English cricket team

The English cricket team is a national cricket team representing England and Wales, although Wales is almost never mentioned in the team's name. It is administered by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

2000s

After the first Test of the 5 Test series against South Africa was drawn, Nasser Hussain resigned the Test captaincy, with Michael Vaughan being appointed in his stead. Vaughan went on to draw the series 2-2, after an Oval Test match rated by most commentators as the greatest in England since the 1981 Headingley Test. Since then, as of November 2004, England have played 16 tests, won 12, drawn 3, lost 1, and risen to number 2 in the International Cricket Council Test rankings. They were also runners-up in the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy.

Related Topics:
South Africa - Nasser Hussain - Michael Vaughan - November - 2004 - International Cricket Council - ICC Champions Trophy

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On December 21 2004 England completed their eighth successive Test victory with a win in the opening Test against South Africa at Port Elizabeth, the best sequence of Test match wins by England.

Related Topics:
December - 2004 - South Africa - Port Elizabeth - England

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Coming into the 2005 Ashes series, England had moved up to second, having won 14 and drawn 3 of their 18 previous test matches since March 2004, raising hopes that the series would be closely fought. The Ashes series had a long build up, with England and Australia playing a triangular ODI series with Bangladesh, with the final England-Australia match ending in a tie (not a draw), prior to a second one day series between England and Australia won 2-1 by Australia.

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Australia won the first test at Lord's comfortably, but England came back to win the second test at Edgbaston with a two run victory, the narrowest win in Ashes history. The third test ended in a draw, with one day having been lost to play and England one wicket away from victory. England then narrowly won the fourth test in Nottingham by three wickets after forcing the Australians to follow on. In the fifth and final test at the Oval in London England came in to the final day needing to avoid a defeat with a lead of 40 runs and one wicket down, and batted until well after the tea interval to ensure the game would end a draw and England would regain the Ashes 2-1.

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