The Ashes are nearly upon us... England and Australia battling it out for cricket's most famous and historic prize.
Five tests where a fair share of blood, sweat and tears will be dropped for the sake of patriotism.
We look back on a couple of times the English bashed the Aussies:
1981
Beefy Botham's finest hour. The Somerset monster stormed the convicts with centuries and five wicket hauls including turning over a 500/1 bet at Headingley. England won!
2005
Andrew Flintoff took over Botham's role and scored 50s in both innings at Edgbaston, a century at Trent Bridge and a 5 wicket haul at The Oval. England won the series 2-1 after Kevin Pietersen's rearguard century in the final test, only to concede the urn a year later.
Australian crowd forces remainder of Ashes test to be played behind closed doors
Abusive Aussies saw the remainder of the first Ashes test played behind closed doors and International Cricket Council told the result to the public - England holding on for a first test draw.
SUMMARY
Australia 1st innings: 385 all out (Hayden 106)
England 1st innings: 395 all out (Strauss 119)
Australia 2nd innings: 351/9 declared (Hoggard 6/118)
England 2nd innings: 207/6 (Strauss 80)
Match Drawn
Series: England 0, Australia 0
Man of the match: Matthew Hayden
Crowd will be allowed into the 2nd test according to early reports.
Thanks to all that voted in our poll of the day. 88.89% of you agree that Matt Prior is the right man to wear the gloves for England. (the polls probably won't be back as they take a lot of hassling of the mods)
The news from the 2nd test is that Middlesex batsman Owais Shah will drop out of the team for crowd favourite and team talisman Andrew Flintoff. Go Freddie!
Other than that, the same team walks out at The WACA for the second battle for the Ashes - and this time there's spectators, they haven't all been thrown out like they had at the GABBA!
England have won the toss and elected to bat. Was that the right decision? Well, the bounce will be great for the batsmen. The ball will come onto the bat really nicely. I'd say, yeah, good decision, get the runs on the board.
It all starts well for England...
2.3: Shock horror! Alastair Cook edges to Matty Hayden at slip and McGrath has the first wicket. England 3-1. Cook for a duck.
Kevin Pietersen came in at 3 for the first time in the series after the omission of Owais Shah. He made 49* before lunch on the opening day. Strauss is there on 32.
Lunch, day 1: England 84-1 (32 overs).
The Aussies didn't get a look in after lunch. KP going in for a cuppa on 93, well on his way to a beautiful century. Strauss passed his 50 as well. 63*.
Tea, day 1: England 162-1 (65 overs)
Pietersen makes his way past 100 before the home side took the new ball. Jason Gillespie had a bit of luck with it. The heroic hippy knocking back KP's stumps for a well made 114. That was it though for the Aussies as England pushed on with Strauss 102* at the close.
Kevin Pietersen makes a test century against Australia. Goon on ya!
Andrew Strauss on his way to his 100 before the close of play
Close of play, day 1: England 244-2 (97 overs)
So a good day for the English. Another 156 runs from the remaining 8 wickets must be the minimal though. Anything less than 400 against Australia and you're in trouble.
Here's the scorecard, not bad looking with two centuries in the day.
The bowlers? Poor old Warney didn't take any wickets. He sent me a text to show his dismay. 1 for McGrath and 1 for Gillespie.
After a surprisingly good first day, England trudged out for Day 2 of the 2nd test vs Australia in Perth. Opener Andrew Strauss unbeaten on 102 and stalwart Paul Collingwood on 16.
105.2: success for Glenn McGrath! Strauss clean bowled for 110! Let's hope this isn't the start of a collapse.
109.5: maybe it is! Paul Collingwood out for 21. Bowled by Mr. McGrath.
122.3: Warne finally takes a wicket. Bell gone for 27 and there's a middle order collapse.
So England make it through to lunch, losing 3 more wickets. They would have hoped for less of course.
Lunch, Day 2: England 315-5 (130 overs)
154.6: Arise, Sir Freddie! The Lancastrian comes in to the side for Shah and scores a stabilising half century.
Freddie back and back to his best
Very good session for England that. A recovery from the collapse this morning and Flintoff and Prior both have 50s.
Tea, Day 2: England 430-5 (160 overs)
169.5: Shortly after the second new ball is taken, the Aussies remove Freddie Flintoff. They're into the tail...
Brilliant stickability from Plunkett. He's 22 not out at stumps, supporting Prior who is on 90.
Prior rescuing the innings
Close of Play, Day 2: England 492-6 (195 overs)
Batsmen. Not doing so bad. Two hundreds and Prior nearly there.
England on top despite late order collapse after Monty magic
It's the third day and England are still in bat. Can they push on and put themselves in an unassailable position? Can the Aussies pull them back (like they always do)?
195.3: Plunkett is out, caught behind off Warne. He stuck around for 22 yesterday but it's taken just 3 balls to remove him this morning.
206.4: Oh dear. Matt Prior comes so close to a test century against the Aussies only to be caught and bowled by McGrath for 98. Will England declare now? No, here comes Harmison.
207.2: Harmison goes for a duck. He didn't last long.
208.4: Big fat ZERO for Panesar. England lose their last four wickets for 19 runs.
