lost two more wickets just before lunch, Andrew Flintoff after scoring a quick-fire 46 and Geraint Jones for 42. After lunch Australia quickly dispatched the remaining two wickets for just a further 10 runs, bowling England out for a score of 444, with McGrath finishing on his worst-ever Test figures of 0/86. Australia started their innings tentatively with Hoggard dropping a low catch from Matthew Hayden off his own bowling. Just before tea Australia lost their first wicket with Hayden out caught at short leg from Ashley Giles first over. After tea Australia lost another couple of wickets, Ricky Ponting caught for seven and Hayden given out lbw for 34. Gilchrist put on 30 before edging the first ball of Simon Jones' spell to Geraint Jones. This brought in Michael Clarke who had been recuperating at the team hotel after damaging his back on the first day. Owing to this injury, Clarke needed Hayden to act as a runner. Warne made inroads with the bat, just as at Edgbaston four days previously, but Clarke only managed to add seven runs before being deceived by a reverse-swinging delivery from Simon Jones. Warne and Jason Gillespie saw the day out with Warne finishing on 45 not out. The day finished with Australia on 214/7, 230 behind and needing another 31 runs to avoid a
follow-on. The score was adjusted from 210 overnight owing to one of the umpires failing to signal four
byes.
Day 3 Rain delayed the start of play until 16:00 BST, and even then only eight overs were possible before play was again suspended, although a further six overs were bowled later on before yet more rain meant that play was abandoned for the day. Australia had the better of the short day's play, adding 50 runs without loss to pass the follow-on target, although Warne was lucky to survive on two occasions thanks to errors by Geraint Jones: with Warne on 55, Jones missed a relatively straightforward
stumping opportunity, and on 68 he was dropped after edging a ball from Flintoff. Australia closed on 264/7, still 180 in arrears, but England probably felt that they missed several opportunities to put the game beyond their opponents.
Day 4 Having been hampered by a rain-shortened day three, the Australians were ready to put more wood to the ball on day four, and they did not disappoint. Warne continued his march towards his maiden Test century before holing out with a hook shot to a well-placed Giles at 90. Simon Jones mopped up the other two wickets to bowl Australia out for 302, Jones finishing the innings with a career best
figures of 6/53. Knowing that scoring runs quickly was the only chance they had at winning the match with so much of the previous day's play washed out, England took the fight to the Australians in their second innings. The opening partnership of Strauss and Trescothick scored 26 before the lunch interval, but Trescothick played on to be bowled after scoring 41, giving McGrath his first wicket of the match. Strauss, however, compiled a fine century, his sixth from just 17 matches, scoring 106 before getting out caught. Gilchrist missed two stumping opportunities to remove Bell and failing to hold a catch to remove Flintoff. Bell capitalised on Gilchrist's errors, partnering Strauss for 28 overs and recording a well-deserved 65. Although wickets continued to fall, England were more concerned about scoring quickly than staying at the crease. Trescothick, Strauss and Bell all scored with a strike rate of over 63, and Geraint Jones added 27 runs off just 12 balls before England declared on 280/6 to give them a spell at Australia in the evening and a chance of winning the match the next day. McGrath recorded another five-wicket haul in an innings, but was expensive, giving away 115 runs. Warne, despite bowling 25 overs, failed to take a wicket, recording figures of 0/74. Australia needed 423 to win, which would be a
record fourth innings total to win a match. Australia saw out the last 10 overs without losing a wicket and put on 24 runs. This left the match on a knife edge, with all three results still possible. Australia required 399 runs on the final day to win from a possible 98 overs, while England still needed to take all 10 Australian second innings wickets.
