5 great Ashes knocks which went in vain

#4 Paul Collingwood - 206 at Adelaide (2006)

Collingwood's sublime double ton was not enough for England to escape with a draw

After recapturing the coveted Ashes urn with their euphoric triumph in 2005, England embarked to Australian shores for the return series in 2006/07 with a reasonable amount of confidence. However, Ricky Ponting's troops were desperately waiting to dish out retribution within the comforts of home.

Right from Steve Harmison's 'frozen' wide to kick start the series, things began to go south for the visitors. Upon suffering an emphatic defeat in the opening match, England arrived in Adelaide hoping for a fresh start. Paul Collingwood and Kevin Pietersen gave them exactly that. On a docile track, the duo put on 310 runs for the fourth wicket.

While Collingwood brought up a splendid double century, Pietersen fell short of the same mark by just 42 runs. England amassed a mammoth total of 551 before declaring. When Australia responded by racking up a 500-plus total themselves, the game appeared to be heading towards stalemate. But the irresistible Shane Warne summoned a magical spell to rout his favourite opponents on the final day. Australia completed a manic run-chase en route to a 5-0 clean-sweep over their traditional rivals. Meanwhile, the visitors' only positive memory from an otherwise calamitous tour came from a man whom they affectionately referred as 'Brigadier Block'.

Watch Collingwood's splendid double century against Australia