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).

England's greatest ever Test matches

Lord's, 1963 England (297 and 228-9) drew with West Indies (301 and 229)

England were set 234 to win in the second Test against the West Indies. In need of quick runs, Brian Close took the battle to Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith, the two fastest West Indian bowlers, daring to advance down the wicket to him. This was an age before body protection and helmets, and time and again the ball struck Close firmly on his body. But he persevered. His 70 very nearly won the game for England, and with no other English player other than Ken Barrington scoring above 20, he saved the game. Set 234 to win, England ended on 228 for 9, with Colin Cowdrey famously coming in to bat (for two balls at the non-striker's end) with his broken arm in plaster.

Related Topics:
West Indies - Brian Close - Wes Hall - Charlie Griffith - Helmets - Ken Barrington - Colin Cowdrey

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Headingley, 1981 England (174 and 356) beat Australia (401-9 dec and 111) by 18 runs

Going into the game at Headingley - the third Test in a 6-match series against Australia - England were in disarray. Ian Botham had resigned as captain after getting a pair in the second Test at Lord's and the selectors had been forced to recall former captain Mike Brearley to the side.

Related Topics:
Ian Botham - Mike Brearley

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Despite Botham taking six wickets, Australia's first innings seemed like a continuation of their dominance of the series so far, declaring at 401 for 9. England's response was another collapse - Australia only needed to use three bowlers (Dennis Lillee, Terry Alderman and Geoff Lawson) as England stumbled to 174 all out, Botham top-scoring with 50.

Related Topics:
Dennis Lillee - Terry Alderman - Geoff Lawson

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Kim Hughes immediately enforced the follow-on and by the fourth afternoon of play, England had collapsed again to 135 for 7 with a not-out Botham perhaps England's only hope of avoiding the ignominy of an innings defeat. Botham had other ideas, however, and playing again with the freedom that he'd enjoyed before he was awarded the captaincy, he flayed the Australian bowling all around the ground, scoring an incredible 149 off just 148 balls with 27 fours and 1 six. The lower order batsmen also did their part - Graham Dilley scored a maiden test fifty off just 75 balls, and after he was dismissed Chris Old and Bob Willis both stayed in long enough to allow England to put on 221 for the last three wickets, before finally being all out for 356.

Related Topics:
Kim Hughes - Graham Dilley - Chris Old - Bob Willis

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Defeat by an innings had been avoided, but England only had a lead of 129 runs and almost all observers expected the Australians to polish that off easily and, despite Botham grabbing an early wicket, they'd moved on to 56 for 1 when Brearley brought Bob Willis back into the bowling attack. Willis went on to produce one of the greatest ever bowling performances in the history of Test cricket, taking 8 wickets for just 43 runs as Australia were dismissed for just 111 runs and England had pulled off a spectacular victory by just 18 runs, only the second time in Test history that a side had won after following on.

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Inspired by this performance and Botham's heroics with both bat and ball in the next two tests, England went on to win the series - often referred to as "Botham's Ashes" by three tests to one.

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Interestingly, at one point during the fourth day a Headlingly bookmaker was offering odds of 500-1 on England winning. Regarding these odds as too good to be true, the Australian players Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh bet £5 on England winning.

Related Topics:
Dennis Lillee - Rod Marsh

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Karachi, 2001 England (388 and 176-4) beat Pakistan (405 and 158) by six wickets

Pakistan's first ever test defeat in Karachi http://content.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/86404.html.

Related Topics:
Pakistan's - Karachi

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The Oval, 2003 England (604 and 110-1) beat South Africa (484 and 220) by nine wickets

Going into the final Test of the 2003 series against South Africa, England were 2-1 down and had to win at The Oval to tie the series. The match that followed was a classic.

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South Africa won the toss and chose to bat, spotting that the flat Oval pitch looked conducive to run-scoring. Due to a combination of mediocre bowling and powerful batting, South Africa took immediate control of the match and scored at a high pace. Herschelle Gibbs blasted a tremendous century, finally being bowled for 183 after attempting a huge hit off the bowling of spinner Ashley Giles. At the end of the first day's play, South Africa has reached 362-4. With such a large total of runs amassed and six wickets still in hand, South Africa looked certain to win the series. A repeat of the disastrous defeat at Lord's earlier in the series looked likely for England.

