Thirteen One Day Internationals were played in England in 2005 - 10 in the NatWest Series between England, Bangladesh and Australia, and three between England and Australia in the NatWest Challenge immediately following the Series.
NatWest Series Group stage England v Bangladesh (16 June)
Amid rains at The Oval, Jon Lewis had a stunning ODI debut for the England cricket team against Bangladesh, removing Javed Omar and Mohammad Ashraful with successive deliveries before taking out Nafees Iqbal in a good opening spell. Admittedly, it was aided by cloudy skies, which gave Lewis plenty of swing - his main threat - but it was still a decent return for the debutant. Steve Harmison was his usual erratic self, going for nine off the first five balls of an over before removing Tushar Imran with a ball that was gloved onto the stumps just before the end of 15 overs, making it 57 for 4. Habibul Bashar, the highest averaging Bangladesh batsman, gloved a short ball from Harmison to a diving Geraint Jones, and he was on his way for 19 - Bangladesh now 72 for 5. Lewis actually bowled his ten overs straight, ending with three for 32, as the last over was just an exercise in defending from the visitors. Wicketkeeper Khaled Mashud was next to go, attempting a pull off a poor ball down the legside, for 1. However, a solid recovery from Aftab Ahmed and Mohammad Rafique slowly gave the Bangladeshis a chance, before rain intervened again after 30 overs.
Coming back from the rain break, Aftab and Rafique continued to smack the England bowlers, particularly Paul Collingwood, but eventually Rafique gave a chance to Harmison at long leg and the Bangladeshis were seven down for 152. And only a couple of overs later, Aftab was out in a close run-out decision, for 51. Khaled Mahmud then went for a golden duck, playing a poor shot to a short ball from Harmison, his fourth wicket of the day. However, Nazmul Hossain and Mashrafe Mortaza frustrated the English bowlers, with Darren Gough eventually ending the resistance as he got Nazmul for 6 to end the innings for 190. However, the Bangladeshis offered no resistance in the bowling, as only Mortaza was hit for less than six an over. Marcus Trescothick hit his ninth One Day International century off just 76 balls, Andrew Strauss supplied with a level-headed 82, and ten extras added up to a total of 192. The winning runs - a four from Strauss - were hit inside 25 overs and with all ten wickets to spare. (Cricinfo scorecard)
Australia v Bangladesh (18 June)
Perhaps, the biggest upset in the history of limited overs cricket, Mashrafe Mortaza shocked the Sophia Gardens crowd when he had Adam Gilchrist plumb on the second ball of the second ODI, taking the first Australian wicket without a run yet on the scoreboard - and it was to set the tone of the match. Most people would have expected Australia to swamp Bangladesh, especially after the 10-wicket defeat the Bangladeshi Tigers endured in the opening match with England, but a maiden from Mortaza gave them some hope, at least. Things looked to be going the right way for Australia when Matthew Hayden took a boundary off Tapash Baisya, but another maiden followed, and in the sixth over Ricky Ponting padded up to Tapash Baisya - resulting in an lbw decision given, and Australia were - incredibly - 9 for 2. Cautious batting from Hayden and Damien Martyn followed, but some expensive bowling from Baisya relinquished the initiative, as Australia recovered somewhat. They survived through 15 overs, Hayden being caught off a no-ball from Tapash, but in the 16th, he was bowled by Nazmul Hossain for 37 off an inside edge, just as Hayden were looking to get himself in. Some economical bowling from Mohammad Rafique who bowled ten overs for 31 runs, along with excellent bowling from Mortaza at the death, resulted in Australia finishing on 249 for 5, losing Martyn to Baisya for 77 and Clarke to the same man for 54. In fact, Michael Hussey with 31 not out off 21 balls and Simon Katich with 36 not out off 23 ensured that they got a competitive target.
That was not all, however. The chase began very sedately, only Tushar Imran looking to take runs as he smashed Brad Hogg about, but Hogg got his revenge when Tushar was out for 24, lofting to Katich. Earlier, Nafees Iqbal had gone for 8, and with Javed Omar out as the third man to fall, for 19 off 51 balls, it looked to be business as usual for Bangladesh. But this match had more tricks up its sleeve. Hogg and Clarke leaked runs like a drain, six wides were bowled, and Mohammad Ashraful showed another glimpse of why he's been called Bangladesh's finest batsman. As he made the second ODI hundred in the Bangladesh team's history, he forged a massive 130-run partnership with Habibul Bashar, and had a great two hours at the crease (although dropped on 54) - before picking out Jason Gillespie at long on to be out for exactly 100. Bangladesh still needed 23 runs off 17 balls, but Aftab Ahmed continued his fine form from the Oval match with England, as he first took a leg bye off Ashraful, then gave the strike to Rafique, who smashed a cover driven four before taking another legbye. A four and a dot-ball finished a 10-run over, meaning that Bangladesh now needed only 13 off 12 balls. A good over from McGrath followed, as he conceded only six runs - including an edged four from Rafique. With the last over, Bangladesh needed seven runs, and Ahmed swung the first ball of the over to midwicket for six. Thus, it became a formality - Bangladesh won with four balls and five wickets to spare, almost convincing in today's cricket, and the result meant that the Aussies needed a victory over England at Bristol the following day to have any chance of winning the group stage. (Cricinfo scorecard)
England v Australia (19 June)
Ricky Ponting chose to bat when he won the toss for the visiting Australian cricket team in an extremely tense and see-sawing match at The County Ground, Bristol. It looked like a great decision when Jon Lewis and Darren Gough were smashed about early on, as Australia made their way to 57 for 0 after 11 overs with Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden taking sixes off Lewis over midwicket. However, with the entrance of Steve Harmison, everything changed. In his third over - the twelfth of the game, he removed Gilchrist with a bouncy ball that the batsman edged behind, then Ponting with a yorker that he didn't play at - resulting in lbw - then a dot ball, and then Martyn with a slog shot to Pietersen at third man. Australia tried to consolidate, but when Hayden tried to hit out off Harmison four overs later, Paul Collingwood jumped up to pick the ball out of the air with his right hand - a magnificent catch, and Australia had lost four wickets for six runs, reminiscent of their collapse in the Twenty20 match earlier on in the week.