McGrath finishes with 5-106. Plenty of time for Australia to bat this morning.
END OF INNINGS, Day 3: England 511 all out (208.4 overs)
The openers make good progress. Disappointing for England, they would have liked a wicket in that session. Never mind, there's plenty of time left.
Lunch, Day 3: Australia 44-0 (15 overs)
18.3: success for the in-form Hoggard! Matty Hayden trapped LBW for 24.
22.6: Hoggard does it again! Hussey caught by Pietersen for 31!
Monty and Plunkett replace Hoggard and Harmison....
39.4: Monty takes a wicket. That of Ponting, too. For 37.
42.3: Plunkett gets in on the act. Jaques goes for 32.
That was definitely England's session. Four wickets for 79 runs, the dangermen out and they're still 369 behind.
Tea, Day 3: Australia 142-4 (48 overs)
59.6: Monty takes the wicket of Watson for 27. They're on their last legs, but Justin Langer is still there...
Monty celebrates a wicket in typical style.
77.4: After a short partnership, Gilchrist goes for 31, bowled by Monty. Langer is still there on 67.
Justin Langer was the only man to offer any resistance for Australia
That'll do for the day. Australia still 248 runs behind with just 4 wickets remaining. Still, I feel this one is heading for a draw.
England took the wicket of Australian spin bowler Shane Warne reasonably early on the fourth day of the second Ashes test to give themselves a slim chance of victory. He had scored 7 runs before Matthew Hoggard got him out LBW.
Justin Langer carried on his good form from the previous day to score a century, including 16 spectacular fours.
Monty Panesar took the wicket of Jason Gillespie for 5, leaving Australia on 307/8, four runs away from avoiding the follow on.
Australia didn't lose another wicket before Lunch, avoiding the follow on in the process. This made almost certain that the match would be a draw.
Lunch, 4th Day Summary
England 1st innings: 511 all out (Pietersen 114, McGrath 5/106)
Australia 1st innings: 327/8 (Langer 116 not out)
England lead by 184 runs
Panesar cleans up the tail
Shortly after the resumption of play, Monty Panesar took his fifth wicket, that of Nathan Bracken, LBW for 7.
After some small resistance from Glenn McGrath, Ian Bell caught him in the deep off Panesar after an attempted sweep.
Australia were 367 all out, 144 runs behind England but they had avoided the follow on. Monty Panesar took 6/128.
Monty Panesar took 6/128 in Australia's first innings
The scorecard of the Australian innings:
The bowling figures of the innings:
Andrew Strauss, who made a century in England's first innings, was run out for 13 before Tea. Alastair Cook played the cover drive which was brilliantly fielded with a diving stop and a direct hit on the stumps.
England played through to Tea with only the loss of one wicket.
Tea, 4th Day Summary
England 1st innings: 511 all out (Pietersen 114, McGrath 5/106)
Australia 1st innings: 367 all out (Langer 148 not out, Panesar 6/128)
England 2nd innings: 42/1
England lead by 186 runs
Cook scores unbeaten fifty as England steady the ship
Kevin Pietersen, another centurion from the first innings, was on 48 when he was caught by Ricky Ponting off Glenn McGrath.
Alastair Cook went on to make a half century after getting a duck in the first innings. Paul Collingwood stayed with him until the end of the day.
Alastair Cook put his first innings duck behind him to score an unbeaten half century in the second
Close of Play, 4th Day Summary
England 1st innings: 511 all out (Pietersen 114, McGrath 5/106)
Australia 1st innings: 367 all out (Langer 148 not out, Panesar 6/128)
England 2nd innings: 143/2 (Cook 62 not out)
England lead by 287 runs
The scorecard for England's second innings at the end of the fourth day:
This could be heading for a draw, they should have scored quicker earlier on in the game. Still they've done very well and Cook looks good in this innings. It will be interesting whether England will be adventurous with a declaration or not.
Alastair Cook showed off a batting masterclass against McGrath and Warne on the last day as England declared on 174-2 to set Australia 318 to win.
Australia were brilliant until Monty Panesar removed Matty Hayden 3 balls before lunch. Ricky Ponting went for 16 but Mike Hussey went past 50 on a thrilling summer's day. After being dropped earlier, Phil Jaques was finally bowled by Hoggard for 20.
Half an hour before tea, Langer, who made 148* in the first innings, was caught off Panesar for 12.
Hussey was out before the break for 75, putting the ball in England's court for the first time.
THE FINAL SESSION - THE FINAL DAY
Time: 120 minutes
Australia: 147 to win
England: 5 wickets to win
Adam Gilchrist was stumped off Monty Panesar. They're into the tail!!
Shane Watson was bowled by Steve Harmison for 17.
Warne trapped LBW by Harmison for 14.
Nathan Bracken caught close in for 8.
54 minutes. The final pair.
Monty wipes sweat from his wrinkled forehead.
He licks his fingers.
He leaps into his stride.
He lets go of the ball.
Gillespie comes forward.
It catches the edge...
It's in the air...
Pietersen throws out a hand...
He's coming down...
The crowd gasp...
HE'S CAUGHT IT!!!!
The most amazing final day of a test match ever finishes with England 1-0 up in the Ashes!!!
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