England regain Ashes as Pietersen defies Warne

LONDON (Reuters) - Kevin Pietersen defied his close friend Shane Warne to score an outrageous maiden test century at The Oval and seal England's first Ashes triumph for almost two decades on Monday.

Pietersen broke Australian hearts as he brushed off three dropped catches, one before he had even scored, to score 158 and ensure a draw on the last day of the weather-affected fifth and final test.

That gave the home team a 2-1 series win.

Six runs ahead after the first innings and resuming their second on 34 for one, England recovered from a top-order collapse to bat out almost the entire day before being dismissed for 335.

The world champions, who had been hoping to set up a run chase in the final session, were left to face less than an over from Steve Harmison, getting to four without loss before accepting both the light and their historic defeat.

The South Africa-born Pietersen was eighth man out, bowled by a Glenn McGrath leg-cutter, but by then he had saved the game.

England cricket fans sing during the last day of the fifth test in the Ashes series in London
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He hit seven sixes and 15 fours, faced 187 balls and batted for four and three-quarter hours, helping to put on 60 for the sixth wicket with Paul Collingwood and 109 for the seventh with Ashley Giles.

Warne produced a mammoth, exhausting performance to take six wickets for 124 to go with his six for 122 in the first innings, but did not get enough support from his team mates.

England's Pietersen is congratulated by Australia's Warne after scoring 158 on the final day of the fifth test of the Ashes series in London
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England battled back after losing the opening test at Lord's by 229 runs. They last won the Ashes in 1986-87, Australia winning a record eight series in a row since.

EVENING SHADOWS

England's Pietersen celebrates his century during the final day of the fifth test of the Ashes series in London
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When Pietersen was finally dismissed, Warne ran over to him to shake his hand as he headed for the pavilion in the evening shadows.

Australia, hoping to set up a run chase in the final session to retain the Ashes, had to bow to the inevitable.

England's Pietersen jumps to avoid a delivery from Australia's Lee on the final day of the fifth test of the Ashes series at The Oval cricket ground i
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Michael Vaughan's side had looked to be tottering towards defeat at lunch as the collective genius of Warne and McGrath reduced them to 127 for five.

Pietersen, however, in his first test series for his adopted country, mixed his unlikely good fortune with extraordinary leg-side shot-making.

England's Pietersen celebrates scoreing a century during the final day of the fifth test of the Ashes series in London
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Refusing to rein back, his audacity during the afternoon had the anxiety-ridden 23,000 capacity crowd singing again.

For Warne, Pietersen's friend and Hampshire team mate and who dropped the easiest chance he offered when on 15, there were few consolations, just a few additions to the record books.

Australia's Warne celebrates after dismissing England's Collingwood on the final day of the fifth test of the Ashes series at The Oval cricket ground
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In his last test in England and one day short of his 36th birthday, the leg spinner completed 40 wickets for the series and 172 in all against his favourite opponents, surpassing the previous Australian record of 167 by Dennis Lillee.

What can I say, its about time
But in all fairness, we did have this one in the bag from before the game...the odds were already in our favour, I would have been supprised if the Aussies won. Now I'm waiting for all the POHM flaming that will be coming from the members from the land of teh XXXX!

Well done to us, we deserve it, and well done to the Austrailian team too. Their team was good, and they also take defeat very well, and are very fair sportsmen. (well, their team is, at least. )

wewt we finally got it , These ashes have been great to watch, and england played incredibly well .
Although i think warne and magrath (sp?) deserve alot of respect for their bowling for the ausies.

Someone's been reading too much Douglas Adams

All credit to England: the team did look a bit shakey at the start of the second innings, but they outplayed the Aussies overall.

And that is why Cricket should be our national sport, not football (soccer).

I watched nearly all of the series and watched this last match in my free periods at school. It was definitely a great series. I'm glad we won after such a long time, but i really thought we had thrown it away this morning when Flintoff went out. I'm really glad he got the man of the series award because he was amazing throughout the series.

Actually I wanted Vaughaun to declare at about 4 o'clock to try & win the match but it was not to be. Yesterday was the funniest day of the whole series with people paying £60 & hoping not to see any play at all. It's about time we won we really deserved it. And all I can say about Pietersen is what must the South African board of selectors be thinking?

ooo i forget to find out lool i hate sport but i was interested in this

England stands second in test ratings with 119 points  with only Ausies ahead of them

I hat cricket, but i <3 love england we RULE....

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Originally posted by Negro_Joe
I hat cricket, but i <3 love england we RULE....

