The 2005 Ashes

The Ashes

The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is one of the most celebrated rivalries in international cricket and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues...

 Series in England saw the inauguration of the Compton-Miller medal for the Ashes Man of the Series award.

The award is named after two great cricketers - the batsman Denis Compton

Denis Compton

Denis Charles Scott Compton CBE was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches, and a footballer...

 of England and the all-rounder Keith Miller

Keith Miller

Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...

 of Australia. According to David Collier, chief executive of the ECB, "Denis Compton had the post-war status of a matinee idol – with a love of life and a love of living life to the full. It was an attitude he shared with Keith Miller and they became not only great rivals but also great friends."

The new medal was announced just before the First Test in 2005 Ashes series

2005 Ashes series

The 2005 Ashes series was that year's edition of the long-standing and storied cricket rivalry between England and Australia. Starting on 21 July 2005, England and Australia played five Tests, with the Ashes held by Australia as the most recent victors...

, with Miller's widow Marie Challman and Compton's son Richard representing the two men honoured in the award's title. The two captains for the series, Michael Vaughan

Michael Vaughan

Michael Paul Vaughan OBE is a retired cricketer who represented Yorkshire and England. A classically elegant right-handed batsman and occasional off-spinner, Vaughan was ranked one of the best batsmen in the world following the 2002/3 Ashes, in which he scored 633 runs, including three centuries...

 and Ricky Ponting

Ricky Ponting

Ricky Thomas Ponting , nicknamed Punter, is an Australian cricketer, a former captain of the Australian cricket team between 2004 and 2011 in Test cricket and 2002 and 2011 in One Day International cricket. He is a specialist right-handed batsman, slips and close catching fielder, as well as a very...

, were also present.

Recipients

• 2005
  2005 Ashes series
  The 2005 Ashes series was that year's edition of the long-standing and storied cricket rivalry between England and Australia. Starting on 21 July 2005, England and Australia played five Tests, with the Ashes held by Australia as the most recent victors...
  
  : Andrew Flintoff
  Andrew Flintoff
  Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff MBE is a former English cricketer who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club, England and the Indian Premier League team Chennai Super Kings. A tall fast bowler, batsman and slip fielder, Flintoff according to the ICC rankings was consistently rated amongst the top...
  
  , all-rounder for England (made 402 runs (including one century
  Century
  A century is one hundred consecutive years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages .-Start and end in the Gregorian Calendar:...
  
  ) at an average of 40.20 and took 24 wickets (including one five wicket haul) at an average of 27.29 for the series, and was awarded two man of the match
  Man of the match
  In sport, a Man of the Match or Player of the Game or Man of the Series award is given to the outstanding player, almost always the one who makes the most impact, in a particular match or series. The term was originally used more often in cricket before being adopted by other sports. This can be a...
  
   awards).
• 2006–07: Ricky Ponting
  Ricky Ponting
  Ricky Thomas Ponting , nicknamed Punter, is an Australian cricketer, a former captain of the Australian cricket team between 2004 and 2011 in Test cricket and 2002 and 2011 in One Day International cricket. He is a specialist right-handed batsman, slips and close catching fielder, as well as a very...
  
  , middle order batsman and captain for Australia (made 576 runs (including two centuries) at an average of 82.28 and was awarded two man of the match awards).
• 2009
  2009 Ashes series
  The 2009 Ashes series was that year's edition of the long-standing and storied cricket rivalry between England and Australia, and was part of the Australian cricket tour of England in 2009. Starting on 8 July 2009, England and Australia played five Tests, with England winning the series 2–1...
  
  : Andrew Strauss
  Andrew Strauss
  Andrew John Strauss, OBE is an English cricketer who plays county cricket for Middlesex County Cricket Club and is the captain of England's Test cricket team. A fluent left-handed opening batsman, Strauss favours scoring off the back foot, mostly playing cut and pull shots...
  
  , opening batsman and captain for England (made 474 runs (including one century) at an average of 52.66).
• 2010–11
  2010–11 Ashes series
  The 2010–11 Ashes series was played in Australia as part of the England cricket team's tour of Australia during the 2010–11 cricket season. Five Tests were played from 25 November 2010 to 7 January 2011...
  
  : Alastair Cook
  Alastair Cook
  Alastair Nathan Cook, MBE is an English international cricket player. He is a left-handed opening batsman who plays county cricket for Essex and International cricket for England, where he is their ODI captain. Cook played for Essex's Academy and made his debut for the first XI in 2003...
  
  , opening batsman for England (made 766 runs (including three centuries) at an average of 127.66 and was awarded two man of the match awards).

External references

• The Compton-Miller medal is born