2005 English Cricket Season - August

August

August began with the Australian tourists completing a draw against Worcestershire in a three-day tour match, while Sussex Sharks kept up their good National League run with a win over Somerset Sabres, their seventh win in succession. Six matches in the Championship started on 3 August, with Kent, Sussex, Warwickshire and Hampshire recording victories. In Division Two, Lancashire used their victory at Grace Road in Leicestershire to exploit a rare slip-up from Durham and grab 16 points in the title-battle, closing the gap to 18 with a game in hand.

However, the Championship matches came in the background due to the second Ashes Test, where England took on Australia at Edgbaston Cricket Ground for the second Test of the five-match series. England carried a 0–1 series deficit into Edgbaston, and after three days of cricket England led by 106 with two Australian wickets left to grab. Shane Warne, Brett Lee (Australia's top-scorer with 43 not out) and Michael Kasprowicz cut 104 of those runs off the target, but Kasprowicz gloved Steve Harmison behind to Geraint Jones, to leave England 2-run winners and the series tied at one-all.

The English youth team were the first English representative team to record a Test victory this summer, however, beating Sri Lanka by 220 runs in an Under-19 Test two days before England seniors defeated Australia. On 6 August, Essex Eagles took control of Division One of the National League after eking out a four-run win over Middlesex Crusaders, and three days later the second Under-19 Test and the first women's Test began – the first ended in an England win, almost as convincing as the first Test, while Arran Brindle scored a maiden Test century to save the draw for England Women. The Ashes battle recommenced on 11 August, and after two English centuries – 166 from Michael Vaughan and a second-innings 106 from Andrew Strauss – Ricky Ponting played a rearguard 156 to save the draw.

There were also matches in the Championship during the Test – rain played a major part, however, and four of seven matches ended in draws, including the top of the table battle in Division One between Kent and Hampshire. Kent gained two bonus points over Hampshire, however, and now led by 17 points. Another National League round on 15 August saw the table-toppers in Division 1, Essex Eagles, fell to 122 and a 60-run loss against Gloucestershire Gladiators, while Sussex Sharks suffered their second successive loss in Division Two. England's youth team also completed their series, whitewashing Sri Lanka with a 173-run win in the final Test.

The following day, five Championship matches began, including a drawn Roses match between Lancashire and Yorkshire, while Sussex went top of Division One after beating Middlesex inside two days. 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 19 August and 21 August, winning the first after bowling England out for 128 to go 2–0 up in the series, but losing the second by a two-run margin. There were also a total of ten National League matches from 21 August to 24 August – three were rained off, while the 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, 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 chased 129 to win with seven wickets down 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 in her only innings).

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, though with second-placed Durham Dynamos having two games in hand. The County Championship also moved towards its 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 winless streak when they finished three runs short of a winning total against Durham, and had to settle for a draw; runners-up Lancashire lost further ground in the title battle through a 285-run defeat at the hands of Northamptonshire.