Australia dug themselves out of the hole, however, Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey slowly accumulating to increase the rate. England clearly lacked a fifth-bowler, opting instead for Vikram Solanki to bat down the order, so they used a combination of Michael Vaughan, Solanki and Collingwood to get through their ten required overs. That let Australia off the hook, with Clarke and Hussey adding 105, before Jon Lewis - who had been taken to the cleaners earlier on - dug out Michael Clarke with an inside edge onto the stumps, taking the fifth wicket of the game at just the right time. Shane Watson accumulated well with Hussey, however, hitting six an over as Lewis was smashed about again, but Harmison got his revenge by completing his first five-wicket-haul in ODIs as Hussey was beaten by a slower ball - the first time Hussey had been dismissed in One-Day Internationals, for a batting average of 229. Then, Andrew Flintoff was brought back, getting a splendid yorker in for Watson, who was out for 25 just as the Aussies were preparing to hit out - the score 220 for 7 after 44.1 overs. Jason Gillespie and Brad Hogg survived a couple of overs from Flintoff and Harmison - meaning that Harmison finished with five for 33 off ten overs. Towards the end, Australia built up again, before losing Gillespie to a top edge, but 244 for 8 with seven balls remaining still looked difficult for England to chase. Gough dug out Michael Kasprowicz with a yorker with two balls to spare, and four legbyes ended the innings to take Australia to 252 for 9.
England started positively in reply, taking 39 off the first 34 legal deliveries (while Gillespie served up four wides and a no-ball in his first over), but Glenn McGrath took revenge by serving up a good yorker to have Marcus Trescothick bowled for 16. Two overs later, Andrew Strauss went in identical fashion, and Vaughan and Collingwood were forced to consolidate. They did, although in jerky fashion, Collingwood eventually falling to Kasprowicz and Flintoff mistiming a hit off Hogg to see England into a spot of bother at 119 for 4 after 27.2 overs, with Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen at the crease. Edges and runs followed, but when England lost Vaughan and Geraint Jones in quick succession, and were 93 short with only 74 deliveries left, it looked dark for England. Pietersen then upped the ante. Smashing runs to all corners, especially off Gillespie, he reached his fifty off 46 balls, and then took 19 more deliveries to bring up an additional 41 runs - although surviving an extremely close run-out decision near the 40th over. A level headed 7 not out from Lewis - making up somewhat for his bowling - ensured the English were home by three wickets and 15 deliveries - and the Australians had only managed two points from their first two matches, while England had gained 11. (Cricinfo scorecard)'
England v Bangladesh (21 June)
Michael Vaughan chose to bat first on a good batting wicket at Trent Bridge, as England looked to set a massive target and keep up their good form. After a bit of a shaky start, with Andrew Strauss being dropped, but Marcus Trescothick smashed boundaries to all corners as Bangladesh's bowlers were made to look distinctly ordinary. Trescothick made a 51-ball fifty, before taking Tapash apart in the 15th over, as England cruised to 128 for 0 after 15 overs. A couple of overs later, Nazmul Hossain made the breakthrough, a massive smash ending in Shahriar Nafees' hands, as Trescothick hit an entertaining 85.
The new batsman Vaughan looked shaky at the crease, and eventually finished with an eight-ball duck, giving an inside edge to Nazmul's bowling. Andrew Flintoff was next to fall, giving a catch off Aftab Ahmed to skipper Habibul Bashar for 17, but good recuperation from Strauss and Paul Collingwood kept the run rate well over six, and Strauss could hit a 100-ball century with a single off Rafique in the fortieth over, and with the next ball Collingwood hit his fifty with a boundary. After ten over, England were 270 for 3, and Strauss and Collingwood decided to have some fun. The next nine overs went for 116 runs, Nazmul getting Strauss with the second last ball of the innings for 152 - England's second highest ODI score, and their highest since 1983. Paul Collingwood made 112 not out as well - only his second ODI century - to propel England to 391 for 4, the second highest ODI score of all time.