Cricket: England regain Ashes in the Oval sunshine

August 24, 2009

England has beaten Australia to win the 2009 Ashes series having won the fifth test by 197 runs at The Oval in Kennington, London.

Having previously won in 2005, England and Australia were level going in to the final test—and after a poor start on Friday morning, England looked to be in trouble.

However, England managed to bowl Australia out for 160 in the first innings, and on returning to the crease, Australia needed 542 runs in their second innings to secure victory—an unprecedented total for a final test, which indeed proved to be out of reach.

Celebrations this time round are expected to be lower-key compared to 2005; however, the crowd were in good spirits leaving the ground yesterday afternoon, having seen England's Andrew Flintoff play his final Test for the team.

Captain Andrew Strauss said "It's a special moment for us, we had to dig deep in a very hard series. It has not sunk in yet" in a post-match interview with former England captain Michael Atherton.

The victory is in stark contrast to the previous competition in Australia in 2007, where England were beaten 5–0 in the series.

Australia will next have the opportunity to regain the Ashes in 2011 in Australia.