Ashes 2005: Top five performers

1. Freddie’s Ashes (402 runs and 24 wickets)

Twenty-four years after Ian Botham inspired England to Ashes glory, another young all-rounder took centre stage during yet another five-match battle against Australia.

Lancashire cricketer Andrew Flintoff (‘Freddie’ to his teammates) displayed his prowess with both bat and ball as he single-handedly led his team to a 2-1 win over the Kangaroos, ending a sixteen-year wait for the urn. The victory was made all the sweeter because it was the first time the burly all-rounder had been selected for the Ashes.

Freddie’s first over in Ashes cricket was a wicket-maiden: he took out Justin Langer with a short delivery. He did little with the bat as Australia secured a huge win, but in the Edgbaston game, he came into his own in grand style – scoring 68 in the first innings, and then bowling the ‘over of the series’. He castled Langer with his second ball, had an LBW appeal turned down off the third and fifth balls, before taking out Ponting with the seventh (the previous one was a no-ball).

At one stage, during England’s second innings in the same game, Ponting had nine men on the boundary, but Freddie smashed a six over them too, and another landed in the roof as he made 73. Perhaps the most poignant image of the entire game was Flintoff consoling the despondent Brett Lee after England scraped through by two runs – a gesture that was widely praised by fans, players and selectors alike.

His century in the fourth Test was the cornerstone of England’s eventual three-wicket win, and he rounded off a great series with an excellent five-wicket haul in the final game.

In summary, this was perhaps England’s greatest ever Ashes victory, even better than the recent one.