Day 5 Given the performances of the England bowling attack at Edgbaston and in the first innings of this match, English hopes of a win were high. Queues began at 06:00 and by 08:40, more than two hours before the first ball was due to be bowled, the Old Trafford staff closed the gates to the stadium. 20,000 people were left disappointed in addition to the 23,000-capacity crowd. The day started poorly for them with Justin Langer falling for 14 on the seventh ball of the day, nicking a ball delivered by Hoggard behind to Geraint Jones. Australia captain Ricky Ponting was brought to the crease to steady the ship, and he narrowly survived being run out early on. This proved crucial in the context of the match, as the momentum gradually swung in Australia's direction. At one point, Australia racked up runs at such a rate that a win became a real possibility, but Flintoff accounted for the dismissals of Hayden, Katich and Gilchrist, while Harmison got a favourable lbw decision to dismiss Martyn, leaving Australia's middle order in tatters and Ponting holding his team's innings together at 182/5. Michael Clarke provided stouter resistance in a cameo of 39 before a complete misjudgement led him to shoulder arms to a Simon Jones delivery which reverse-swung back into his off stump, sending it cartwheeling backwards. At 263/6, with 33 overs left to be bowled and 160 runs still required, Australia changed their batting order; instead of sending out the more accomplished and aggressive Warne, the more obdurate and defensively minded Jason Gillespie came to the crease – Australia were no longer playing for the win, they were playing for the draw. This order change, however, did not work: Gillespie lasted just five balls before being trapped plumb lbw off Hoggard for a duck, leaving Australia 264/7, and England now needing just three wickets from the final 31 overs to win the match and go 2–1 up in the series. Ponting, however, remained as composed and secure as ever, reaching his first and only century of the series. Together with Warne, who continued to frustrate the England bowlers, they added 76 runs for the eighth wicket. Pietersen missed a chance to dismiss Warne, putting down a difficult chance at short midwicket off a Jones full toss, and with 9.5 overs left in the match, England still needed three wickets and Australia required 83 runs. Warne was then finally out in remarkable circumstances, as Strauss put down a regulation catch at second slip off the bowling of Flintoff, only for the ball to rebound off his right thigh. Geraint Jones flung himself to his right to take a one-handed catch just above the ground. Ponting battled on, passing 150, but having spent over seven hours at the crease in a single day, his concentration began to waver and he finally succumbed to Steve Harmison, strangled down the leg side for a remarkable innings of 156 that was good enough to earn him
man of the match honours. After the dismissal of Ponting, Australia were 354/9 with only four overs remaining, and another thrilling climax occurred with England having a real chance of snatching victory in similar fashion to the second Test; however, the unfancied pairing of Lee and McGrath handled the remaining 24 deliveries to finish on 371/9, 52 short of victory but sufficient to draw the game and leave the series tied at 1–1.
Fourth Test Day 1 Glenn McGrath was once again ruled out because of injury, this time to his elbow, and Australia also dropped the out-of-form Jason Gillespie, leaving them with a
seam attack of Brett Lee, debutant
Shaun Tait and Michael Kasprowicz. England, having been on top in the last two Tests, were unchanged. England won the toss and chose to bat, and they got off to a strong start. Boosted by no-balls from the seamers – a total of 18 before lunch – Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss scored runs quickly and easily, and enjoyed batting on a
pitch which gave the bowlers no aid. They recorded their second 100-run opening partnership of the series, before Strauss was freakishly dismissed for 35, sweeping Shane Warne onto his boot and into Matthew Hayden's waiting hands at slip – a wicket confirmed by the third umpire. Michael Vaughan continued on his fine form from Old Trafford, though, punishing bad balls from Lee to go into lunch with his score on 14. Trescothick, meanwhile, rode his luck, as he was bowled off a no-ball on 55, much to Lee's displeasure. At lunch England were 129/1. Only 3.1 overs were possible in the afternoon session, owing to rain. Coming back after tea, England immediately lost two wickets to Tait, who used the cloud cover to good effect and
swung the ball well. However, Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen batted well together for a 67-run partnership, although they were each dropped once. Towards the end of the day, Ricky Ponting brought himself on, and his medium pace yielded a wicket – that of Vaughan for 58. Overnight, the match was evenly poised with England 229/4.
