Ladies and Gentlemen. Hello and welcome to the most biggest rivalry in the Cricketing world. England. Australia, what could ever be more exciting. The rest of the cricketing world is in pause this afternoon when the Cricket board announced the 2009 Ashes Series to get started under way on the 24th of June when the Aussies have a warm up match against Sussex.
The last time the Australians traveled to the England country, the Poms ran away with the Ashes Series in arguably one of the best Ashes displays everybody has seen. 2005 is when the Poms got justice back on the Australian's, but just a couple of years ago, the Australian's got the healthy comeback winning the Ashes Series 5-0 against the Poms in Australia, to get rid of some of their favorite sons of the game.
Justin Langer, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath all said their last Test horray's the last time the Australian's knocked off the Poms in a Test match, and here we are in England this year, to see if the Poms can get their justice back or if the Aussies will keep their dominance.
It has been a colorful relationship between these two sides, and the first time they walk out onto the park in Cardiff in the first test, the heat will build up and the tention will be on.
A lot of talk has already been raised about this up coming Ashes Series. All the talk of the squads, and what players would or wouldn't be joining their respective sides.
After 16 years of effortless Australian dominance, England finally regained the Ashes in one of the most thrilling series of all time. At Lord's in late-July, 17 wickets tumbled on a frenzied first day, but Australia emerged triumphant with a 239-run win. Ten days later at Edgbaston, however, McGrath trod on a stray cricket ball and the course of the summer had irrevocably changed. A thrilling match ensued, in which Flintoff and Warne emerged as the two kingpin performers. England won at the last gasp, by 2 runs, and carried their momentum onto Old Trafford , where 10,000 fans were turned away on the final morning as secured a draw with their last pair at the crease. A Flintoff century at Trent Bridge put England firmly on top, but Lee and Warne refused to give up the ghost, combining superbly as England lost seven wickets in their pursuit of 129. The win, however, meant that England needed only avoid defeat at The Oval. That didn't seem entirely likely as they slumped to 126 for 5 before lunch on the final day, but Kevin Pietersen cracked a blistering maiden Test century to put the result beyond doubt. Cue scenes of jubilation across a captivated nation.
Eighteen months on from the glory of 2005, England's cricketers were put emphatically back in their place, as Australia's ageing greats rallied for a curtain-call that doubled as a burial shroud for their battered opponents. England were routed 5-0, the first whitewash in Ashes cricket since 1920-21, as Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath put personal seals on more than a decade of Aussie hegemony. Justin Langer and Damien Martyn called time on their careers as well, after destroying an England team shorn of the leadership of Michael Vaughan. The decisive Test was the second at Adelaide, a match that is sure to rank as one of England's most painful of all time. A double-century for Paul Collingwood and 158 from Kevin Pietersen allowed England to declare on 551 for 6, whereupon seven back-breaking wickets from Matthew Hoggard secured a slender first-innings lead of 38. A draw, at the very least, was ensured. But then England crumbled to 129 on the final morning, and as Australia danced to an incredible eight-wicket win, the fire was extinguished in the bellies of Andrew Flintoff's men.
