With England currently 0-2 down in an Ashes series this post looks at sides who have started Ashes series badly and rebounded.
1894-5
This one did not quite come off, but England won the first two matches of the series, Australia won matches three and four, and England needed almost 300 in the final innings of the series. A magnificent 140 by Jack Brown was chiefly responsible for England winning by six wickets.
1911-12
England lost the opening match of this series partly because Johnny Douglas, captaining due to Pelham Warner being struck down by illness gave himself the new ball ahead of Syd Barnes. Subsequently Douglas visited Warner in hospital and Warner told Douglas that he must give the new ball to Barnes. Douglas listened, and England won all four of the remaining matches. Barnes took 34 wickets in the series and the other new ball bowler, Frank Foster a further 32.
1936-7
This is at the moment the only ever instance of a side coming from 0-2 down to win a five-match series. Don Bradman made huge scores in each of the last three test matches, the first of them after he had outwitted England skipper Gubby Allen. Allen declared with England a long way behind to get Australia back in on a spiteful pitch, Bradman countered by sending tail enders in to play and miss, and by the time Bradman emerged at number seven to join Jack Fingleton the pitch was playing easier, and this sixth wicket pairing of a regular opener and a regular number three put on 346 together to effectively seal the result.
1954-5
England were routed in Brisbane by an innings and 160 runs, and young fast bowler Frank Tyson was among the most severely punished of their bowlers when Australia responded to being inserted by Hutton by racking up 601-8 declared. Tyson reduced the length of his run after that match by way of an adaptation to Australian conditions, and he was virtually unstoppable for the rest of the series, as England won the second, third and fourth matches to retain the Ashes won in 1953, and then had the better of a rain ruined draw in the final match.
1981
England lost the series opener at Trent Bridge, the second match at Lord’s was drawn, and its aftermath Ian Botham resigned the England captaincy, just beating the selectors, who had also concluded that change was necessary, to the punch. In the third match of this six match series, at Headingley, Australia scored 401-9 declared, bowled England out for 174 and enforced the follow-on (it was vanishingly rare for captains who had the opportunity to do so to forego it in those days), and at low water mark England were 135-7, still 92 short of avoiding the innings defeat. Ian Botham and Graham Dilley then put on 117 in 80 minutes for the eighth wicket, Chris Old helped the ninth wicket to add a further 67, and even Bob Willis stayed while 37 more runs were accrued. That gave England a lead of 129. Ian Botham at this point had in order contributed 6-95 with the ball, 50 with the bat and then 149 not out with the bat. At first wickets were slow to come in the Australian second innings, but just before lunch on the final day Brearley put Willis on at the Kirkstall Lane end for a last chance to revive a test career that seemed over. In the run up to the interval Willis struck three times, removing Trevor Chappell to make it 56-2, and then Kim Hughes and Graham Yallop to catches by Botham and Gatting respectively with the score at 58. Suddenly, England had the momentum, and Australia had 40 minutes to stew over the realisation that the job might not be done just yet. It was Chris Old who struck first in the afternoon session, bowling Allan Border to make it 65-5. Then Dyson took on a short ball from Willis and gloved it through to keeper Bob Taylor to make it 68-6. Rod Marsh tried to go big against another short ball, and Dilley at deep fine leg did well to complete the catch and stay inside the boundary. That was 74-7, and one run later Geoff Lawson was caught behind. Lillee and Bright added 35 together in just four overs, before Lillee miscued a drive and Gatting took a diving catch to dismiss him. Chris Old dropped two chances at third slip off Botham, but Willis produced a perfect yorker to castle Bright and give England the win by 18 runs. Willis had 8-43 from 15.1 overs and his test career was back on track. There were moments at both Edgbaston and Old Trafford, the next two matches, when Australia seemed to have chances, but another fourth innings batting collapse cost them at Edgbaston, and a spectacular innings by Botham slammed the door on a potential recovery at Old Trafford, so in a few weeks England went from staring down the barrel of a 0-2 deficit after three matches to an unassailable 3-1 lead after five.
2005
England lost the series opener at Lord’s. At Edgbaston Glenn McGrath trod on a stray ball and crocked an ankle, Ricky Ponting refused to change his plan to bowl first even though he had just lost the man most likely to make such a plan work and had in his ranks the best fourth innings bowler in the world. Brett Lee and Michael Kasprowicz nearly saved Ponting’s blushes on the final day with a last wicket stand that took Australia to within touching distance of victory, but England won by two runs. The next match at Old Trafford was drawn with Australia nine down, and a recovered McGrath at the crease with Lee as Australia just hung on. They then made the mistake of allowing themselves to be seen celebrating having escaped with a draw. At Trent Bridge Simon Jones destroyed the Australian first innings with 6-53, enabling England to enforce the follow-on. Jones then suffered an injury which saw him sent to hospital for x-rays. Gary Pratt of Durham, not even sure of his place in his county first XI, stood in as substitute fielder, and produced a direct hit throw that ran out Ricky Ponting, who had an epic meltdown on his way back to the pavilion (for the record Jones, then in hospital, would as it happened never play for England again). England in the end needed 129 to take a 2-1 lead, and made very heavy weather of this target. Ashley Giles and Matthew Hoggard eventually saw England to a three-wicket win and a 2-1 lead in the series with one match to play. At The Oval there were several weather interventions, and it was Kevin Pietersen, whose debut had been in the first match of the series, who ensured that England would retain the Ashes, scoring 158 on the final day to leave Australia a chase that would have been impossible even had the weather not intervened once again.
PHOTOGRAPHS
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