England's overlooked 2005 Ashes win: 'Everyone thought we were the Wags'

England's women observe their Ashes occurrence during an open-top autobus circuit of London

It is precocious summer, 2005. Eleven English cricketers are putting the finishing touches to a Test bid triumph implicit their oldest enemy, Australia.

The travel towards becoming the fig one-ranked Test squad successful the satellite begins with this narrowest of bid wins, arsenic conscionable 1 Test triumph separates the sides.

Andrew Flintoff, Kevin Pietersen and Steve Harmison taking down arguably Australia's top broadside featuring Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Ricky Ponting?

Wrong.

A fewer weeks earlier England's men sealed their archetypal Ashes triumph successful 19 years - an iconic infinitesimal revisited successful caller BBC Sport documentary How to Win the Ashes - England's women ended their ain 42-year hold for a Test bid triumph against Australia.

Unlike the men, however, their triumph was a footnote - some astatine the clip and mostly since.

Claire Connor (right) talks with chap skipper Michael Vaughan (centre) and past Prime Minister Tony Blair astatine a Downing Street drinks reception

The 'Forgotten Ashes' heroes of 2005 were not treated arsenic stone stars similar their antheral counterparts. They surely weren't handed MBEs en masse similar the men's team. In fact, skipper Clare Connor was the lone subordinate of the squad to person royal designation with a CBE.

They did person an invitation to the open-top autobus celebratory circuit of London. However, they were down the men's squad successful each way.

"We got to thrust connected a autobus astir London. Our autobus was down and everyone thought we were the Wags (wives and girlfriends)," gait bowler Katherine Sciver-Brunt remembers.

Aged conscionable 20, Sciver-Brunt was the subordinate of the series. She took 14 wickets crossed the 2 Tests and scored a captious 52 successful the second-Test triumph astatine Worcester which yet sealed a first Ashes bid win since 1963.

"If I did what I did past successful this summer's Ashes, I'd person had a woody with Nike, a Kookaburra declaration and 1 of the highest-paid IPL contracts," she says.

"As it was, Slazenger gave maine 50% disconnected their kit. And each we got for winning truly was a precocious five.

"There is simply a spot of choler for a batch of us. A batch of radical were ignorant and it wasn't celebrated successful the mode it should person been."

Some of that ignorance was, unavoidably, wrong Sciver-Brunt's ain family.

"I had a Nokia 5210 and would beryllium ringing my dada to archer him the people with immoderate recognition I had astatine that time," she says.

"Or I would nonstop an email to his enactment to fto him know. There was nary different sum oregon mode for him to cognize what was happening."

Those texts would person made for pugnacious speechmaking astatine the commencement of the summer.

Australia were agelong established arsenic the champion successful the world.

They were the World Cup holders and, conscionable arsenic successful the men's game, the years of Australian dominance had scarred immoderate of the much established members of the England side.

As Clare Connor admits, 1995 to 2005 was "an incredibly pugnacious decennary for England against Australia".

Australia's supremacy seemed acceptable to proceed during the archetypal fractional of the archetypal Test astatine Hove. In the archetypal innings, contempt being reduced to 191-8, Australia scored 355, acknowledgment mostly to 81 not retired from Shelley Nitschke.

"Cathryn Fitzpatrick was the champion successful the satellite astatine that clip and the fastest bowler ever," Sciver-Brunt says. "She was relentless - and evil.

"They had 2 world-class spinners and truthful overmuch extent successful their batting. Nitschke came successful astatine fig 10 successful the archetypal Test and she opened the batting for her state."

England looked to beryllium staring down the tube of decision astatine 14-3 successful the 2nd innings, but a backs-to-the-wall 100 from 23-year-old Arran Brindle secured a gully and hinted astatine a burgeoning belief, particularly among the younger players.

"For truthful agelong Australia had dominated, but we had got a glimpse of getting adjacent to Australia 3 months earlier that astatine the 2005 World Cup semi-final successful South Africa (Australia won by 5 wickets), wherever we felt we could overturn them," seamer Isa Guha says.

"That content was starting to ferment."

Sciver-Brunt didn't fearfulness Australia - oregon anything, for that matter.

"I didn't person immoderate fearfulness astatine all. I had been successful the broadside for a twelvemonth and had recovered my feet," she says.

"I didn't person the scars everyone other had astir playing against Australia.

"I besides had a idiosyncratic superpower - I had none of the intelligence nonsense and worries that I had successful the remainder of my vocation backmost then. It was the 1 and lone clip I didn't consciousness burdened."

The load of past was a dense one, but the tide was turning.

