When the 2005 Edgbaston Test sparked an England revival

Australia’s Ashes domination of 1990s and early 2000s was halted in 2nd Test of the epic 2005 series. It has helped England restore balance to the rivalry since

As the final day of the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston neared its climax on Tuesday, one couldn’t help but hark back to the humdinger at the venue in 2005. Australia’s target then was 282 in the fourth innings. They needed 281 for victory last week. When they were eight wickets down in 2005, they needed 107 runs for victory. When Shane Warne fell on 42, they were still 62 runs away with one wicket remaining. When they lost eight wickets this time, 54 runs were needed.

2005 Ashes also occupies an exalted position in recent cricketing history, for no series has had the sustained intensity that was on display through that five-match duel.

So, could Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon pull off what Warne, Brett Lee and Michael Kasprowicz agonisingly couldn’t 18 years ago when they lost by two runs?

Although they did last week, the 2005 Edgbaston epic will never fade from memory given the part it played in renewing the oldest rivalry in cricket. The Ashes had been reduced to one-sided contests all through the 1990s and early 2000s. To borrow from Gary Lineker’s comment about the Germany football team, the English cricket fraternity may have felt, “Test cricket is a simple game. Twenty-two men play for five days, and in the end, the Australians always win.”

Australia had gained such psychological advantage after winning 28 and losing just 7 of the 43 Tests from 1989 to 2004. They not only won every series but did that with an ease that underlined their status as the best in the business.

If the balance has been restored in the past two decades, the heroics of the Michael Vaughan-led England in 2005 have played no small part. From eight consecutive series wins for the Aussies leading up to that series to England leading 5-4 with one drawn series since then, the change is evident. The 2005 Ashes also occupies an exalted position in recent cricketing history, for no series has had the sustained intensity that was on display through that five-match duel. Barring the first Test at Lord’s which the Aussies won by 239 runs, every Test was edge-of-the-seat stuff with little to choose between the teams.

Australia did miss pace spearhead Glenn McGrath, their 10-wicket hero at Lord’s who stepped on a ball during warm-up at Edgbaston and was injured.

After the Edgbaston Test, the series moved to Old Trafford, Manchester. By the end of that pulsating draw, every player was emotionally drained. None more than Australia captain Ricky Ponting, who batted almost the entire final day for a knock of 156 off 275 balls. Chasing 423, Ponting’s marathon effort helped Australia finish on 371/9 and escape unscathed going into the final two Tests. England were on the right end of another thriller at Trent Bridge before Kevin Pietersen’s 158 at The Oval helped the hosts close out a 2-1 series win, their first since 1986/87.

“It’s probably the best Test series I ever played in. If you ask most of the players, whether they are English or Australian, they will say it’s the best series they played in. Even us who were on the losing end. The level of cricket that was played in that series was incredible. It was just proper Test cricket,” Ponting recalled in an interview with Cricket Australia two years ago.

While the Aussies prevailed easily at home in 2006/07, 2013/14, 2017/18 and 2021/22, contests in England have been on knife edge. Remember the Cardiff Test in 2009 when the last pair of James Anderson and Monty Panesar hung on for 12 overs in fading light to salvage a draw? Or the Trent Bridge Test in 2013 when England scraped to a 14-run win despite a last-wicket stand of 65 between Brad Haddin and James Pattinson?

Even if these games don’t resonate readily, what does is Ben Stokes’s role in delivering one of the great Tests in Headingley four years ago. With 73 runs needed in a chase of 359 when No. 11 Jack Leach came in, the all-rounder miraculously took England past the finishing line with an unbeaten 135, evoking comparisons to Ian Botham’s Headingley heroics in 1981.

All these close contests have revitalised a rivalry that was meandering at the turn of the century. Never mind the dressing rooms these players may share in T20 franchise leagues around the world, they acquire a mean edge as soon as the urn is at stake.

It will be on display again when the second Test begins at Lord’s on Wednesday.