Shoutbox

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.

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We won Australlia t'was a great match.

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