Chasing a modest total of 148, England rode on Craig Kieswetter’s 63 and Kevin ‘I have found my touch’ Pietersen to seal a memorable win.

With this fantastic win, Paul Collingwood joins the ranks of Bobby Moore (football) and Martin Johnson (rugby) in captaining England to a world title in sports. An achievement in itself, indeed.

What made this win possible?

1. Not overawed by the situation: Most of the teams lose the battle even before they enter the ring as they are overawed by the big game. The Andy Flower coached English side were able to conquer the final blues and for once, Australia was on the back foot straight away. Collingwood called correctly and never let the guard down and kept the Aussies on the backfoot.
2. The lesser said about the importance of all-rounders in this format of the game, the better. Tim Bresnan, Craig Kieswetter, Graeme Swann, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Luke Wright, Stuart Broad and the list goes on. This humongous amount of all-rounders has bailed the team out on most occasions. 1983 Indian side boasted of players in the form of Mohinder Amarnath, Kapil Dev, Madan Lal, Roger Binny who did the same and how. It’s time other teams armed the all-rounders element into them as they will come handy in any format of the game.
3. Again, taking all chances that come by. Not one run-out was missed and ground fielding was up to the mark. The sub-continent teams such as India need a lesson or two in this.
4. Matching your opponent shot to shot. England have never been known to give it back as good as they get. While brilliant individual stars such as Bob Willis, David Gower, and Geoffrey Boycott have played for the Three Lions, the fact remains that this side have never made a collective effort to conquer the Worlds. But Collingwood’s men have changed the trend and how!
5. Champion sides prefer to play long periods of outstanding cricket and never let the opposition crawl their way back. Now, this is an art which has been mastered by the West Indies’ team of the 70s and 80s and Australians in the last one decade. England, for a change, seems to have stolen the mantra and the change in their fortunes is a proof of that.

If Boycott had to give a commentary on Australia’s indifferent show on Sunday night, he would have said, “Oh! My grandmother would have played better than that.” What say Boycs….

While Onions took 10 wickets and Swann has gone past Monty Panesar as England’s first-choice spinner after taking 48 wickets in his 12 tests.
“Central contracts are designed to reward players who perform well consistently for England,” national selector Geoff Miller said. “All three have made a very significant contribution to the team’s recent success in regaining the Ashes and beating West Indies at home in both test and one-day series,” he added.

Panesar and pace bowler Steve Harmison did not even get one of the seven incremental contracts, although Andrew Flintoff took one of the second-tier deals following his retirement from test cricket.
“Andrew Flintoff is no longer eligible for a 12-month central contract,” Miller said. “The decision to award an incremental contract to Andrew reflects our view that he will still have an important role to play in our one-day side going forward.”

Ian Bell, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen, Ryan Sidebottom and Strauss were the other players on the central list.
Jonathan Trott joined Flintoff, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Adil Rashid, Owais Shah, and Luke Wright on the incremental list after he hit a debut century in the series-clinching win over Australia at The Oval.

“The award of incremental contracts to Tim Bresnan, Adil Rashid and Jonathan Trott for the first time is in recognition of the excellent start they have all made to their international careers and their potential to develop still further as cricketers over the next 12 months,” Miller said.

Contracted England players:

Central: James Anderson, Ian Bell, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Graham Onions, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior, Ryan Sidebottom, Andrew Strauss and Graeme Swann.

Incremental: Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Andrew Flintoff, Adil Rashid, Owais Shah, Jonathan Trott and Luke Wright.

Jul 08-12: First Test, Cardiff:

Result: Draw

England 435 (K. Pietersen 69, P Collingwood 64, M Prior 56; M Johnson 3-87) and 252-9 (P Collingwood 74, B Hilfenhaus 3-47)
Australia 674-6 dec (R Ponting 150, M North 125 no, S Katich 122, B Haddin 121, M Clarke 83)

Cardiff’s first ever Test match provided a superb nail-biting finish. England, establishing a trend for the series, saw several top-order batsmen make starts but fail to go on to a hundred in their first innings. Australia then showed them how to bat, with skipper Ricky Ponting’s century.
Paul Collingwood’s gutsy resistance kept Australia at bay but it still seemed Ponting’s men were on course for a crushing victory.
However, James Anderson and Monty Panesar helped nicely by England’s 12th man Bilal Shafayat and physio doing their best to waste a few minutes – survived the final 11.3 overs to give England an unlikely draw.