Related Topics:
Herschelle Gibbs - Ashley Giles

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The next day, however, saw the balance of play shift towards England. South Africa were all out for 484, quite a low total considering their huge advantage at the end of the first day. South Africa lost their remaining six wickets due to a much better spell of bowling by England, and three run-outs. After the end of South Africa's first innings, England came out to bat knowing that they had to perform extremely well if they were to get a result from the game, and perform well they did. At the end of day 2 England has reached 165-2, losing Michael Vaughan for 23 and Mark Butcher for 32. Marcus Trescothick and Graham Thorpe(returning after a year away from Test cricket) were not out at the close, on 64* and 28* respectively. Interestingly, Vaughan was Shaun Pollock's 300th Test wicket.

Related Topics:
Michael Vaughan - Mark Butcher - Marcus Trescothick - Graham Thorpe - Shaun Pollock

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The match started to turn in England's favour on the third day. Trescothick and Thorpe resumed their innings and played superbly, with a mammoth partnership of 286. Thorpe scored 124, his 12th Test century, before being bowled by Jacques Kallis. It was an amazing return to international cricket for the England batsman. Despite the loss of Thorpe, Marcus Trescothick continued his innings in majestic fashion, attacking South Africa relentlessly. Eventually he was dismissed near the end of the day's play for 219, his maiden first-class double hundred. It was an innings of class and occasional brutality, which contained 32 fours and two monstrous sixes. Despite Trescothick's innings, Alec Stewart stole some of the headlines. He came out to bat at his home ground for perhaps the last time, after deciding to retire at the end of the series. The crowd at the Oval gave him a standing ovation, and the South African team formed a guard of honour. A fitting tribute to a fine cricketer who was one of England's best throughout the 1990s. Stewart made a typically gritty 38 before being trapped lbw by Pollock. At the end of day 3, England had overhauled South Africa's total, gaining a lead of 18. This would need to be increased substantially if England were to have a chance of winning the match. All-rounder Andrew Flintoff, left on 10* at the close of play, was England's last real chance of victory.

Related Topics:
Jacques Kallis - Marcus Trescothick - Alec Stewart - The Oval - Andrew Flintoff

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The result of the match depended on how England, and more specifically Andrew Flintoff, negotiated day four. England desperately required more runs to increase their lead over South Africa. Flintoff was a very dangerous player, as shown by his spectacular innings of 142 in the Lord's Test of the series. But equally, his maverick style of batting could easily backfire. When Martin Bicknell was dismissed by Shaun Pollock for 0, Flintoff decided to attack South Africa. With new partner Steve Harmison blocking at one end, Flintoff annihilated the South African bowling attack with some almighty hitting. Twelve lusty fours and four monumental sixes followed in an innings of 95 from only 104 balls. Flintoff narrowly missed out on a century, being bowled after attempting to blast spinner Paul Adams out of the ground. Even so, his furious innings had given England a reasonable lead of 120 runs as the team declared on 604-9. Now England would have to produce a high-quality bowling performance to stop South Africa achieving a sizable lead in their second innings. England's bowlers devastated the South African batting line-up with stupendous displays from veteran Martin Bicknell and newcomer Steve Harmison. South Africa slumped to 185-6 at the end of day four, with a wholly inadequate lead of just 65.

Related Topics:
Andrew Flintoff - Martin Bicknell - Steve Harmison - Paul Adams

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The final day's play saw the last four South African wickets fall slowly, leaving England to chase a target of 110 to win the match. Who would have though after the first day's play that England would have such an opportunity! England's batsmen played excellently and wasted no time in attacking South Africa. Once again opening batsman Marcus Trescothick led the glorious England charge, as England reached the required total with the loss of only one wicket. A phenomenal victory had been achieved, leaving the South Africa team distraught. Marcus Trescothick was named man of the match, being only the second man after the legendary Donald Bradman to score a double century and a fifty (219 and 69*) in a test at The Oval. The day belonged, however, to Alec Stewart. His final test saw a proud England win a stunning match and level the series 2-2.

Related Topics:
Marcus Trescothick - Donald Bradman - The Oval - Alec Stewart

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Edgbaston, 2005 England (407 and 182) beat Australia (308 and 279) by two runs

Having gone unbeaten through the entirety of 2004 and winning a Test series in South Africa (only the second team to manage this after Australia) in early 2005, England went into the Ashes Test series with a realistic ambition of regaining the Ashes for the first time in 18 years. The first Test at Lord's resulted in England losing by 239 runs due to superb bowling by the Australians Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne. 10 days later at Edgbaston a match was played out which for a number of reasons is considered one of the greatest Test matches ever played.

