What a summer: 2005 Ashes



Aidan11 said:
1981 series was better but I suppose it depends on how old you are.
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I don't think it was. In 2005 every single ball of every test seemed to mean something and the cricket had such attacking intent. The first two tests in 1981 were a bit dull and even the Headingly test just sparked into life after a dull start. 1981 was amazing for the turnaround but the high quality of gripping cricket in 2005 from first ball to last will never be surpassed imo.
 
rentaghost said:
I don't think it was. In 2005 every single ball of every test seemed to mean something and the cricket had such attacking intent. The first two tests in 1981 were a bit dull and even the Headingly test just sparked into life after a dull start. 1981 was amazing for the turnaround but the high quality of gripping cricket in 2005 from first ball to last will never be surpassed imo.
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Do you think there has ever been a better two hours of play than Stokes at Headingley?
 
C.ra.ig said:
The epic 2005 series started 16 years ago today. Magnificent from the first day to the very last session.
https://twitter.com/x/status/1417794571141062661
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It was absolutely brilliant the whole mentality of side fighting with fire with fire and not backing down to the Aussies who had bullied us for years.

What made it even better was it was done in a attacking manner, the test where we scored 400 in a day was great to see.
 
Stattos child said:
I don’t think there has and it was a great knock under the highest of pressures
i do however rate Vaughan’s centuries away in oz as being the best batting I have seen, he dominated one of the best attacks ever whilst the rest of the team looked like mere mortals
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And then he would come back to England and get knocked over by 75mph average swing bowlers. I don’t think he maximised his potential Vaughan.
 
Summer that made me fall in love with cricket.

Before then as a young boy i'd only vaguely understood cricket. The England team always lost the Ashes to Australia... but after this summer I watched every test and was gripped by it (Even if I didn't quite grasp every rule)

From the disappointing battering in the first test at Lords to the nail-biter at Edgbaston, the frustration at OT, the win at Trent Bridge then clinching it at the Oval what a series.

My favourite player of that time was Flintoff. Chunky, Northern lad who played with a smile on his face. He was brilliant this series.

Special reference to Gary Pratt as well. MLF i've heard....whatever happened to him. Ponting's face was a picture.

What a summer.
 
It was the last truly great Australian side, just the other side of their peak, against the first truly great England side in a generation reaching theirs. When Ricky Pointing was roughed up on the very first morning you knew that this was game on, all summer.
 
My first daughter was born during the fifth test so I missed most of the draw that won us the Ashes.

Amazing series though, but somewhat tarnished by revelations of ball tampering and some of our players turning into complete bell ends in their post-playing career.

Darlo1973 said:
I was 9 in 1981 and that was the Series which got me into cricket.

Crap that was 40 years ago.
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We were in Germany and my dad had to buy British newspapers from the one shop that sold them in the station to follow the cricket! Those were the days.
 
2005 was my first and only Ashes series that I actually attended, for me, nothing in cricket can or will ever beat that feeling being at the Oval on the final day.

Ricky Ponting on the 5th day at Old Trafford was amazing to watch, frustrating as hell, but I don't think that series would have been as good overall if we had won that test.

Just an amazing summer of cricket, every day meant something big in the context of the series.
 

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