England maul Australia, reclaim the Ashes after four years

By Rahul Bajaj
for Cricketain.com

Published: August 24, 2009

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London: It was day on which the skippers of both the teams etched their names in cricketing history. England captain Andrew Strauss became just the second England captain to lead his team to an Ashes win since 1986 after Michael Vaughan had led them to an Ashes victory in 2005. On the other hand, Ponting got a distinction which he wouldn’t particularly like on his resume! England victory’s left Ponting with the unwanted record of becoming only the second Australia captain, since Billy Murdoch in 1890, to be in charge of two losing Ashes tours of England.

England mauled Australia by 197 runs on the fourth day of the fifth and final test to achieve the victory with a day to spare and took the series 2-1.

Australia, set what would have been a record fourth innings victory total of 546, were bowled out for 348 with Michael Hussey last man out for 121, when he was caught at short leg by Alastair Cook off spinner Graeme Swann as the Oval erupted with roars of England fans.

“It’s a special moment. It hasn’t sunk in yet. We had to dig in and fight,” said England skipper Andrew Strauss. “When we were bad in the series, we were very bad but when we were good we were very good.”

Australia captain Ricky Ponting said, “We gave it all we could, but it wasn’t enough. Full credit to England, they won the crucial moments and deserved to win the series.”

“I think this series has shown that Test cricket is alive and well around the world,” he added.

It was a remarkable turnaround for England, who’d lost the fourth Test by an innings and 80 runs at Headingley, and had only managed to cling on for a draw in the series opener at Cardiff by a single wicket.

Australia starting the day at 80 for no loss with both openers, Watson and Katich, at the crease was looking comfortable and made steady progress in the first half of the day. They were 217 for 2 before Ponting was run out by a brilliant direct hit by Andrew Flintoff in his last test match before retirement.

Five balls later, Michael Clarke was also run out brilliantly by Strauss for nought before England’s progress was checked by a sixth-wicket stand of 91 between Hussey and Brad Haddin.

But just as England fans were starting to become restless, Brad Haddin (34) made the mistake off hitting one straight to Andrew Strauss at mid-wicket off the bowling of Graeme Swann.

From 327 for five, the end came swiftly with four wickets going down for 16 runs in 32 balls, with fast bowler Stephen Harmison taking three for seven in 13 himself.

Mitchell Johnson went for a seven-ball nought, brilliantly caught by diving second slip Paul Collingwood off his Durham team-mate Harmison. Peter Siddle then got a leading edge off Harmison and Flintoff held a simple catch at mid-off.

Harmison made it two wickets in two balls when Stuart Clark was snapped up at short leg by Cook.

But Hussey continued to fight at one end reaching his century with two off Stuart Broad — his first Test century in 29 innings off 219 balls with 11 boundaries. He was the last wicket to fall as Graeme Swann, who had a memorable test match picking up 8 wickets in the match and scoring a brilliant 63 in the second innings, deceived Hussey in the flight as the left hander was caught at short leg by Cook to give England the much awaited victory.

Earlier, England had consolidated on Saturday the advantage gained from dismissing Australia for just 160, with Broad taking five for 37, in a second innings 373 for nine declared that featured a debut century from Jonathan Trott, who made 119.

Strauss’s declaration left the visitors needing to break the record for a successful Test fourth innings run-chase, of 418 for seven set by West Indies against Australia in Antigua in 2002/03, to win this match.

The loss also knocked Australia off the top spot in the Test rankings. Australia has now slipped to the fourth spot behind South Africa, Sri Lanka and India.

At the moment of victory, all of England’s players rushed into a huddle on the edge of the square – all except for one, that is. In his moment of Test retirement, Andrew Flintoff’s first instinct was to seek out and console the crestfallen centurion Hussey, whose 121 from 263 balls had given his side a hope of salvation.

It symbolised the kind of sportsman Flintoff has been all throughout his career. Nobody can forget him consoling Brett Lee after England’s famous test win at Edgbaston in 2005 and he showed the same spirit when he went up to Hussey before joining his teammates in their celebrations.

It may have been Flintoff’s final day in test cricket but it was definitely England captain Andrew Strauss’s moment of glory. Nobody had given him a chance when he was named the captain earlier this year. But he showed strong leadership skills throughout the series. England was in a must-win situation coming to Oval to reclaim the Ashes but he led from the front both with the bat and on the field to give England fans what they had been waiting for since the last four years!

Brief Scores:

England 332 and 373 for 9 dec (Trott 119, Strauss 75, Swann 63) beat Australia 160 and 348 (Hussey 121, Ponting 66, Swann 4-120, Harmison 3-54) by 197 runs

Series Result: England wins the series 2-1

Man of the Match: Stuart Broad (England)

Man of the Series: MJ Clarke (Australia) and AJ Strauss (England)

Tagged with: Alastair Cook, Andrew Flintoff, Andrew Strauss, Ashes, Australia, Billy Murdoch, Brad Haddin, England, Graeme Swann, Jonathan Trott, London, Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Michael Vaughan, Oval, Ricky Ponting, Shane Watson, Simon Katich, Steven Harmison, Stuart Broad

England maul Australia, reclaim the Ashes after four years

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