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Climb as much as you want..but remember you have to come down

* shine remembers Calcutta Test

So next time the Aussies win will we (FINALLY) get to actually take home the Ashes? Or will it always stay in Pommy land?

Good game guys! About time you beat us!!!!!

TBH England didn't win it, Australia lost it no offence...

It took Hayden 10 innings to find out how to play and change his game

Warne made more runs than Martyn and Gilchrist (so why wasn't Martyn dropped?)

Ponting is an effing hopeless captain...i mean come on how many times did he stuff up in the series? It was deplauable.

It took the selectors how many one day internationals and test matches to drop Gillespie? how many? you tell me, because i lost count

Katitch only played one good innings for the entire series? So why wasn't he dropped?

It was unfortunate that Mcgrath was only fit for one test match (the first)

The only people who can hold their heads up high are Langer and Warne They were the only 2 who had their heads screwed on throughout the entire series

Now i'm not taking anything away from England, they had a great series. But come on, what i said above was rediculous. And even if it was the England coaching staff and the players who set up the strategies to get Australia out, why couldn't the Australian players figure out what they were doing and change their game?

I mean how many matches does it take for a player to be out of form and get dropped? :\ The selectors are weak

YEAH you are right. But remember every team/player/captain has to go through a bad patch.. you cant be no.1 everyday. Remember West Indies. They were like Aussies in late 70's.

Ausies are not using one of their main weapons now a days - 'Sledging' . That could make a difference.

Finally!

Bring Steve Waugh back as Coach @ Setve

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Originally posted by shine
YEAH you are right. But remember every team/player/captain has to go through a bad patch.

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Originally posted by shine
Ausies are not using one of their main weapons now a days - 'Sledging' . That could make a difference.

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quote:

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Originally posted by shine
Bring Steve Waugh back as Coach @ Setve

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i like cricket (who doesnt here??)
ours is a cricketing nation, India.
hope they start winning again.

YES OMG

Martyn has been dropped for the up coming Super Series Test (Australia Vs The World)

FINALLY they swing the axe

Hayden has also been put on notice =O

I don't know why Katich wasn't put on notice

Australia better find another quality fast bowler soon...because Tait and Lee just can't play in the same side together. ESPECIALLY the one dayers. Kasprowicz just doesn't cut the mustard and Gillespie is finished.

Bring back Warne for the one dayers Hogg sux ¬¬


Edit:

Hayden was dropped from the one day internationals and is playing the tests
Martyn was dropped from the tests and is playing the one day internationals

James Hopes (all rounder)
Nathan Bracken (Left Arm Around the wicket Fast Bowler)
Shane Watson (all arounder)
Stuart Macgill (leg spinner)
Brad Hodge (batsman)

Have all been added to the squad to take on The World. Alot of young talent in there, lets hope they show us their best

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Originally posted by beamykitty
Warne was the death of us ..~!loose morals..and sms's

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Yes Warnie is best (only in spinning dept. though and he can bat a bit too) But never did well with Indians

Had his debut aganist India and I remember he was hit out of the park by the Indians and He was dropped from the team. Then he came back with his unbelievable spinning magic. Donno why he never did well in India were every picth supports spin.

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Originally posted by beamykitty
249 runs and 40 wickets is his best ever but unfortunately it wasn't good enough at the end of the day~s~

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Originally posted by shine
Had his debut aganist India and I remember he was hit out of the park by the Indians and He was dropped from the team. Then he came back with his unbelievable spinning magic. Donno why he never did well in India were every picth supports spin.

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Right but no one in India Spins the ball as much as warnie does...but even warnie cannot spin the ball as much when he comes to Subcontinent (India/Pakistan/Srilanka)

JJ Just accept you lost we should have had a bet and i would have been rich! ances:

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Originally posted by shine
Right but no one in India Spins the ball as much as warnie does...but even warnie cannot spin the ball as much when he comes to Subcontinent (India/Pakistan/Srilanka)

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Originally posted by mwe99
JJ Just accept you lost we should have had a bet and i would have been rich! ances:

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Originally posted by beamykitty
I just dont Like shane warne...excuse my opinions~s~

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quote:

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Originally posted by beamykitty
Warne was the death of us ..~!loose morals..and sms's

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Originally posted by mwe99

JJ Just accept you lost we should have had a bet and i would have been rich! ances:

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where in mexico we dont play cricket, and tbh i dont understand it, i preffer polo than cricket

but congrants to the England team

lol stfu first time in 18 years haha Australia played crap but are the best in the world it was a well deserved win for england thogh good on them