Jul 16-20: Second Test, Lord’s:

Result: England won by 115 runs

England 425 (A Strauss 161, A Cook 95; B Hilfenhaus 4-103, M Johnson 3-132) and 311-6 dec (M Prior 61, P Collingwood 54; N Hauritz 3-80)

Australia 215 (M Hussey 51; J Anderson 4-55, G Onions 3-41) and 406 (M Clarke 136, B Haddin 80, M Johnson 63; A Flintoff 5-92, G Swann 4-87)

Andrew Strauss led from the front with a fine century on his Middlesex home ground and received super support from mate Alastair Cook in a first innings where Australia spearhead quick Mitchell Johnson continued to struggle with his line.

Australia then collapsed in the face of accurate seam bowling from James Anderson and Graham Onions before Matt Prior and Paul Collingwood helped consolidate England’s advantage.
The tourists set 522 to win were ultimately undone by a superb spell of fast bowling from Andrew Flintoff, who on the eve of the match announced he would retire from Tests at the end of the series, with Graeme Swann providing good suport. Victory gave England their first Ashes Test win at Lord’s in 75 years.
Jul 30-Aug 03: Third Test, Edgbaston:

Result: Draw
Australia 263 (S Watson 62; J Anderson 5-80, G Onions 4-58) and 375-5 (M Clarke 103 no, M North 96, M Hussey 64)

England 376 (A Flintoff 74, A Strauss 69, S Broad 55, I Bell 53; B Hilfenhaus 4-109, P Siddle 3-89)

Rain, which effectively took two days out of the game, all but ended any hopes of a positive result. Fine swing bowling from Anderson and Onions sparked an Australia first innings collapse but resolute second innings batting from vice-captain Michael Clarke and Marcus North denied England victory.

Aug 07-09: Fourth Test, Headingley:

Result: Australia won by an innings and 80 runs

Australia 445 (M North 110, M Clarke 93, R Ponting 78; S Broad 6-91)

England 102 (P Siddle 5-21, S Clark 3-18) and 263 (G Swann 62, S Broad 61; M Johnson 5-69, B Hilfenhaus 4-60)

Australia levelled the series with a crushing victory as, inspired by the accuracy of recalled seamer Stuart Clark, they inflicted a first-day collapse upon England who had been without star batsman Kevin Pietersen since Lord’s because of an Achilles injury, from which they never recovered.

Marcus North’s second century of the series, against an attack missing Flintoff, out with a knee problem, bolstered their position and another England top-order slump saw Australia wrap up victory inside three days.

Aug 20-23: Fifth Test, The Oval

England won by 197 runs

England 332 (I Bell 72, A Strauss 55; P Siddle 4-75, B Hilfenhaus 3-71) and 373-9 dec (J Trott 119, A Strauss 75, G Swann 63; M North 4-98)

Australia 160 (S Katich 50; S Broad 5-37, G Swann 4-38) and 348 (M Hussey 121, R Ponting 66; G Swann 4-120, S Harmison 3-54)

England, on an Oval pitch not providing its customary pace and bounce, made 332 with the under-pressure Ian Bell making a valuable 72.

Australia coach Tim Nielsen was furious with the groundstaff for what he saw as their failure to get the covers on quickly enough during a rain break on the second day.

But the conditions could not explain another first innings collapse which saw Stuart Broad suggest there was indeed life after Flintoff with a superb five wicket burst.

England’s second innings was in danger of stalling but a composed century on debut from South Africa born Jonathan Trott, in for the dropped Ravi Bopara, got them on track again and left Australia needing a mammoth 546 for victory.

Michael Hussey tried to keep them at bay with 121 but, after run-outs saw the end of Ponting and Clarke, a burst from Stephen Harmison and off-spinner Graeme Swann saw England to victory with more than a day to spare.