Day 2 Australia dismissed Pietersen at the beginning of the morning's play, edging a full outswinger from Lee through to wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist, leaving England at 241/5; however, an unbeaten century partnership from Andrew Flintoff and Geraint Jones took England's score to 344/5 at lunch. After the interval, the pair continued to score quickly for another hour, and extended their partnership to 177 before Flintoff was lbw to Tait for 102, his first Test
century against Australia. The loss of Flintoff did not deter the English, as Jones continued to hit runs through the off side on the way to his highest score against the Australians, making 85 before he was caught and bowled by Kasprowicz. The next two wickets fell quickly, but a stubborn last-wicket partnership of 23 between Matthew Hoggard and Simon Jones – including an incident where the ball hit the
stumps but the
bails failed to fall off – saw England to 477 all out at tea. In the evening session, England's bowlers, especially Hoggard, managed to find much more swing than the Australian bowlers had done, and ripped through the Australian top order. The first three wickets fell in a crucial period of 11 balls (although the third, which dismissed Damien Martyn lbw, was a poor decision – television replays indicated that the ball hit the bat before the body). By the close of play, Australia had been reduced to 99/5 to complete a successful day for England.
Day 3 Katich and Gilchrist decided that attack was the best form of defence, adding 58 in only 8.5 overs in the morning, before England came back to take the next four wickets for the addition of only 18 runs, leaving Australia perilously placed at 175/9. Simon Jones was the main culprit, using swing to good effect as he removed Katich and Warne in successive balls, and then had Kasprowicz clean-bowled. Lee added 47 in 44 balls, including three huge
sixes, to take Australia's score to 218, before he was caught off Jones' bowling to give Jones his fifth wicket of the innings. Despite their aggressive batting, Australia therefore finished the first innings 259 runs behind. Vaughan then took a huge gamble by forcing the visitors to
follow on (the first time Australia had followed on in 17 years and 190 Tests, as they had not been made to follow on since facing Pakistan in Karachi in 1988). Vaughan's decision made a draw far less likely, but in an almost Australian style of ruthlessness, it was clear that England were not going to be cowed by the visitors' reputation: they were playing to win. Shane Warne, however, was optimistic of his team's chances despite the first innings deficit; when Simon Katich asked him before their second innings how many runs they would need, Warne replied saying that if they could give themselves a lead of at least 170 runs, they stood a very real chance of winning the match with the wicket gradually deteriorating. Australia began their second innings very positively; they safely reached 14 without loss before the lunch break, and then powered on in the afternoon session, adding 100 more runs before tea, and only losing Hayden for 26. For England, the afternoon session was their worst of the match; to compound their misery, Simon Jones showed signs of injury, and Strauss dropped Justin Langer on 38. In the evening session, England fought back and managed to take three wickets, but also dropped a catch and missed a stumping. Australia finished the day still 37 runs in arrears but with only six wickets in hand. Simon Jones also went off the field during the evening session with an ankle injury, and was taken to hospital for a scan. While Jones was off the field receiving attention, specialist substitute fielder
Gary Pratt ran out Australia captain Ponting. As he left the field, Ponting expressed his displeasure to the England dressing room at their frequent use of subs during the series, allegedly to keep their key bowlers fresh. Although there was no legal stipulation against it, England's use of the substitute rule was met with criticism from several commentators, with many believing this tactic to be against the spirit of the game; however, in this particular case, Simon Jones was legitimately injured – indeed, this injury was one of many that would contribute to him never playing international cricket again – and so Pratt's presence on the field was entirely fair.
