POMS SHOULD MAKE SEPT 12 A HOLIDAY!

September 12. This hallowed date should be a national holiday considering the unforgettable events 15 years ago in Kennington.

- Tristan Lavalette

Probably no draw in history has been celebrated with so much gusto as the rain-hit fifth Ashes Test at the Oval. The roar from the terraces was deafening as England ended 16 years of Ashes misery by defeating an all-time great Australia team.

England were lauded nationwide like they had won the FIFA World Cup amid scenes of revelry in one of those rare moments when cricket truly captured the British public. It capped off a series for the ages highlighted by record television ratings on free-to-air television before the surging sport was shunted behind pay walls.

Perhaps the English summer of 2019 will become the gold standard for a new generation but – especially Test diehards – nothing quite rivals the never-ending insanity of 2005 that somehow lasted through five Tests.

Even for those hard-bitten Aussies, it’s hard to not get nostalgic even though the heart-wrenching images – Kasprowicz’s glove was not on the bat handle! – still haunt.

Cricket usually becomes invisible in the winter months in Australia but the 2005 Ashes was a major exception. The series gripped the nation to such an extent that it became an employer’s worst nightmare due to the number of bleary-eyed employees slumbering into work.

You have to feel for anyone currently aged under about 20 because the 2005 Ashes is an era-defining series much like the mythology swirling around the 1981 Ashes or the classic 1960-61 Australia-West Indies epic Down Under.