User:Sam Vimes/Sandbox9
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
See also: 2005 English cricket season
The period of the 2005 English cricket season between 16 and 31 August saw Essex Eagles clinch victory in the National League, England beat Australia to ensure at least a drawn Ashes series, while England Women completed a six-wicket victory over Australia to win the Women's Ashes for the first time since 1963.
The period started with County Championship games, however, with five matches beginning on 16 August. This included the Roses battle between Lancashire and Yorkshire, which ended in a draw to keep both sides behind Division Two leaders Durham, while Sussex spent two days in beating Middlesex by an innings and 232 runs to go top of the table - a point ahead of Nottinghamshire, and 1.5 points ahead of Kent - who defeated Bangladesh A by three wickets in a tour match at St Lawrence Ground.
On 18 August, Australia were scheduled to play Scotland in a match that was to be broadcast on BBC - however, the match was rained off, giving the Australians even less time to warm up. Two days later, they began a drawn two-day friendly game with Northamptonshire, on the same day as the C&G Trophy semi-finals. Warwickshire and Hampshire took convincing victories to reach the final. Meanwhile, in the Midlands, Australia's women played two ODIs with England on the 19th and 21st of August, winning the first after bowling England out for 128 to go 2ā0 up in the series, but losing the second by a two-run margin. There were also a total of 10 National League matches from the 21st to the 24th of August - three were rained off, while Sussex Sharks took a four-point lead in Division Two despite losing their first match with Leicestershire Foxes.
County Championship cricket began again on 24 August, with eight matches played in this period. Four were drawn, but Division One table-toppers Sussex fell to a 101-run defeat against Warwickshire as their Pakistani overseas player Rana Naved-ul-Hasan went wicketless in the first innings. Lancashire also recorded a win to go second in Division Two, just six points off leaders Durham with a game in hand. On the international stage, England and Australia began their battle for the Ashes once again on 25 August, where England eked out a three-wicket victory after earning a 259-run lead on first innings and becoming the first team to ask Australia to follow on in 17 years. The men's win got much more media coverage than the women's first Ashes victory since 1963, achieved through a six-wicket victory in the second and final Test inspired by the all-round efforts of Katherine Brunt (who took nine wickets and made 52 runs).
More National League games followed, with Essex Eagles securing the title thanks to a 12-run win over C&G Trophy finalists Hampshire Hawks, while Sussex Sharks ended the month with wins over Scottish Saltires and Surrey Lions to take a ten-point lead in Division Two, admittedly second-placed Durham Dynamos having two games in hand. The County Championship also began to reach a conclusion, with Nottinghamshire and Hampshire recording wins on the matches that started on 30 August to take the top two spots in the Division One table. In Division Two, Derbyshire came close to breaking their three-year winless streak when they finished three runs short of a winning total against Durham, but Lancashire couldn't exploit the failures of their title-competitors as they fell to a 285-run defeat at the hands of Northamptonshire.