Throwback to the greatest series of all-time: Ashes 2005

Second Test - Edgbaston

August 4-8

In Flintoff England had a match-winner with bat and ball

Collapsing twice for less than 200 wasn't the ideal start England would have wanted in their assay to regain the urn. Add to that the Aussie media’s taunts which went from England “spending too much time talking” to admonishing the vulnerability in their batting line-up, and the Aussies were right on top in the mind battle.

The Edgbaston was infamous for its ability to espouse with the side that bowled first. Since 1991, 12 of the 13 Tests at the venue had gone to the team that won the toss and opted to bowl. Ponting must have a thing for history for he barely glanced at the pitch before putting England in to bat, despite the fact that Glenn McGrath was on the sidelines after twisting his ankles.

The decision would change the course of the series and shift momentum England's way. "He's a lovely guy, that Ricky Ponting," said Geoffrey Boycott later as revealed by ESPNCricinfo. "He likes the English so much he changed the series with the most stupid decision he'll ever make in his life."

By Lunch on Day 1, Marcus Trescothick, who smashed Brett Lee for nine fours, and Andrew Strauss had laid seige. 118 came in the first session of the day and by end of day, England had 407 on board with Andrew Flintoff's 62-ball 68 studded with five maximums being the icing on the cake.

“I hit five sixes that day. Lee bowled a couple short and I pulled him twice for six - blind at one of them, didn't even know where it was. I used to have a technique of getting deep in my crease and to someone like Lee it works well because it puts you directly into his trajectory. Sometimes, the biggest sixes, you're not really trying,” Flintoff recalls on the Telegraph of his maniac knock that deflated the Aussies.

Australia responded with 308 but a 99 run lead was all England needed to drive home the advantage. Despite Shane Warne coming close to replicating the 'Ball of the Century’ by dismissing Strauss and adding five more to his bag, England had enough, courtesy Flintoff's 73, to put Australia under pressure.

Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden, though, started off with a bang and suddenly 282 didn't seem improbable. Then Flintoff delivered the over that would turn the course of this mesmeric series. He dismissed Langer with a sharp leg-cutter and then Ricky Ponting off the final ball of the over.

Shane Warne and Michael Clarke defied the English for long until Harmison outfoxed the latter with a well disguised slower delivery. Australia needed 107 to win and England needed two wickets as they trudged out for the fourth day.

A nerve-wracking climax saw the Aussie pair of Brett Lee and Michael Kasprowicz hang around for the final wicket to take Australia extremely close to victory. But victory eluded them as Steve Harmison bounced out Kasprowicz with Australia three runs away from victory.

Moment of the match

Amidst all the chaos in those final few moments, Andrew Flintoff's sportsman-like gesture would go down into the history books as one of the images of the series. He would console the gritty Brett Lee, who had fought through thick and thin to nearly script a memorable win for the Aussies.

Probably the photo of the series - Flintoff consoling a crushed Brett Lee. Credits: ESPNCricinfo

What exactly Flintoff said would remain a mystery until the all-rounder himself jokingly claimed that he had gotten a little cheeky then, in an interview with the Guardian.

"I was taught as a kid always respect the opposition first and celebrate after, which I did. I went over to Brett Lee and shook his hand and there's that picture, where I whisper in his ear: 'It's 1-1, son.'"

Lee, however, remembers it as the time Flintoff offered him a hand. Sports would remember it forever as the “hand of consolation” which is the very essence of sports; acknowledging the fight in the opposition.

***

It was the closest victory in terms of runs in the history of Ashes and the Edgbaston crowd, which had witnessed the best humdinger of all-time five years back in a World Cup semi-final involving South Africa and Australia, bore witness to another marvel.

England 407 (Trecsothick 90, Pietersen 71, Flintoff 68, Warne 4-116) & 182 (Flintoff 73, Warne 6-46); Australia 308 (Langer 82, Ponting 61, Flintoff 3-52) & 279 (Lee 43*, Flintoff 4-79)