There are often moments in sport where competitors shrug off their roles as rivals and indulge in gestures that show camaraderie exists behind all the competition. In 2005 one such incident took place, but the historic context applied to that moment, makes it all the more incredible.
Ashes is among the most heated and competitive series that is seen in cricket outside of maybe an India-Pakistan series, which unfortunately, has gone extinct over the past decade. The English and the Aussies have never liked each other. Maybe some of it has to do with Australia being used as the Kingdom’s private jail for decades in the history, but there are better articles you can read to delve more deeply into that. For us, it is enough to know that the English and Aussie fans do not get along and both sets of fans enjoy nothing more than an Ashes victory to boast of. The sentiment is quite common among the players as well, considering they are often fans of the same rivalry growing up.
In 2005, when Australia was visiting England for the Ashes, there was a sense of impending doom. Sure, the English talk was about new faces and all round abilities, but these were Aussies led by Ricky Ponting. The most successful captain of the Australian team (highest winning percentage as a captain in all of Int’l cricket), following in the previous most successful captain in Australian cricket history, in Steve Waugh. The last Ashes the English team had won was 18 years ago. That is a lot of Ashes and lots of misery. The Aussies were ranked 1 in the World and won the first game of the series. The talk around the series was somewhat along the lines of this hit number from Queen – Another One Bites the Dust
Game 2 of the series kicked off and with Aussies losing Glenn McGrath to injury before Day 1, this was the chance for the English team to fightback. And fight back they did. After 407 batting first, the English bowlers came hard at the Aussies and bowled them out for 308, giving the team a 99 run first innings lead. In the second innings, the English batsmen failed to handle Shane Warne’s music and folded for a mere 182 runs. But with the 99 run lead from the first innings in the boot, they looked pretty solid.
To help the matters, they sent 8 Aussie batsmen back to the pavilion with 107 runs still left to win. The only batsmen left for the Aussies were Shane Warne, Brett Lee and Michael Kasprowicz. None of them complete duds with the bat, but also not players you’d rely on in the 4th innings to get 100+ runs. However Warne and Brett Lee fought their way to a 45 run partnership before Warne was out hit-wicket (WHAT!!?). But Brett Lee formed another partnership with Kasprowicz that put English hearts in their mouths. They brought things up to the point where they needed just 2 runs to stave off a loss and pull a miracle that surely would’ve ended the series for the English.
But alas, it was not be, as Brett Lee who had fought on for so long, could only watch as a Kasprowicz was dismissed with the Aussies just 3 runs away from an extremely famous victory. A distraught Brett Lee was on his knees having given it his all, while the Englishmen ran around joyously having secured a famous victory over a team that had won 16 out of the last 20 games head to head against them.
The real moment of magic came at this point. Andrew Flintoff who had been a one-man miracle machine through all 4 innings, with a total of 143 runs and 7 wickets, instead of celebrating with his teammates, found his way to the middle of the pitch where Brett Lee was still on his knee, unable to come to terms with a loss that he was so close to converting into the most memorable of wins.
Flintoff pulled Brett Lee up. He consoled and congratulated him on the massive effort. He made sure the guy from the hated opponents team, felt the respect for his good work. Sports Psychologists would say this was a prime opportunity to show your dominance. In terms of margin of loss by runs, this ranks as the closest Ashes loss of all time and 2nd closest margin of loss in all of International Test Cricket. Nothing kills a team’s spirit like a close loss. And this was the closest of losses. And Andrew Flintoff was the golden boy in this win. He, more than anyone else, had a reason to be at the center of the wild celebrations. But instead he chose to head straight towards an opponent; because some times sportsmanship can overshadow sports, and Freddie Flintoff made that choice for himself.
Sport Microcosm 