Flintoff on fire, McGrath's injury, and Harmison's crucial blows - we look at how England triumphed in Birmingham
Monday 11 May 2020 13:48, UK
After an action-packed three and a bit days of Ashes cricket, England edged Australia by just two runs at Edgbaston in 2005 to draw level at 1-1 in arguably the greatest Test series of all time.
The hosts sealed victory - and celebrated wildly - when Harmison had last man Michael Kasprowicz caught down the leg-side by wicketkeeper Geraint Jones on that Sunday morning in Birmingham.
But what were the other key moments that ensured England came out on top in such a tight finish? Here are some of them…
England's fortunate first morning…
Vaughan's men had been crushed by 239 runs in the first Test at Lord's, so a slice of luck ahead of the second would have been welcome. As it turned out, England had two reasons to smile, if not publicly. First, Glenn McGrath - who had taken nine wickets at the Home of Cricket in the series opener - trod on a ball playing touch rugby in the warm-up, tore ankle ligaments and was ruled out of the game. Then, Australia captain Ricky Ponting surprisingly opted to bowl after winning the toss. On a good batting track, without the metronomic McGrath in the opposition, England ran riot.
Marcus Trescothick (90 off 102) drummed Brett Lee for three boundaries in the third over, while he and his opening partner Andrew Strauss (48 off 76) attacked Warne when the great spinner entered the attack, as Vaughan's pre-match plea for his side to be aggressive was carried out and then some. England were 132-1 at lunch and racked up a first-innings total of 407 inside 80 overs as Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff (much more on him later) swatted half-centuries, ensuring Warne and Lee picked up unwanted centuries and England's belief, according to Vaughan, skyrocketed.
Jones hits mark as Australia innings peters out…
Bad light had prevented Australia replying to England's total late on day one but the tourists got going on day two and, on more than one occasion, would have fancied getting closer to their rivals' score. They were, though, dismissed for 307 as Flintoff and Ashley Giles shared six wickets - Ponting (61) among Giles' victims and Flintoff bagging the final two scalps.
However, with Australia decently placed on 262-5 and having opener Langer and the swashbuckling Adam Gilchrist at the crease, Simon Jones delivered a crucial blow. The Glamorgan seamer pinned Langer lbw with a magnificent yorker as the batsman's hopes of a century ended and Australia's innings swiftly followed suit. Langer's exit saw the visitors lose five wickets for 46 runs. England ahead by 99 on first innings, with Gilchrist left stranded on 49 as none of Australia's final four made double figures.
Flintoff smokes sixes and Bowden calls wrong...
Having ended Australia's innings with two wickets in as many balls on the Friday evening, Flintoff then boosted England with the bat on Sunday afternoon after an Australia attack that had been pounded first time around fought back in Birmingham. Warne had bowled Andrew Strauss the previous night with a magic ball that pitched outside off and spun back miles to castle the left-hander round his legs and had figures of 5-39 on the Saturday when his dismissals of Giles and Harmison from successive deliveries left England 131-9 and leading by only 230.
Flintoff - the only England player to pass 21 in the second innings - was on 38 at the time of Harmison's dismissal but, with help from last man Jones, pumped Australia to all parts. Flintoff hit both Kasprowicz and Lee for two sixes in three balls as he reached 73 from 85 balls before he was bowled by Warne 86th ball. Warne finished with a fine 6-46 but, crucially for England, Flintoff's last-wicket partnership of 51 with Jones meant the home side had set Australia 282 to win, though that would have been 280 had Jones been given out lbw when he was hit plumb in front by Lee. For some reason, umpire Billy Bowden kept his finger down despite the ball set to clatter into middle stump. What a difference that could have made to the end result!
Flintoff strikes twice in scintillating over...
Australia's belief would have been growing as Langer and Matthew Hayden steered the Baggy Greens to 47-0 in their second dig, only for Ponting's men, and indeed Ponting himself, to run into a firing Flintoff. In the over of the series, Flintoff was unable to complete a hat-trick - having removed Jason Gillespie and Kasprowicz from the final two balls of Australia's opening knock - but then bowled Langer from the second ball of the over.
He then had two lbw shouts against Ponting turned down, and saw the batsman clip just shy of the slips, before forcing him to snick behind on the drive for a duck from the final ball. It was a peach of a delivery in a peach of an over in a peach of a spell. Hayden, probably relieved when Flintoff was withdrawn from the attack, went after his replacement Jones and edged behind after striking two fours. England had made serious inroads and once Matthew Hoggard and Giles reduced Australia to 136-6, Flintoff made that 137-7 when he pinned Gillespie lbw. Australia needed another 145 with only three wickets in hand, though Michael Clarke was still in.
Harmison's sensational slower ball…
Clarke remained in until the final ball of the extra half hour on day three, having shared a stand of 38 with Warne. The former played the anchor role, while Warne, who smote Giles for successive sixes, played more aggressively as Australia moved to within 107 runs of victory. England were still favourites but may have had some doubts creeping in before Harmison bamboozled Clarke with a delicious slower ball and pinged his stumps.
"I'm not sure where it came from, to be honest," Harmison told Sky Sports. "My slower ball has been labelled by two of my former colleagues - Trescothick and Flintoff, who fielded at slip for my whole career - as the worst in the history of the game. But it worked that day and Clarke didn't pick it. We needed it." Surely England would be celebrating on Sunday, with Warne only able to call on Lee and Kasprowicz for assistance…
A thrilling crescendo…
England did end up celebrating, of course, but only by an extremely slender margin. Lee proved a fine ally for Warne - the pair adding 45 before the latter stood on his stumps and fell to Flintoff - and then put on 59 with Kasprowicz, helped by Jones spilling Kasprowicz at third man, as Australia moved on to 279-9. They needed three more runs for a 2-0 lead - but up stepped Harmison, forcing Kasprowicz to fend a short ball to Jones.
Umpire Bowden raised his finger and, in the pre-DRS age, there was nothing Kasprowicz could do to change the outcome, despite replays suggesting his glove was off the bat at the time he made contact with the ball and should not have been given out. England were level, having looked in massive danger of falling 2-0 behind, a result Vaughan has previously said would have been almost impossible to come back from.
It was the most decisive moment of all during a true Edgbaston epic. For the most sporting moment, though, look no further than Flintoff consoling Lee, showing just how hard-fought the match had been and how much respect the teams shared for each other. Cricket at its best.
