During that period, Australia were the pre-eminent side in the world, while England had dropped from being the top-rated in 1981 to sixth for much of the 1990s, reaching a low point in 1999 with a series loss to New Zealand leaving them bottom of the unofficial Wisden Cricketers' Almanack rankings.

They started positively, riding some favourable umpiring decisions;[citation needed] Aleem Dar turned down four strong lbw appeals off Warne.

The psychological battles before the match included many Australian statements to the press about how the pitch "played into [their] hands",[19] that England had been "spending too much time talking",[20] and that their top order had been "taking bad options".

Although Warne produced an outstanding delivery to dismiss Strauss bowled for 48, to add to Australia's woes, Trescothick was caught off a no-ball on 32,[27] and eventually went on to make 90, being the second man out shortly after lunch, with the score 164/2 after 32.3 overs.

[34] England kept on the pressure, getting three more wickets before the scheduled close of play: Giles dismissed Katich and Gilchrist, and an in-swinging ball from Flintoff took care of Gillespie, who was trapped lbw.

Warne made inroads with the bat, just as at Edgbaston four days previously, but Clarke only managed to add seven runs before being deceived by a reverse-swinging delivery from Simon Jones.

Trescothick, Strauss and Bell all scored with a strike rate of over 63, and Geraint Jones added 27 runs off just 12 balls before England declared on 280/6 to give them a spell at Australia in the evening and a chance of winning the match the next day.

Michael Clarke provided stouter resistance in a cameo of 39 before a complete misjudgement led him to shoulder arms to a Simon Jones delivery which reverse-swung back into his off stump, sending it cartwheeling backwards.

This order change, however, did not work: Gillespie lasted just five balls before being trapped plumb lbw off Hoggard for a duck, leaving Australia 264/7, and England now needing just three wickets from the final 31 overs to win the match and go 2–1 up in the series.

Ponting battled on, passing 150, but having spent over seven hours at the crease in a single day, his concentration began to waver and he finally succumbed to Steve Harmison, strangled down the leg side for a remarkable innings of 156 that was good enough to earn him man of the match honours.

[45] Day 1 Glenn McGrath was once again ruled out because of injury, this time to his elbow, and Australia also dropped the out-of-form Jason Gillespie, leaving them with a seam attack of Brett Lee, debutant Shaun Tait and Michael Kasprowicz.

Boosted by no-balls from the seamers – a total of 18 before lunch – Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss scored runs quickly and easily, and enjoyed batting on a pitch which gave the bowlers no aid.

They recorded their second 100-run opening partnership of the series, before Strauss was freakishly dismissed for 35, sweeping Shane Warne onto his boot and into Matthew Hayden's waiting hands at slip – a wicket confirmed by the third umpire.

The next two wickets fell quickly, but a stubborn last-wicket partnership of 23 between Matthew Hoggard and Simon Jones – including an incident where the ball hit the stumps but the bails failed to fall off – saw England to 477 all out at tea.

Day 3 Katich and Gilchrist decided that attack was the best form of defence, adding 58 in only 8.5 overs in the morning, before England came back to take the next four wickets for the addition of only 18 runs, leaving Australia perilously placed at 175/9.

[citation needed] Australia began their second innings very positively; they safely reached 14 without loss before the lunch break, and then powered on in the afternoon session, adding 100 more runs before tea, and only losing Hayden for 26.

Although there was no legal stipulation against it, England's use of the substitute rule was met with criticism from several commentators, with many believing this tactic to be against the spirit of the game; however, in this particular case, Simon Jones was legitimately injured – indeed, this injury was one of many that would contribute to him never playing international cricket again – and so Pratt's presence on the field was entirely fair.

[47] Geraint Jones' dismissal by Warne for 3 left only three wickets remaining, and the tension was so great that every run at this point was met with an eruption of cheers from the Trent Bridge crowd.

Day 1 With the fate of the Ashes urn on the line, the proverbial first blood was drawn by England as Michael Vaughan won his third toss of the series (much to the delight of the partisan Oval crowd).

Paul Collingwood, making his first appearance in an England Test for two years, made just 7 before being trapped lbw by a Tait yorker, before Strauss was dismissed late in the day for 129 by Warne off an acrobatic catch by Simon Katich.

Hayden also achieved three-figure success later in the day – his first century for over a year, while Flintoff's hostile and accurate bowling was rewarded with the wicket of Ponting, caught at slip by Strauss.

Warne, however, atoned for his errors, producing huge amounts of spin to give Trescothick all sorts of problems before finally trapping him lbw for 33, and then had Flintoff caught and bowled just before the lunch interval, leaving England 133 runs ahead with five wickets remaining.

Pietersen, meanwhile, continued to have near misses, narrowly beating a Michael Clarke run-out throw and having a Brett Lee bouncer hit his glove and balloon over the entire slip cordon.

During the lunch break, Pietersen, who had been on the receiving end of some incredibly fast, aggressive short-pitched bowling from Lee before the interval, asked his captain Michael Vaughan how he should play the situation from here on in.

[citation needed] Pietersen took his captain at his word and proceeded to dispatch Lee to all parts of the ground, including launching him for two sixes over long leg and a baseball-like swat straight back past him for four.

Collingwood occupied the crease for over an hour before he was caught acrobatically at silly mid-off by Ponting for 10, but Jones was then bowled when he was deceived by a quick Shaun Tait delivery for just 1.

On the other end of the ledger, Australia's Prime Minister, John Howard (who was in New York for a UN summit and was given the bad news by an aide during a luncheon with the Asia Society) was gracious in his congratulations to England.

On 13 September, England, along with their Women's Ashes-winning counterparts, were feted with a 90-minute bus tour from Mansion House to Trafalgar Square, where they were greeted by tens of thousands of Londoners and cricket fans in a celebration of their momentous achievements (to the surprise of Matthew Hoggard, who expected "three men and a dog").

While the rest of the team simply enjoyed the sights, 5th Test Man-of-the-Match Kevin Pietersen sprayed champagne from the bus onto joyous revelers on the street, while wicketkeeper Geraint Jones held onto a Dalek doll with the words "Australians exterminated" attached to it.

"If we keep producing cricketers who are 25 plus, they're mature, they're ready to play, they've still got a seven or eight-year career, then we're doing OK." Ponting was confronted by a large media pack shortly after his arrival at Sydney Airport and said he was not aware of Lillee's comments.