Praising Strauss Vaughan wrote, “I now hope England can build a team capable of beating Australia in Australia in two years’ time and become the best side in the world. We did not manage that in 2005. A variety of circumstances worked against us and the opportunity was missed. We thought everything was rosy. It wasn’t. Now the chance has presented itself again and in some ways I believe we are in a stronger position to take our opportunity than we were four years ago.”

Averring on the debutant Jonathan Trott who hit a chanceless hundred, Vaughan said that Trott added meat to the England middle order and once Kevin Pietersen returned from injury, they would be a much better outfit.

“Jonathan Trott’s performance on debut is such an encouraging sign and when you slip Kevin Pietersen back into the middle order we look a strong team. Trott’s determination, guts and talent at five may well free up Pietersen and take the pressure off his shoulders. Add in Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad, James Anderson and we have a core to the team that has years left in the tank,” he said.

Vaughan had to eat his words back on his opinion of Stuart Broad. “He now has the potential to be one of England’s great cricketers. However, the key is for him not to become sidetracked by celebrity. After such a performance in a massive match he will be a mini-superstar wherever he goes in this country. So far he has been very good at focusing on his cricket and if he sticks to that then he can become the best all-rounder in the world. We should drop the comparisons with Andrew Flintoff. He is a different player. Fred was a more structured batsman. Broad is the kind of guy to want to carve out his own niche,” Vaughan explained.

Even if England win the Ashes, Vaughan opined that all was not good with English cricket. “If England go on to win the Test match and the Ashes, then I really hope people do not think everything is right with English cricket. We will have won the Ashes only because we were able to play slightly better than Australia at one or two key moments. That debate should still happen. We should still look at the structure of our domestic competitions, reduce the amount of cricket played and change things for the better. Let’s not miss this opportunity,” he added.

If you ask me, Vaughan had a team that had stalwarts and if one compares it with Strauss’ team, it has players who have performed well in patches and it can be a better team in all three formats of the game only if it performs consistently against all sides in all forms. Or else, it will be difficult to fulfill the demands of the fans who would expect the side to do well and return home unimpressed.

The day belonged to debutant Trott who scored a chanceless 119 and remained the centrepiece of England’s second innings 373 for nine declared in a match where a win would see them regain the Ashes by taking the series 2-1.

Openers Shane Watson (31 not out) and Simon Katich (42 not out) ensured Australia made a sound start to their imposing chase.

“I knew I was there or thereabouts. I just had to put in the hard yards in county cricket and I’m thankful I got the opportunity,” Trott said after the end of the day’s play. England, at tea, were 290 for seven. Trott was 83 not out and Graeme Swann 34 not out, with part-time Australia spinner Marcus North taking Test-best figures of four for 98.

The visitors grabbed the new ball immediately after tea but England responded by thrashing their pace bowlers for 83 runs in 12 overs. Swann, dropped on 47 by Ponting, made a dashing 63 off just 55 balls as he added 90 for the eighth wicket with Trott at better than a run-a-ball. Trott,  retained his composure although on 97 he nearly played on to Ben Hilfenhaus. But his clipped four off the swing bowler took him to a hundred in 182 balls.

The 28-year-old became the 18th England batsman to make a century on Test debut and the first to do so against Australia since Graham Thorpe at Trent Bridge in 1993. His hundred was only the second by an England batsman this series after captain Andrew Strauss’s 161 in their 115-run second Test win at Lord’s. He was the last man out, caught by North off Stuart Clark.

Interestingly, Four years ago an Oval hundred by a South Africa-born batsman Kevin Pietersen had helped regain the Ashes for England. Trott’s innings may yet enable them to do so with a win. Strauss declared to set Australia would be a new fourth innings victory total, surpassing the 418 for seven made by West Indies against Australia in Antigua in 2002/03.

Australia will go all out to chase 546 but they have to bat out of their skins if they nurse hopes of reaching the momentous target. Watch out this space for more on the fourth day of this eventful Test.

On the other hand, Australia will want to clinch the series 2-1 or at best secure a draw to retain their Ashes and carry home the urn. The defending champions will want to retain the side that won at Leeds and that will mean leaving out the now-fit Brett Lee, a prospect which could backfire if England gets off to a flyer on the first day morning. Also, dismantling a winning unit could have serious implications on the morale of the performers such as Stuart Clarke, Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus—the three standout performers in the last Test.