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Originally posted by Chestah
Celebrate it while you can, there has been a reason why England hasn't one the ashes (cricket a sport THEY invented) for over a decade.. and thats because you guys suck at cricket

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Originally posted by Pipish
lol stfu first time in 18 years haha Australia played crap but are the best in the world it was a well deserved win for england thogh good on them

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hehe Ausies Played below par and England did a birdie ...if I would have like Golf

India is playing Zimbabwe right now ..are 247/4 after bowling out ZIM on 161   Gambir missed century by 3 runs and Dravid THE WALL is on 73 ..Player of the Year

Breaking Cricket News: Sachin Tendulkar will not be playing in next months Super Series against Australia

dammit...i wanna see all of the champs play together

I wonder who they'll replace him with...

Lucky other teams

Even I wanted him there in Super Six.. Blah Tennis Elbow ..What a bad way to sit out .. Poor  Sachin

One of only 2 series' that i would have left soccer for. Except the 1st test all others were nail bighters
Well done england

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Originally posted by Third Dimension
Breaking Cricket News: Sachin Tendulkar will not be playing in next months Super Series against Australia

dammit...i wanna see all of the champs play together

I wonder who they'll replace him with...

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Sheesh, you Aussies are sore losers... I remember in my first post on this thread, I congratulated your team for playing well, but you don't wanna congratulate us or our team for winning. Jeez.

Not trying to start an arguement btw.

Yeah, Warne isn't really the ideal Australian icon , but you weren't refferring to that you said "Warne was the death of us ..~!loose morals..and sms's". I really don't see how Warne's smses affected how we played, in my opinon Warney was the best player on the field .

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Originally posted by Tasha
Sheesh, you Aussies are sore losers... I remember in my first post on this thread, I congratulated your team for playing well, but you don't wanna congratulate us or our team for winning. Jeez.

Not trying to start an arguement btw.

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LOL, Aus lost cricket and tri nations and the bledisloe cup! this is great, im a kiwi living in aus, so much fun teasing them! finally some revenge. who sucks now

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Originally posted by Blair
LOL, Aus lost cricket and tri nations and the bledisloe cup! this is great, im a kiwi living in aus, so much fun teasing them! finally some revenge. who sucks now

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lol, aus has the least faith. everyone where i live thinks that aus is now shit, after losing for such a small amout of time... have some faith, mabye you'll start winning again in another 20 years

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Originally posted by Blair
lol, aus has the least faith. everyone where i live thinks that aus is now shit, after losing for such a small amout of time... have some faith, mabye you'll start winning again in another 20 years

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Jhon Anderton

Thats a typical Indian behaviour.

Sachin is a Great Player and will be a great player.. Both on and OFF the field (Unlike Shame Warne j/k No matter Warnie has a good behavior in field)  Sachin inspite of injuries that bothered him he played well for India. Just becasue he cannot play now, you should not kick him away..

Warne is 'God's gift to cricket' - Tendulkar : September 22, 2005

Shane Warne's genius has evoked high praise from Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar has praised Shane Warne by calling him `God's gift to cricket'. He has also predicted that Australia would retain their superpower status even after their current ageing crop of players retire. ......more........

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Originally posted by Blair
lol, aus has the least faith. everyone where i live thinks that aus is now shit, after losing for such a small amout of time... have some faith, mabye you'll start winning again in another 20 years

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Originally posted by Blair
LOL, Aus lost cricket and tri nations and the bledisloe cup! this is great, im a kiwi living in aus, so much fun teasing them! finally some revenge. who sucks now

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  Some one in NZ wheo really dont like the selectors!

the shirts refer to the fact that its shameful to play for australia...?

these losses will alow australia to freshen their teams... hopefully with new players emerging... look on the bright side

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Originally posted by shine
Jhon Anderton

Thats a typical Indian behaviour.

Sachin is a Great Player and will be a great player.. Both on and OFF the field (Unlike Shame Warne j/k No matter Warnie has a good behavior in field)  Sachin inspite of injuries that bothered him he played well for India. Just becasue he cannot play now, you should not kick him away..

Warne is 'God's gift to cricket' - Tendulkar : September 22, 2005

Shane Warne's genius has evoked high praise from Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar has praised Shane Warne by calling him `God's gift to cricket'. He has also predicted that Australia would retain their superpower status even after their current ageing crop of players retire. ......more........

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India white washed ZIm's 2-0

Phew! At last an away series win.. A whitewash after 19 years ( sheer coincidence thay need 19 run to win the match )