Day 4 Day Four began in earnest with Michael Clarke and Katich continuing their partnership from the previous day. However, Katich had already twice flirted with dismissal, saved only by chance both times. In the words of BBC cricket commentator
Henry Blofeld, "It's very much a game of chess – white-flannelled figures on green grass." The English and the Australians proceeded into a cold war for a good part of the morning, with England attempting to frustrate the Australian batting, but with the latter refusing to take the bait. England's lead slowly evaporated without a wicket falling, but Hoggard's taking of Clarke's and then Gilchrist's scalps on either side of the lunch break swung the initiative back into England's hands. The injury to Simon Jones became somewhat obvious as the pacers struggled to capture the magic that Jones had created the previous day that had forced Australia to follow on. Despite this, the Australian run rate remained low as both teams stared each other down. Mistakes by Geraint Jones and Pietersen were quickly nullified by the dismissal of Warne for 45 and Kasprowicz for 19, and after a few overs' resistance, Tait was bowled middle stump for 4 and Australia were all out for 387. Although this score was the most runs the Australian batting line-up scored in any innings in the series, it left England requiring just 129 runs to win the match, well short of Shane Warne's target of 170. Trescothick started the chase positively, scoring 27 from 22 balls and helping England to 32 without loss in just 5 overs. With Kasprowicz conceding 19 runs from his first two (and what would turn out to be only) overs in the innings, knowing he had little option without McGrath in his bowling line-up, Ponting brought Warne on to bowl in the hopes that he could somehow seize the initiative. Warne struck with his very first ball, having Trescothick caught at silly point, before removing Vaughan, who was caught at slip for a six-ball duck, and then Strauss few overs later, caught at leg slip for 23. Brett Lee complemented Warne with some aggressive, short-pitched bowling and had Bell caught in the deep after an ill-advised hook shot for just 3. From 32 without loss, England's top order had collapsed to 57/4 and the game was suddenly very much in the balance. Flintoff and Pietersen rode their luck with some risky shots to edge England ever closer to their target with an invaluable partnership of 46, before Lee had Pietersen well caught by Gilchrist and then produced a
jaffa to castle Flintoff and leave England at 111/6, still 18 runs short of victory. Geraint Jones' dismissal by Warne for 3 left only three wickets remaining, and the tension was so great that every run at this point was met with an eruption of cheers from the Trent Bridge crowd. Ashley Giles and Hoggard, under immense pressure, slowly chipped away at the required runs, before Hoggard hit a boundary off a Lee full-toss to leave England needing just four runs to win. Warne was then mere millimetres away from having Giles clean-bowled in the next over, before Giles successfully guided England home by hitting the winning runs off Warne through midwicket. Man of the match honours went to Flintoff for his first-innings century and crucial 26 second-innings runs. More importantly, however, this gave England a crucial 2–1 lead heading back to London for the fifth and final Test, ensuring that they could not lose the series; however, with the Ashes going to Australia in the event of a drawn series, there was still all to play for at
The Oval.