England will be pondering on leaving out Graham Onions and bring in Monty Panesar for this Test. This will mean leaving out Onions who too will be given a raw deal for one failur the whole summer.
One look at the pitch will make you believe that its a true wicket as it is dry and bare. The plenty carry and bounce will make the captains go in with an extra pacer but spinners too can get their purchase from this wicket.
For those who thrive on trivia, the last four Tests have seen England pacers Onions, Flintoff, James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Harmison have given 37 runs to bag a wicket while Australian pacers —- Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle, Johnson and Clark – have averaged 28.11 per wicket for their 53 wickets.

England will be entering the third Ashes Test on Thursday at Edgbaston against a low Australians and will be extremely confident of their talismanic titan Andrew Flintoff but sans the services of Kevin Pietersen even as Australia look to level the series at 1-1.
Freddie’s spell on the day 5 of the Lord’s Test sealed a 115-run win for England, their first in the ground in 75 years.
But, Pietersen gave in to his Achilles problem and said that he would take no further part in the series. Flintoff, had earlier announced before the match that the series will be his final Test series.
Captain Andrew Strauss will hopeful to use Flintoff as and when appropriate. It had earlier been reported that Freddie has been sleeping with a special compression machine on his troublesome joint and Aussie’s Michael Clarke said, “Andrew Flintoff is an amazing player. He is always up for the big contests. He seems to perform under pressure and no doubt he will be ready on Thursday to give us more stick.”
Bell was drafted into the squad in place of Pietersen and  the selectors have made it clear that Bell was their man.
Bell a veteran of 46 Tests, has missed England’s last eight and was dropped in the Caribbean and his average against Australia is a modest 25.
Clarke said Australia had been given a lift by Pietersen’s absence. “Anytime a very good player is not playing, like Kevin  Pietersen, it gives the team a boost but Ian is a very good player himself.”

Ashes holders Australia are again set to be without fast bowler Brett Lee because of the side injury that ruled him out of the first two Tests. That wouldn’t be an issue if left-arm quick Mitchell Johnson wasn’t struggling so much for line and length. A good news will await their skipper Ricky Ponting as he needs another 25 runs to surpass retired former captain Border’s mark of 11,174 runs and move up into third place in the all-time list of Test run-scorers. If Ponting achieves this feat, he would have taken 22 Tests fewer than Border to score the runs. Ponting was quite candid and when questioned on it, had a tongue-in-cheek reply in place, “I have known about it since the beginning of the series. Things came up on the board during the first Test, given I went past 11,000 and all that stuff. So I have had a rough idea but I have not thought about it or focused on it at all. I have bigger fish to fry than that right at the moment. But, look hopefully it comes. It would be nice to get it out of the way in the first innings of this game.”

Well, one can only hope that Ponting can surpass Allan Border in this Test and ensure that his good run in Ashes 2009 continues and his team level the series in what promises to be a nail-biting contest. Let the games begin!

Despite countless cricket series held across the orb year after year, a mock obituary caricatured by Sporting Times way back in 1882, after England’s loss to Australia will go down as one of the famed fables…. The newspaper had concluded the article “The body will be cremated and the ashes taken back to Australia.” Thus commenced a tradition of commentary that was acerbic and mocked at the fortunes of English cricket by native journalists which bordered on being serious at times and at times comic and reached its pinnacle when Martin Johnson penned on the England team’s struggle at the Ashes in 1986. ” There are only three things wrong with the English team – they can’t bat, they can’t bowl, and they can’t field.” But just as England returned to winning ways in 1882/83 after being ‘buried’ so too did Mike Gatting’s men regroup 104 years later to retain the Ashes in Australia.
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Australia has always remained dominant, clinching 131 Tests while England have won 98 and with 89 draws.The Aussies were especially dominant after the first World War, steamrolling their lesser fancied opponents in three straight series and, under Warwick Armstrong completing the first Ashes whitewash in 1920/21.
England did though regain the Ashes in 1926 under Percy Chapman although they had to recall 48-year-old Wilfred Rhodes to help them win at The Oval. Chapman then led one of England’s best sides to Australia, his team winning the Ashes 4-1 in 1928/29 during a series where Wally Hammond scored 905 runs.That series also saw Don Bradman make his debut for Australia and it was not long before the right-hander was rewriting batting records.How to stop Bradman became an obsession for England and it led then captain Douglas Jardine to devise a strategy of short-pitched fast bowling directed at batsmen’s bodies.Bodyline, with Harold Larwood the main instrument of Jardine’s plan, was employed to devastating effect on the 1932/33 tour of Australia where England regained the Ashes 4-1. But the series led to a diplomatic crisis which threatened Anglo-Australian relations.