Related Topics:
South Africa - Glenn McGrath - Shane Warne

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On the Thursday morning of the Test with both England and Australia set to field unchanged sides, Glenn McGrath fell awkwardly over a cricket ball during a pre-match warm-up game of touch rugby. He was unable to play in the Test match so Michael Kasprowicz was drafted in to replace him. When it was time for the coin toss, Ricky Ponting called correctly and inserted England to bat. This was widely considered an odd decision due to the pitch being suited more to batting and with it being believed to be more conducive to spin towards the end of the match - conditions which would have most assisted Shane Warne.

Related Topics:
Glenn McGrath - Michael Kasprowicz - Ricky Ponting

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Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss got England off to a flying start with an opening stand of 112 before Strauss was bowled by Shane Warne for 48. Trescothick, Michael Vaughan and Ian Bell all lost their wickets within a few balls of each other leaving England on 187/4 with Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen at the crease. They managed a 103 run partnership before Flintoff was out for 68. England finished the day 407 all out, with the run rate at more than 4 an over. The innings produced by Andrew Flintoff in conjunction with Pietersen was made all the more remarkable by the fact that just before lunch when the partnership had just begun, he appeared to have injured his shoulder and had played very carefully in the run-up to lunch. After lunch had been taken this injury still was affecting his batting but over time its effects wore off and he was able to play his natural game.

Related Topics:
Marcus Trescothick - Andrew Strauss - Michael Vaughan - Ian Bell - Andrew Flintoff - Kevin Pietersen

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Australia's reply began poorly when Matthew Hayden was caught off Matthew Hoggard's first ball of the innings, and this initial set-back lead to a comparatively poor first innings total of 308 runs; 99 in arrears. the wickets were taken by Flintoff (3), Giles (3), S Jones (2) and Hoggard (1).

Related Topics:
Matthew Hayden - Matthew Hoggard

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England's second innings was not going very well - they were 131/9 - when Simon Jones came in to bat with Andrew Flintoff still at the crease. Flintoff had managed 38 runs by this point but had managed to get used to the conditions and the bowling of the Australians. As England had only one wicket remaining, Flintoff attacked more shots and they put on 51 runs before Flintoff was bowled going for a big hit. Flintoff provided 39 of these runs, finishing on 73. He hit 4 sixes in this innings, to go with his 5 from the first. This broke the previous record of sixes in an Ashes match of 6 by Ian Botham.

Related Topics:
Simon Jones - Ian Botham

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Australia were set 282 for victory, a total which had never been made before in the 4th innings at Edgbaston. This innings began on the afternoon of only the third day's play, providing an indication of the pace at which the match had been played. Initially Australia were very comfortable until Vaughan brought on Flintoff to bowl. Flintoff took Justin Langer's wicket with his second ball (having been on a hat-trick with his first from the first innings), before taking Ricky Ponting's wicket with his 5th ball to him (this opening over was a 7 ball over due to a no-ball bowled to Ponting). Flintoff had managed to harness and utilise superbly reverse swing of the 12 over old ball. This caused no end of problems for the Australian batsmen and Ricky ponting in particular had very little chance against the bolwing. Steve Harmison managed to bowl Michael Clarke with a slower ball before stumps, thus exposing the tail and leaving Australia 175/8 - 107 runs from victory. On the Sunday morning, Shane Warne and Brett Lee took to the field and were initially able to get a lot of runs, quickly, due in part to England's attacking fields and the batsmen's mindset. Shane Warne was dismissed hit wicket when the score stood at 220 - still 62 runs from victory. Michael Kasprowicz and Brett Lee produced an exhilirating display to take Australia to within 2 runs of victory before the final wicket was taken - Kasprowicz bowled Harmison, caught G Jones. Immediately Flintoff went to commiserate Brett Lee - 43 NO - on his incredible effort that ultimately came to nothing.

Related Topics:
Justin Langer - Reverse swing - Steve Harmison - Michael Clarke - Brett Lee

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The entire match was played at breathtaking pace and had exciting batting, records, great spirit and great bowling. England levelled the series at 1-1 with this result and took the momentum into the 3rd Test at Old Trafford the following Thursday.

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