On this day in 2005: England win by 3 wickets to win thrilling Ashes Test

Ashes is one of the most competitive and thrilling contests played between Australia and England cricketers. The history of the series is well known to all and this is why the players of both sides leave no stone unturned to grab the glory. One such contest was played in 2005 when Australia were on their tour to the UK.

The thrilling encounter

During England and Australia’s fourth Test which was played at Nottingham, the home side won the contest with only three wickets in hand towards the end of the game. When England started batting first, they looked keen on posting a massive total as their top and middle-order gathered a flurry of runs. Under the captaincy of Michael Vaughan, the side looked like an unstoppable force where he himself smashed a half-century.

The highlight of England’s first innings was Andrew Flintoff’s century that helped his team breach the 400-run mark. Geraint Jones joined the party as he produced 85 runs from his bat. Legendary spinner Shane Warne and ace pacer Shaun Tait picked four and three wickets respectively for Australia but it was already a bit late as England had put massive 477 runs on the board.

The huge headache of having a massive target ahead further pressurized Australia and they got wrapped on merely 218 runs in the first innings inviting a follow on. During their first innings, Brett Lee scored the highest for Australia as he played a sublime knock of 47 runs while Simon Katich added 45 from his end. Simon Jones shone from England’s bowling artillery and picked a classy five-for.

However, while following on, the top order turned respectable for Australia as a total of three half-centuries came from their lot.  Langer added 61 runs from his side and Australia posted fine 387 runs inviting England to bat for the second time. Flintoff picked two wickets which further made his case stronger for the player of the match award.

Now England had to gather 129 runs to get hold of the match. Though there wasn’t any big job for any batsman, they lost seven wickets on 116 runs. With three wickets in hand, the match could have slipped in a blink of an eye but the home side showed nerves of steel to win the match and Ashes 2-1 as the final match resulted in a draw.