June
The eighth round of the Championship saw Hampshire beat title rivals Nottinghamshire and Kent beat Gloucestershire, and then lose 8 points for the poor quality of the Maidstone pitch. The other First Division matches were draws, with Glamorgan avoiding defeat after following-on against Sussex. The Second Division saw four draws. Meanwhile, the students of Cambridge UCCE edged past Middlesex by 2 wickets. The Second Test against Bangladesh at Chester-le-Street was another one-sided affair. 5 wickets from Stephen Harmison, on his home ground, helped dismiss the Bangladeshis for 104. Trescothick's 151, Ian Bell's 162* and Graham Thorpe's 66* saw England to 447 for 3 declared. Although Bangladesh did better in their second innings, their 316 saw them lose by an innings and 27 runs.
After another totesport League round, the top division of the Championship continued with Kent thrashing Glamorgan, Warwickshire thrashing Gloucestershire and local rivals Surrey and Middlesex drawing. In the Second Division, Durham pulled away further at the top with another win, this time against Essex, with Worcestershire also scoring a win against Somerset. However, the main focus was on the warm-up games for the NatWest Series and the first ever Twenty20 International between England and Australia. The only surprise in the warm-ups was a welcome win for Bangladesh over Worcestershire, which provided a welcome confidence boost to the Bangladeshis before they took on England and Australia in the NatWest Series.
The Twenty20 International on 13 June saw England score 179 for 8, a total probably 20 above the par score at the Rose Bowl. The Australian innings was a dream for Darren Gough (3 wickets), Jon Lewis (4 wickets) and all Englishmen as the Aussies were reduced to 31 for 7. Ultimately they were dismissed for 79 – first blood to England by 100 runs. Lord's hosted a 50-over match between the next day as part of the World Cricket Tsunami Appeal to raise funds to help countries hit by the Indian Ocean tsunami of 26 December. An MCC side including Shaun Pollock, Sourav Ganguly and Stephen Fleming beat an International XI that included Brian Lara, Rahul Dravid, Shane Warne and Graeme Smith by 112 runs. Then on 15 June came another surprise – Australia were beaten in their final NatWest Series warm-up match by Somerset, or more specifically Graeme Smith and Sanath Jayasuriya, who put on 197 for Somerset's first wicket.
The first NatWest series match saw England easily defeat Bangladesh at the Oval by 10 wickets. The last County Championship round before the mid-season Twenty20 break saw Surrey beat Hampshire, Middlesex beat Glamorgan, Kent beat Warwickshire and Sussex and Nottinghamshire draw to leave Kent top, and Glamorgan bottom of the first division. In the second division, Lancashire beat Derbyshire, who remain bottom; Leicestershire beat second-placed Worcestershire; and leaders Durham drew with Northamptonshire. The last round of the totesport League before the break left Essex and Middlesex at the top of Division One, with Nottinghamshire and Gloucestershire propping them up. Durham held top place in Division Two, with Surrey languishing one place below Scotland at the bottom.
The second NatWest match on 18 June saw what many described as the biggest-ever upset in one-day cricket, and wild celebrations in Dhaka as Bangladesh restricted World Champions Australia to 249 for 5, before Mohammed Ashraful's 100 assisted the Bangladeshis in reaching their target with four balls and five wickets spare. With England scoring a narrow three wicket victory against Australia, the Aussies finished the weekend bottom of the NatWest table, with England well on top. 20 June saw the second tsunami appeal match of the season, this time a Twenty20 affair at the Oval. An Asian XI including Dravid, Muralitharan and Harbhajan Singh scored 157 in an innings finished with a hat-trick from Adam Hollioake. The total was easily surpassed with Greg Blewett's 91 meaning that Stephen Fleming's duck and Brian Lara's 9 could not prevent the International XI winning by 6 wickets with 11 balls left.
The fourth NatWest Series match saw normal service resumed, with England beating Bangladesh by 168 runs after the hosts put on 391 for 4, the second-highest score in ODIs. The 2005 Twenty20 Cup started on 22 June, again with large audiences, and with last year's winners, Leicestershire, and runners-up, Surrey, both scoring wins. The fifth ODI allowed Australia back in, with a comfortable 57 win against England. Any anticipation over the next Australia v Bangladesh tie was easily brushed aside by the Aussies, who struck out Bangladesh for 139, and then reached their target in 19 overs without losing a wicket. Bangladesh were eliminated from the Series in the seventh ODI, when England beat them by five wickets. The eighth match should have been a rehearsal for the final, and Australia's 261 for 9 set the stage well. But rain was always expected and the contest was rained off as a "no result" with England 37 for 1 off 6 overs in their reply. Bangladesh's tour of England ended with a creditable performance against Australia in the ninth ODI, although their 250 for 8 was ultimately overcome by the Aussie with six wickets and eleven balls left after they had wobbled earlier in the innings. At the same time, the Twenty20 Cup was continuing apace, and Oxford University (610 for 5 declared) beat Cambridge University (129 and 268), with Salil Oberoi's 247 gaining positive comment in his native India.
Read more about this topic: 2005 English Cricket Season