History of the England cricket team from 1945 Australia won the first Test at Lord's comfortably, but England came back to win the second Test at Edgbaston with a two run victory, the narrowest win by runs in Ashes history. The third Test ended in a draw, with one day having been lost to rain and England one wicket away from victory. England then narrowly won the fourth Test in Nottingham by three wickets after forcing the Australians to follow on. In the fifth and final Test at the Oval in London England came into the final day needing to avoid a defeat with a lead of 40
Test matches in England in 2005 for 3, with pundits reckoning the game would not reach the third day. On the second day, Ian Bell became the first Englishman to score 100 before lunch in a Test match for 70 years, the last one being Les Ames, as both Bell and Thorpe hit out ahead of the predicted lunchtime declaration, which happened with England on 447 for 3. What followed was what the series had been crying out for earlier: a spirited Bangladeshi performance with proper cricketing shots. Whilst some Bangladeshis did get out to wild shots, the senior players got behind the ball, selected which