Edgbaston 2005 Ashes: England Beat Australia by 2 Runs — Flintoff Man of the Match, Warne 6/46, Kasprowicz Last Wicket

England beat Australia by 2 runs in the 2nd Ashes Test at Edgbaston, Birmingham on 7 August 2005 — the narrowest winning margin in Ashes Test history. England scored 407 all out (first innings) and 182 all out (second innings); Australia scored 308 all out (first innings) and 279 all out chasing 282 (second innings). Andrew Flintoff won Man of the Match with 3/52 in Australia's first innings, 73 runs in England's second, and 4/79 in Australia's chase. Shane Warne took 6/46 in England's second innings — his best figures of the series. The last wicket fell when Steve Harmison hit Michael Kasprowicz on the glove; the ball looped to Geraint Jones who dived forward to take the catch. Michael Vaughan captained England; Ricky Ponting captained Australia — Ponting's decision to insert England to bat on winning the toss becoming one of the most-criticised captaincy calls in Ashes history.

Flintoff 3/52, 73 and 4/79: The All-Round Performance That Won England the Match

Andrew Flintoff's three-innings contribution across the Edgbaston Test — 3/52 in Australia's first innings (held to 308 while England's 407 gave a 99-run lead), 73 in England's second innings (the highest score in a 182 all-out collapse that set Australia 282 to win), and 4/79 in Australia's chase (Australia all out for 279, needing 282) — gave the Edgbaston Test its decisive all-round performance and Flintoff the Man of the Match award. Flintoff's 73 in England's second innings — scored as Warne's 6/46 was dismantling the England batting line-up, wickets falling around him — gave England the 100-run second-innings total above what would have been a chaseable target. The 73 made Australia's target 282 rather than the 180-200 that Warne's bowling had been reducing it towards. Flintoff's 4/79 in Australia's chase — combined with Steve Harmison's wickets to dismiss Australia for 279 — gave England the 2-run win by the narrowest of margins after Brett Lee (43*) and Kasprowicz (20) had taken Australia to within 3 runs of the target before the Jones catch ended the match.

Kasprowicz Glove, Jones Catch: The Last-Ball Controversy That Settled the 2-Run Win

Steve Harmison's delivery hitting Michael Kasprowicz on the glove — the ball looping down the leg side, Geraint Jones diving to his left and completing the catch — giving England the 2-run win contained an immediate controversy: TV replays suggested Kasprowicz's left hand had separated from the bat handle at the point of impact, which under the Laws of Cricket means the glove is not part of the bat and cannot give a dismissal. Umpire Billy Bowden raised his finger, the decision stood, and England won. The result was never formally challenged. Kasprowicz and Brett Lee had taken Australia from 220/9 (needing 62 off the last wicket pair, seemingly impossible) to 279 all out, reducing the deficit from 62 to 2 in a last-wicket partnership that nearly produced the most remarkable Ashes chase. Brett Lee's 43* — made while partnering Kasprowicz in the last-wicket stand — gave the losing Australia team the most individual lower-order batting contribution of the match without winning the result.

Edgbaston 2005 in Context

The Edgbaston 2005 Ashes Test — 4-7 August 2005 — came after England's drawn Lord's first Test and gave England a 1-0 Ashes lead for the first time since the 1997 series. Vaughan's England — Flintoff, Harmison, Simon Jones, Matthew Hoggard as the pace attack; Kevin Pietersen and Trescothick as the batting anchors — beat Ponting's Australia by 2 runs in a match that produced 1,176 runs across four innings with the final margin determined by the glove of a number-ten batter. The 2005 Ashes series — England winning 2-1, their first series win in 18 years over Australia — is one of the highest-profile Ashes series since the 1981 Botham series; the Edgbaston second Test is its defining match.