2006-07 Ashes Series

Lore & Background

Ricky Ponting found himself criticised by journalists on his captaincy and performances in the 2005 series during the run-up to the first Test. When questioned in a press conference on this subject, he said "We didn't perform the way we would have liked and probably I didn't score the runs I would have liked to during the Ashes ... It's important for us to move on, to move forward from that; that is me as a player, me as a captain and the rest of the team as well ... We have managed to do that very well, we've actually played better cricket as a result of that." Andrew Flintoff, England's captain, called the series "the reason we play ... we are going over there to play in what could be the biggest series ever so there is an excited group of lads ... it is going to be tough. We know that 2005 was something special and whether that can be recreated I am not quite sure ... in England each Test match got bigger and bigger and we got a real feeling of what the Ashes was about." The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper described the series as "the most anticipated Ashes series ever", and tickets were sold out within days of being available for all the games. Bookmakers were heavily favouring an Australian series victory, with best odds, as at 10 November, being listed on one site as Australia 1–3 to win, England 11–2 to win, and the draw 9–1.

Reader's Guide

Cricket Australia made the first tickets available on 1 June, selling only to the registered members of the Australian Cricket Family, who were able to register in the months before the ticket sale. 182,000 of 635,500 available tickets were sold on the first day and a number of buyers immediately put their tickets on eBay at inflated prices. Telephones and internet systems were delayed to such an extent that CA chief executive James Sutherland wrote a letter of apology to the Australian fans, but was still criticised by Brett Judd, the organiser of 1.5 million tickets for the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Judd called their approach "farcical". On 19 June, the remainder of the tickets went for sale to the general public and were sold out within two hours. Cricket Australia later cancelled 1,300 tickets, which they believed had been sold on eBay at inflated prices, as the tickets had "breached conditions of sale". On 29 December, Cricket Victoria had announced that an excess of 47,000 pre-purchased tickets for the fourth day of the Boxing Day Test were to be refunded, as a result of the Test reaching its conclusion on the third day. Despite the Test lasting only three days, bumper crowds over the duration of the Test ensured that sales had generated over A$8 million in takings.

Did You Know?

• Damien Martyn announced his retirement on 8 December 2006, a week before the third Test, not after the series.
• The official Player of the Series was not awarded for the 2006-07 Ashes; only individual Man of the Match awards were given per Test.