Day 5 , 12 September 2005 The fifth day began with the game still finely balanced. England's task was simple: bat out the day, and they would win the Ashes. In one final attempt to wrest the series from England's grip, Ponting put his trust in his two proven wicket-takers, McGrath and Warne. Going into the day's play, both knew that this would be the last test match either man would play on English soil. England batted well for 40 minutes, with Vaughan taking the game to the Australian bowlers, but McGrath produced two beautiful deliveries in successive balls: Vaughan was first caught by a full-length, one-handed dive from Gilchrist for 45, before Ian Bell (for a pair) was caught at slip by Warne. McGrath appeared to have secured a hat-trick by having Pietersen caught by Ponting in the slips off the top edge of his bat, but despite a furious appeal, umpire Bowden, in what proved to be arguably the single most important umpiring decision of the entire series, correctly adjudged that the ball had hit Pietersen's shoulder, not the bat. Despite the momentum having swung in the Australians' favour, their charge was not helped by a couple of dropped catches: first by Hayden at slip off the bowling of Warne, and then Warne putting down a simple chance at slip off Lee. Warne, however, atoned for his errors, producing huge amounts of spin to give Trescothick all sorts of problems before finally trapping him lbw for 33, and then had Flintoff caught and bowled just before the lunch interval, leaving England 133 runs ahead with five wickets remaining. Pietersen, meanwhile, continued to have near misses, narrowly beating a Michael Clarke run-out throw and having a Brett Lee bouncer hit his glove and balloon over the entire slip cordon. During the lunch break, Pietersen, who had been on the receiving end of some incredibly fast, aggressive short-pitched bowling from Lee before the interval, asked his captain Michael Vaughan how he should play the situation from here on in. Vaughan replied by saying, "Your way". Pietersen took his captain at his word and proceeded to dispatch Lee to all parts of the ground, including launching him for two sixes over long leg and a baseball-like swat straight back past him for four. With support from Collingwood, Pietersen anchored the afternoon session almost single-handedly, reaching his maiden Test century just before tea. Collingwood occupied the crease for over an hour before he was caught acrobatically at silly mid-off by Ponting for 10, but Jones was then bowled when he was deceived by a quick Shaun Tait delivery for just 1. England reached tea at 221/7 with a lead of 227, but with only three second-innings wickets remaining and still 49 overs left to be played, Australia were still very much in with a chance if they could take the last three wickets quickly. However, Pietersen and Giles combined for a stellar partnership of 109 in just 26 overs to take the game out of Australia's reach. In the 71st and 72nd overs, Pietersen flat-batted a bouncer from Brett Lee over the midwicket boundary for six, followed by depositing Warne back over his head for six a few balls later. In the wake of these two overs, Mark Nicholas on commentary remarked that "there's a sense now that the crowd are beginning to party". Pietersen's spellbinding innings of 158 which included 15 fours and 7 sixes was finally brought to an end by an outstanding McGrath delivery with the new ball, and as Pietersen left the field, Warne graciously went up to him with some words of congratulations and shook his hand in acknowledgement of the innings he had just played. Giles, meanwhile, played the greatest innings of his Test career, hitting seven boundaries on his way to a score of 59 – the highest total he ever achieved in a Test innings – before Warne produced one final moment of magic and bowled Giles round his legs. Harmison was caught at slip by Matthew Hayden just two balls later for a duck, and England were all out for 335. As the Australians began their innings with less than 19 overs left in the game, it was clear that not enough time remained for them to make up the 341 runs by which they trailed. They were offered the light after just four balls, and having accepted it, both teams had to return to the dressing rooms to wait for a formal finish. The situation became somewhat farcical. With the match effectively over, the crowd were eager for the Ashes to be presented to England, and the celebrations to begin. At 18:17 BST, after a period of some uncertainty and confusion, umpires Koertzen and Bowden removed the bails and pulled up the stumps to signal the end of the match. Australia had scored just four leg byes in their second innings, making it the only innings in Test cricket history in which every run was an
extra. With this fifth and final Test declared as a draw, England took the series 2–1, regaining
the Ashes they had lost in 1989 and securing a first series win since 1986–87. Pietersen, having scored his maiden Test century at such a crucial point in the match and series, was voted man of the match by
Channel 4 viewers. Flintoff, who led all England bowlers with 24 wickets at an average of 27.29 and scored 402 runs at an average of 40.20, was chosen by Australia coach
John Buchanan as England's Man of the Series, while England coach
Duncan Fletcher selected Warne for Australia, in recognition of his tally of 40 wickets, the most in the standard five-match Ashes format since
Jim Laker's 46 in 1956, at a staggering average of 19.92 and for scoring more runs in the series than many recognised batters, including Gilchrist, Katich, Bell, Martyn and Geraint Jones. The new
Compton–Miller Medal for the overall man of the series (as selected by each team's chairman of selectors,
Trevor Hohns and
David Graveney) was also presented to Flintoff. Finally, the replica urn was presented to Vaughan, commemorating the home team's victory. ==Records==