England Can Take Solace From 2005 Comeback

Peter Hayter suggests England skipper Joe Root cast his mind back 12 years in order to get his team back on track in the Ashes at Lord’s this week

- Peter Hayter

There has been much talk, following England’s dismantling in the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston, of the need for them to summon up the spirit of 2005.

Some might suggest a stray ball on the outfield might do the trick just as well, provided Steve Smith manages to locate it with the same unerring accuracy and ultimately devastating effect as what followed when Glenn McGrath trod on one an hour before the start of play in the second Test of that extraordinary series.

Assuming that kind of cosmic intervention does not come into play next week at Lord’s, however, other memories of how England turned round the greatest Ashes series might come in handy as Joe Root’s side prepare to contest a match many observers believe they simply cannot afford to lose if they wish to avoid being rolled by Australia from there to the September Oval shadows.

Granted, McGrath’s misfortune was not the only slice of outrageous fortune that came England’s way back then.

Add to it the decision by Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting to field first after winning the toss, thus enabling England to go after an attack without the bowler they rightly considered even more of the threat in home conditions than Shane Warne, and the fact that umpire Billy Bowden erroneously gave out last man Michael Kasprowicz to seal the series changing two-run victory and it is clear God was an England supporter during the period in question.

The key to England actually winning the match was that the players were ready, in heart, mind and soul, to take the chances that landed in their lap; they must be ready now too.