The Ashes 2005: Settling the Score
Full programme in watch and listen tab (UK only)
by Tom Rostance
Well, I for one certanly enjoyed that.
The greatest series there was, with some of the greatest players ever going toe-to-toe with every match going to the wire pretty much.
It's been brilliant and at times emotional seeing all of your messages and knowing that sport can share a place in so many hearts.
It was also the final time the great man Shane Warne bowled in an Ashes series in England. It hardly seems real sometimes that he is no longer with us does it?
Anyway, that series was the greatest but the current India one is pretty good – and it's Ashes time again in a few months. Join BBC cricket for it all and make some new memories.
Over and out.
BBC iPlayer
If you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane, then why not continue the Ashes 2005 nostalgia trip.
We have a superb documentary on BBC iPlayer entitled 'How to win the Ashes: 2005' for your viewing pleasure.
Make sure you check it out…
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Richie Benaud's final commentary in England too. A special moment itself, a remarkable man, beloved in Australia and England.
Scott
The summer of 2005 was simply overwhelming, a perilous journey to the greatest of prizes. Highs, lows and utterly nail-biting cricket. Made all the sweeter when I travelled to Australia in early 2006, resplendent in my Ashes winning t-shirt, the scores from each Test emblazoned across my back alongside the team. The same shirt made an appearance when playing in a 5-a-side "friendly" football match in Perth. A friendly natured bunch of local lads, my purpling shins at the culmination of the match confirming such, greeted me with much good cheer from the Aussies along with plenty of "we'd have done the same mate, good on ya" and several congratulatory beers for sticking it to the Aussies as they would have to us Poms.
Steve Darbyshire, Surrey.
Yes, England got whacked 5-0 in Australia 18 months later. But we'll gloss over that.
Charles Dance
Acting legend
Their actions still thrill so many years later. The sheer drama catapulted cricket into living rooms and conversations across the land. It was the spark that ignited lifelong loves.
Those 53 days are burned on to our memories- where we were, what we felt, how we celebrated.
It was the greatest series ever played.
WHAT A DAY.
What a summer.
What a sport.
London was packed for a celebration. Open top bus, open bar.
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My 2005 Ashes memory will always be of crowding around a tiny TV in a tiny room on a light vessel converted into an activity centre. It was the final day at The Oval and two weeks into my gap year. Somehow the moment of mathematical victory occurred in the only break we had during the day and we cheered so loudly we had to explain to the visiting school group who were quietly studying on the deck above us what had happened.
Pippa in Essex
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In the Test where Jones and Giles chased down the total. We were playing at Datchet CC, a local rival, and I was captain of Cranbourne CC. I was at the wicket batting and the Datchet players were all trying to see the clubhouse TV when I suggested to the DCC captain that pause the game and watch the run chase, he couldn't believe my offer but we did go in and watched the end after which we came back out and chased down their score. My best decision in 15 years of captaincy
Robert Jones
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I remember being out for the finale of the Edgbaston Test. As a skint 15-year-old, I had to be very economical about my 10p messages when requesting updates from my mates who were also on a tight text messaging budget. It was an excruciating afternoon of messages sent sparingly, but received as though they contained national secrets. Agonising waits between messages! None of us obviously thought to top up though. A great summer.
Narayan, currently in Cyprus (reading this during a magic show)Charles Dance
Acting legend
All of England prayed for survival. Grim defiance. Creeping to the finish line.
But Kevin Pietersen always chose adventure. Wherever it took him.
It was the innings that secured the Ashes. A glorious finale to an unforgettable summer. But it didn’t actually end with dazzling brilliance.
There was no Geoff Hurst thunderbolt. No Jonny Wilkinson flash of genius.
This series ended not with an exclamation mark but a fade to darkness. This is cricket after all.
Pietersen's innings did the job and paved the way for a remarkable career.
It also made sure that ENGLAND WON THE ASHES!
For those of us who had never seen it happen it felt almost impossible.
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We went on holiday the final morning of the Edgbaston Test, which was a Sunday. I begged my father to give church a miss just this once so we could listen in the car. He opined that it was going to be over in a few balls anyway, so we wouldn’t be missing much. We attended the service at Durham Cathedral and I was squirming throughout. Ran to the car and got back in just in time to hear the commentator saying “if you’re just turning your radio on, you’ve missed probably the most extraordinary Test match in the history of cricket”. I was displeased. A few years later I also met the person who gave the sermon that morning and admonished him for making me miss the cricket (my opening line of “I remember a sermon of yours…” produced the startled and worried look that it usually does on clergy…).. He was tremendously apologetic and similarly peeved that he had missed the game!
Thomas then in Northumberland, now in Canada
The run-getters
Pietersen was a new face on the Test arena. And made sure everyone knew his name by the end of the series…
Most runs in the series
Kevin Pietersen – 473
Marcus Trescothick – 431
Andrew Flintoff – 402
Justin Langer – 394
England needed runs in their second innings, but they also needed to bat for time. A draw was enough.
Nobody told Kevin Pietersen. The fresh-faced, fresh-attituded mountain of a man with a mohawk started smashing the Aussies all over London.
He scored a remarkable 158, featuring seven sixes…
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I was in the Czech Republic with the Army in 2005. I was in the middle of nowhere with no phone signal, no newspapers, nothing. My comrades knew and cared little for cricket (mostly Scottish). In the midst of a mountain range somewhere on the border with Poland I heard an English accent. Finally someone who might know what was going on in the third Test. Test drawn. I was a bag of nerves for two weeks afterwards not knowing what was happening in the fourth Test.
Tom from Yorkshire, but in 2005 I lived in Aberdeen
England hit 373 in the first innings. Australia 367. Nothing in it.
Australia captain Ricky Ponting at Trent Bridge: "England played a very good Test and thoroughly deserved to win. We've got a lot of work to do, with both the ball and bat we have to improve.
"We're staying in the games and fighting really hard but we're always coming from behind and we've got to rectify that at The Oval.
"Losing a Test is hard. We can't afford to give a side like England a start."
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Our first son was born on 6th September 2005. My memories of the Ashes are of being heavily pregnant, sitting in the sunshine listening to TMS, and wondering whether the baby would be put off cricket for life, or harmed in some way, by the high levels of maternal stress. Fortunately all the endings were happy. Brought son home from hospital just before England won the Ashes. Son is a keen cricketer, as is his younger brother. They already have their own great Ashes memories because we were at Headingley for Stokes' miracle in 2019.
Rachel in Leeds
England did hold to win at Trent Bridge though, Ashley Giles and Matthew Hoggard seeing them home!
They lead 2-1 with a Test to go at the Oval. They had to win the series to win the Ashes.
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