ECB Annual Report & Accounts 2006 - Roll of Honour

PICTURES
1 Andrew Flintoff with the Commonwealth Bank Series
trophy after England defeated Australia in the second
final in Sydney.
2 Alastair Cook drives during the third Test between
Australia and England at the WACA in Perth.
1
England Internationals
England began 2006 by rewriting the record books.
No England team had won a Test match in India for
twenty one years. And when Michael Vaughan, Marcus
Trescothick and Simon Jones were all forced to return
home early, the odds were stacked against them. But after
drawing the first Test in Nagpur where debutant Alastair
Cook made a maiden Test century, and losing the second
Test in Mohali, stand-in captain Andrew Flintoff led the
team to a famous victory in Mumbai which squared the
three-match series 1-1.
The team were unable to maintain the same high
standards in the one-day series – succumbing to a 5-1
defeat – their only victory coming in searing 45-degree
heat in Jamshedpur.
Sri Lanka proved to be much tougher opposition than had
been anticipated in the first half of the English summer.
Poor catching allowed the tourists to escape with a
draw in the first Test at Lord’s and although England won
comfortably at Edgbaston, Muttiah Muralitharan spun Sri
Lanka to victory at Trent Bridge.
batting collapse on the final day allowed Australia to
conjure an improbable victory and gain all-important
momentum which saw them win the next three Test
Matches and the series 5-0.
When England subsequently lost five of their first six
matches in the Commonwealth Bank Series, it was the
cue for an orgy of ‘pommie-bashing’ in the Australian
media. The criticism was premature. Paul Collingwood’s
century against New Zealand in Brisbane secured England
a place in the finals and the Durham batsman then made
scores of 120 not out and 70 to set up back-to-back
victories over Australia in the finals.
It was a significant achievement for the one-day squad.
No England team had won an ODI series abroad since the
Sharjah Trophy in 1997. England returned home with their
pride intact and left their hosts tasting defeat in a tri-series
final for the first time in 14 years.
2
With captain Andrew Flintoff subsequently ruled out for
the rest of the summer with an ankle injury, stand-in
captain Andrew Strauss had to endure a five-nil thrashing
at the hands of Sri Lanka in The NatWest Series. But
there was a remarkable turn-around in the team’s form
in the npower Test series against Pakistan. Ian Bell made
hundreds in three consecutive Test matches, Stephen
Harmison produced a vintage fast-bowling performance
at Old Trafford and Monty Panesar confirmed his growing
reputation as a spinner of genuine international class. Two
nil up with one to play then became a three-nil series win
after Pakistan forfeited the final Test at the Brit Oval.
England’s one-day form continued to oscillate. Two-nil
down in the NatWest Series against Pakistan, the team
recovered to level the series 2-2. Flintoff returned as
captain for the ICC Champions Trophy in India, but the
team were eliminated at the group stage, winning only one
match against West Indies.
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS 2006
14
Worse was to follow in the Ashes Series in Australia.
Comprehensively beaten in the first Test at Brisbane,
England were the better team for the first four days in the
second Test at Adelaide where Hoggard bowled superbly
and Paul Collingwood made the first double hundred by
an Englishman ‘down under’ for 70 years. But a disastrous