Jo Watts, Jenny Gunn, and Isa Guha observe England's two-run triumph implicit Australia successful the one-day gathering astatine Stratford-upon-Avon

Between the archetypal and 2nd Tests, England claimed their first one-day triumph implicit Australia successful 12 years. It came aft 19 consecutive defeats, a losing tally which stretched backmost to the 1993 World Cup. It was besides the archetypal clip Connor had beaten England's arch rivals.

"It was a occurrence occurrence - we were acting similar we'd won the World Cup," Sciver-Brunt says.

Less than a week aboriginal England did it again - successful the 2nd and last Test of the series.

Victory came successful nary tiny portion acknowledgment to Sciver-Brunt, who took 9 wickets and shared a important 10th-wicket basal of 85 with Guha.

England had won the Women's Ashes for the archetypal clip successful 42 years. It was the archetypal clip Australia had mislaid a Test successful 21 years.

England won 3 of the adjacent 5 Ashes bid aft their landmark 2005 success

"I've ne'er seen a squad detonate with truthful overmuch alleviation and shared joyousness erstwhile we won there," Connor said successful 2015.

"We jumped up and down similar children connected the dressing country balcony and past charged connected to the transportation together. Without doubt, it was 1 of the champion days of my life."

The property sum surely didn't lucifer the team's celebrations.

Sciver-Brunt remembers being beside herself to spot conscionable her lucifer figures of 9-111 scroll crossed the bottommost of the surface of a BBC News report.

Physical mementoes of their glorious summertime are beauteous overmuch non-existent.

"The memories are successful my caput only," she says. "I person astir 3 photos to my sanction of that summer, and I'm lone successful 1 of them. It's truly sad."

One indelible representation was the Trafalgar Square celebrations, wherever thousands of radical turned retired successful London to observe England's Ashes success.

How Sciver-Brunt and Guha framework those images, though, is difficult.

"We saw the men's squad the mode the nationalist saw them, arsenic our heroes," Scriver-Brunt says. "So getting to person a portion with them astatine times - it was wild, we thought we were stone stars.

"It was similar being backstage for america astatine a monolithic gig similar Coldplay oregon Justin Bieber, oregon Foo Fighters for me.

"But astatine the aforesaid time, again some past and reflecting connected it now, determination was a much complicated, nuanced feeling - a feeling of being patronised that didn't beryllium good successful 2005 oregon astir 20 years later."

Guha says: "We'd had a cognition of america for specified a agelong clip that we were 2nd to the men's team.

"There was a genuine feeling of gratefulness to beryllium there. On my travel successful the crippled that's evidently changed arsenic we've tried to strive for equity successful cricket and sport."

Sciver-Brunt is much blunt. "2023 is drastically different," she says. "Every Ashes crippled volition extremity up being sold retired this summertime and they are playing astatine grounds similar the The Oval, Edgbaston and Lord's.

"We were astatine places similar Worcester, which we were truly pleased astir astatine the clip due to the fact that it was a measurement up from Scarborough.

"We had to deterioration our truly naff suits astatine the solemnisation - they were feral.

"And past adjacent connected the transportation erstwhile we played we wore the men's Test kits - we drowned successful them.

"We ever shared rooms. If idiosyncratic made you stock a country present you'd footwear off."

England's women airs with the Ashes trophy successful their "feral" suits astatine beverage during the men's 5th Test astatine the Oval

England's triumph kicked disconnected a transformative travel for the women's game, connected and disconnected the field.

Four years aft their 2005 Ashes triumph they topped the satellite rankings aft an unthinkable 2009 which saw them clasp the Ashes, triumph the World Cup successful Australia and the World Twenty20.

England's bid triumph mightiness person played 2nd fiddle successful 2005, but the bid has a batch to beryllium credited for successful the maturation of the women's game.

Earlier this twelvemonth Sciver-Brunt saw her woman and England team-mate Nat Sciver-Brunt became 1 of Britain's highest-paid sportswomen erstwhile she was auctioned for £320,000 successful the inaugural Women's Premier League.

Inevitably, specified a maturation successful imaginable earning power, coming successful conscionable arsenic Sciver-Brunt herself is preparing for planetary status successful May, has its frustrations.

Ultimately, the 'Forgotten Ashes' volition ne'er beryllium immoderate specified happening for Brunt and her team-mates.

"Sometimes I wonderment what it would beryllium similar if I had started my vocation now," she says. "But you can't truly dwell connected that.

"The 2005 Ashes was 1 of my apical 3 cricketing memories crossed my full vocation and 1 I ne'er truly managed to replicate.

"When has it ever been 42 years since you were capable to bushed someone? The likelihood were truly against us. The longer hold made it adjacent better."

England's men's squad pb the mode arsenic they and England's women squad parade astir Lord's