Analysis

All summer long, Kevin Pietersen's cut a strangely subdued figure. Will England miss him for the next three Tests?

It must have been a heady feeling being the Indian captain on Friday at the Goodyear Park, Bloemfontein

England have waited 75 years to end a hoodoo that outlasts even the search for a homegrown Wimbledon champion, and they have taken the lead in an Ashes series for the first time since 1997. History and momentum suddenly feel aligned

Four years on from his greatest moments, Andrew Flintoff was at it again with a match-winning performance

Andrew Flintoff's first spell of the day showed how he should have bowled much more of the time

Four years he missed out on a hundred by nine runs, but this time Michael Clarke has put that right

He arrived with a huge reputation but Mitchell Johnson's performance at Lord's has left him under pressure for his place

After pushing the lead past 500 in the final session it was pleasing to see that Andrew Strauss wanted to declare

The Australia captain missed a run out, dropped a catch and has much to ponder

England's attack-leader showed the tourists how far he has come with a fine all-round display

The visitors carried on batting as though still in Cardiff, without realising different conditions needed a change in attitude and style

Ben Hilfenhaus bent the ball, toyed with batsmen and showed Australia they have a swing bowler they can start to depend on

Australia's raw attack struggled to cope with pressure of play at Lord's, but apart from Andrew Strauss England failed to make them pay

The left-arm quick arrived for the Ashes with a huge reputation, but is battling with technical and mental issues

The flawed reverse-sweep will not stop replaying in Younis Khan's head for a while. It will haunt

Perhaps one collapse in a Test had become boring, so Sri Lanka and Pakistan produced two here

This was not a day to ask questions. This was a day to believe, like Fawad Alam did

Defeat today might not have been as painful for England as a collective, given how little of the match they had actually commanded, but for Paul Collingwood personally it would have been a low without compare

The 2009 Ashes are officially alive. But though England will draw encouragement from their great escape, much more is needed from their marquee batsmen

A letter of apology to Nathan Hauritz from The Hauritzer Fan Club