Australia, under Bradman’s leadership, regained their poise and they also won the first Ashes after World War II in 1946/47.And in 1948 a team led by Bradman and featuring such greats as Neil Harvey and star all-rounder Keith Miller swept all before them in such style they became known as the ‘Invincibles’ after winning the Test series 4-0.

The only downside for Bradman was that, needing just four runs for a Test average of 100, he was bowled for a duck by Eric Hollies in his final innings at the Oval.

England eventually ended 20 years of Australia domination when they regained the Ashes on home soil in 1953 under the leadership of Len Hutton, their first professional captain.

Hutton then led England on a victorious tour of Australia in 1954/55 where fast bowlers Frank Tyson and Brian Statham starred before, back in England, off-spinner Jim Laker’s 19 wickets at Old Trafford helped England win the 1956 series.

Australia though won on home soil in 1958/59 although the series was overshadowed by accusations that Australia quicks Ian Meckiff and Gordon Rorke were ‘throwers’.

During the 1960s, Australia retained the Ashes but series between cricket’s two oldest rivals became characterised by a succession of ‘bore draws’, with only 10 out of 25 matches between the two sides that decade yielding a winner.

England did, under the shrewd leadership of Ray Illingworth and with Geoffrey Boycott and John Snow playing leading roles, regain the Ashes in Australia in 1970/71.

Australia, with Ian Chappell at the helm, drew the 1972 series in England and then unleashed the pace of a fit-again Dennis Lillee and the unheralded Jeff Thomson on an unsuspecting England in Australia.

But as the decade came to a close, with cricket under the shadow of Australian businessman Kerry Packer’s breakaway World Series, England won successive Ashes series.

Then came one of the most memorable Ashes campaigns of all in 1981 when all-rounder Ian Botham turned the series on its head after being stripped of the England captaincy.

England, after Australia won in 1982/83, enjoyed successive home and away Ashes wins before their rivals, under the gritty captaincy of Allan Border won 4-0 in England in 1989.

It was the start of 16 years of Australian Ashes domination, with players such as Stephen Waugh, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath all proving thorns in England’s side.

The 21st century brought no immediate change before England, upping their game and riding their luck, won 2-1 in 2005.

But it was a short-lived succcess with a ruthless Australia crushing a lacklustre England 5-0 in 2006/07.

What did they say?

After the match, James Anderson said, “It is huge for us.”The Cardiff crowd went berserk with every run (read mishits) and it looked as if their team was winning and not desperately fighting to SAVE the Test. England skipper praised his team while Aussie skipper took heart from the fact that his team was one top throughout the Test and would keep their heads highs when they go to Lord’s where the Australians haven’t lost a Test since 1934.

A record that Ricky Ponting would want to keep intact.

Put-off moments in the Test!

1. One of the moments was in the dying moments of the match when England team sent their physio Steve McCraig and their 12th man Shafayat in what was clearing a waste of precious time and I am sure Ponting did not take it too lightly.

2. The England crowd is considered sensible but they displayed none of it when they shamelessly cheered for their team who not surprisingly doing the catch-up act throughout the match. I sincerely hope that some common sense prevails the next time and the team which is performing better gets some cheer too. So what if it is the opposition!

3. Aussie pacer Mitchell Johnson gave an earful to compatriot Kevin Pietersen when the latter hit a shot and the ball went dangerously close to where Johnson was practising before the start of the day’s play….

Not necessary Midge, you dont need to open your mouth always….Just show the anger on the field and not off it!!

But they demonstrated a defensive technique worthy of top-order batsmen although England angered Australia by sending on physiotherapist Steve McCaig and 12th man Bilal Shafayat in what appeared to be a blatant attempt at time-wasting.

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