The Urn's back again, but will it stay for long??!!!!

To be very honest, I didn't really aspire to write a blog on the just completed Ashes, for the simple reason that I was vociferously backing Australia and unfortunately I would call it as, they ended up on the wrong side. In spite of that, I sit down to write to fulfill a request from one of my closest mates, Ravi - For a friend like you, I haven't done much, let this go as a very small dedication for the person you are and what you mean to me.

And people who hate Test cricket, kindly excuse and press Ctrl + W if you are in Firefox or Alt + F4 if you are in IE or any other browser. This wouldn't soothe your interest one bit, I swear.

For the others who are kind enough to continue reading still, Thanks for your love for the game. Here goes...

When Australia arrived past the shores in late June for the Ashes series 2009, the result that was predicted to be, was the result that actually happened - England to win it comfortably. But as the series started and proceeded, there were innumerable see-saw battles, fabulous nail-biting moments of incomparable criticality, shoulder barges and fuming sledges here and there - in the midst of all, an astonishing brand of cricket that paved way for England in emulating their Ashes 2005 triumph as per predictions. At the same time, nothing can be discounted from the Australians for two frighteningly massive chases they tried venturing, each time falling short by a mini-collapse or two.

At Cardiff it was Australia all the way, reaching a point where they needed a solitary wicket in over 10 overs, to take a 1-0 lead. Against all odds, Jimmy Anderson and one of the least accomplished number 11 batsmen, Monty Panesar, defied the Aussie attack courageously to earn a hard-earned draw for England.

Australia not only had a moral victory to carry forward to Lords, they also boasted an unenviable records at the Mecca of Cricket, where no Australian team had suffered a defeat for 75 years. The hosts on the other hand, never looked too concerned about history - Lead by some incredible bowling from Freddie playing his last test series, Australia suffered the onslaught pretty badly. It all started in an insipid first day bowling performance that saw them leaking 196 runs in less than 4 hours of cricket. Unsurprisingly, Aussies trailed 0-1 when they left Lords, thereby a proud 75-year record got shattered as well.



Edgbaston failed to replicate the entertainment that 2005 produced, largely due to the sickening weather that constantly interrupted play. Though England held the upper hand for the major part of the game, Australia's resilience saw them through to a draw and the difference between the teams remained singular.

And that created a must-win-both situation for Australia, going into the 4th Test at Headingley. England won what looked like a crucial toss but what followed afterwards was truly dramatic. A disciplined bowling effort ably supported by some very ordinary shot selection from the English batsmen, saw them lose half a dozen wickets before the lunch break. From then on they were always chasing the game, they duly lost it in three days. It could have easily been a 2-day encounter, had Marcus North grabbed the sitter that Matt Prior offered on the last ball of Day 2 - Ponting may well have claimed the extra half hour and none would have been surprised had they wrapped it off - Not to be, though. At the end of the match, Michael Atherton cheekily and quiet stupidly asked the winning skipper,

"Now then Ricky, with one match to play and all that you need is a draw to retain the Ashes, will you be playing for a win or a draw?"

for which Ponting replied tongue on cheek

"What do you think?"

and smiled. He, after all was fine tuned by none other than Stephen Waugh, who on any day would be the last one to feel delighted with a drawn test match.

All to play for at the Oval - Australia had lingering memories of 2005, England savored some sweet ones of the same instance. After the abject surrender in the 4th match, England were least favorites to even draw the match, let alone winning. Andrew Strauss won yet another crucial toss and on a pitch which everyone thought as a batting paradise, England garnered around to a total which at best, looked decent. The visitors got off to a scratchy but an effective start when rain intervened. It looked like a minor interruption but the aftermath was awe-inspiring and beyond explanation. In one of the most astonishing collapses you can ever witness, the tourists succumbed to an incisive spell from Stuart Broad, losing 8 wickets in a session in 20 odd overs. Effectively, the series was won by England at this juncture. Aussies always were playing catching up from then on, an admirable debut century from Jonathan Trott merely killed any slender hopes that Ponting's men might have carried in looking at an achievable fourth innings target. Set a daunting target of 546, the never-say-die approach of the Aussies appeared all too vividly and they were marching along nicely when Hussey and Ponting stitched together a solid partnership. Fate played its part when the pair attempted a suicidal run and the skipper was run-out by a few inches at least. Back in 2005 it was Gary Pratt, now it was Freddie, the victim being the same. That completely turned the tide in England's favor, not that it was in the Aussies side till then, just the fact that hopes were alive as long as the skipper was at the crease. Though the Aussies fought tooth and nail right till the end, England simply were in no mood to let go this golden opportunity to annex the Ashes back. They did it in great style in due course, the only consolation for Australia was a typically career-saving century from Michael Hussey.


Michael Atherton didn't learn from Headingley - In the presentation ceremony again, he was intent on tapping at Ricky's ego, by asking

"When you get back home, there will be serious questions asked about your Captaincy, isn't it?"

The reply was

"Yeah, I don't have a clue on that, captaining a side isn't the easiest thing to do, you must be knowing that, Mike"

Atherton, If I'm right, never was part of a Ashes winning squad, forget about leading the team to an Ashes triumph.

To add a few more quotes, Ricky Ponting said after the match,"When you look at the statistics, it would indicate that we should have won the series 2-0, but not to be so. England won most of the key moments and that proved very crucial". The reason for this statement is, off the top 6 run-getters in the series, 5 were Australians and none of the top three wicket-takers were from England. Australia had centurions in Katich, Ponting, Clarke(2), North(2), Haddin and Hussey while England had only two in total - Strauss and Trott.


Andrew Strauss was as bemused as everyone looking at the stats, but his explanation was spot on. "When we played bad we were very bad, when we were good, we were good enough".

Sorry for such a huge post, but in truth, I would have gone on and on and on and had to force myself to stamp on my brakes. That was one stunning series - Albeit it failed to light up the stage like the 2005 epic, this one was not far off the mark from doing so.

(Images courtesy, BBC Sport)