Echoes

This article has been posted at Cricbuzz and at Ten Sports.

It had the echoes of 2005, but they were faint and far-off, being reflected only in the identical scoreline of 2-1. The Ashes 2009 couldn't match the quality and drama on display in 2005, but then the series four years ago couldn't match the sheer unpredictability of this one. Not a single Test match went the way the pundits had predicted. 'Momentum' is possibly the most used and abused word in the cricket lexicon today, and it was conspicuous by its absence. Instead, in a physics-defying series, the side that appeared to have the upper hand in the preceding Test, always came up short in the next one. Australia won Cardiff on all but paper, England then broke free of history at Lord's. Defying the script of the series, England carried their form to Edgbaston, where rain and Michael Clarke took Australia to safety. Australia then detonated England at Headingly, only to implode at the Oval.

The yo-yo could have been the official emblem of the series.

Here's a look back at the series, Test by Test.

1. Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
Monty Panesar came into the Test match with the following batting statistics to his name:
1. Batting average - 5.30
2. Average number of balls faced per innings - 12.5
As the fifth day of the opening Test played out, you could almost hear the old-time English fans resigning themselves to another sixteen Ashes-less years. After all, the script was being played out as it so often has in the past - England opened well, Australia then responded with characteristic ruthlessness, and as the Test was concluding, the Australian bowlers were cleaning out the English batsmen. However, in the most impressive punching-above-the-weight performance of the Ashes, Monty scored 7 runs, survived for a precious 35 balls, and echoing namesake Monty Python (in Monty Python and the Holy Grail) seemed to take the attitude that "None shall pass" - none of the Australian bowlers pass his defensive blade that is. The Test was saved, and that was to remain Monty's most significant contribution for the rest of the series.

2. Killing the past, and coming back to life
Andrew Strauss made 161, Alistair Cook made 95, James Anderson took 4 for 55 to trigger Australia's collapse in the first innings, and Michael Clarke played a flawless innings under pressure in the fourth innings - but the headlines all belonged to one man who took 5 wickets in an innings for just the third time in his career. Trust Freddie Flintoff to first turn the spotlight on himself and then step up and deliver a performance worthy of it. The statistics say that Flintoff was not a great of the game, and they don't lie. But his ability to lift his team and the fans, and inspire by sheer presence is second to none. He also has the knack - in common with great sportspersons - of choosing the most apt stage to deliver his chef-d'oeuvre. Thus decades of English misery at the home of cricket were buried under the giant weight of Flintoff's boots, and England finally tasted victory at Lord's over Australia.

3. The cloud bursts thunder in your ears
Rain robbed the Ashes of what promised to be a fascinating Test match. England dominated it for the most part, but Michael Clarke conjured his second masterpiece of the series, to ensure that if England had the time to mount a fourth innings chase, it would have been far from easy. With Australia ahead by 263 runs with 5 second innings wickets intact, the odds actually favoured Australia more than England. However, even more ominous for England than their inability to get past Clarke's defences, was the troublesome knee of Andrew Flintoff. After his Lord's heroics and his Edgbaston hobble, Flintoff may have been reminded of the lines:

For long you live and high you fly
But only if you ride the tide
And balanced on the biggest wave
You race towards an early grave.

4. How I wish you were here
England's nightmare came to pass, as Andrew Strauss must have been left wishing for the services of Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen - none of whom featured in the annihilation at Headingly. In spite of Andy Flower's brave words of England being able to win the Ashes without their two superstars, the only match of the series in which both were injured saw England crash and burn. To complete their cup of woe, both Aussie bowlers who had struggled on tour until then - Siddle and Johnson - picked up fifers. With the return to form of their strike bowlers, and the continuing runs from the batsmen, no critic gave England a hope of a chance in the deciding Test.

5. We'll bask in the shadow of yesterday's triumph
Cometh the hour, cometh the man - England found its new set of heroes and the Australian knights lost some of the sheen from their armour. This Test will go down in history as a landmark event - it not only saw England win an Ashes decider for the first time, but also ended Australia's hegemony at the top of the world rankings. The English selectors did a spectacular job in ignoring the media, and backing their judgment of Jonathan Trott as the next-in-line batsman, and were rewarded for it. And when it seemed, just for a moment, that Australia might pull off the improbable, that man Andrew Flintoff sealed it for England by a pin-point throw. England's lynch-pin had taken out Australia's, and with the departure of Ricky Ponting, the series momentum shifted for the last time, and stayed with England.

It was a series that will be remembered for the unexpected grace that Ponting displayed - being booed at all the grounds, but not losing his composure; for the emergence of Andrew Strauss as the unquestioned leader of England; for the downfall of the once-mighty Aussies to human plains; and for the magnetic persona and sheer joy that Andrew Flintoff exuded and awoke, wearing England whites for the last time.