The 2005 Ashes series has gone down as one of the greatest in history, with England winning back the urn for the first time since 1987.
After being thumped by 239 runs in the first Test at Lord's, England staged a memorable comeback to win the series 2-1. It was a series which truly captured the nation thanks to stunning performances from the likes of Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff, Kevin Pietersen and Shane Warne, coupled with the fact that it was broadcast on free-to-air TV and attracted a peak viewership of 8.3 million.
After regaining the Ashes, the celebrations were just as legendary as the on-field performances themselves with Flintoff and Matthew Hoggard getting into trouble at 10 Downing Street after an open-top bus tour and photo opportunity with then Prime Minister Tony Blair were organised for the day after the final Test finished.
Fast bowler Simon Jones took 18 wickets in the series before suffering an ankle injury in the fourth Test and never played for England again. "I wanted to go up to the Oval Test, but Fletch said come in on the second night, he didn't want any distractions," Jones told OnlineCricketBetting. "It was a genius move by him because he wanted to keep the boys focused on the job. I watched the last four days.
"Celebrations were heavy. I remember sitting down and felt this weight lifting. All the energy had gone. A lot of us were just sitting down deep in ourselves thinking 'We have actually done it, we have beaten these boys'. We did a lap of honour then went back into the dressing room.
"Then Phil Neale, the manager, came in. It was about 11pm. He said 'Right we have a bus tour in the morning and we are leaving at 9:30'. Vaughany was like 'You're having a laugh' and Phil said 'No'. Vaughan said 'No offence, but you're going to have to take us as you find us. These boys have worked their socks off for four months, now they are going to go wild. That's it. End of'."
And go wild they did, with Flintoff unsurprisingly at the heart of the celebrations after his superb all-round efforts. "Most of us didn't go to bed," Jones added. "You saw Fred coming out and he had a little stumble and we were on the bus.
"We thought no one was going to be watching, we are going to look like idiots. Then we started going on the route to Trafalgar Square and it was mind blowing. People were hanging out of their windows, up lamp posts. We were looking at each other in awe."
Fellow fast bowler Steve Harmison, meanwhile, said it was "not the best idea" to have the bus tour just one day after the final Test, but admits their antics probably helped the team "capture the nation a little bit more". He told OnlineCricketBetting : "We should never have gone on that bus trip. Nobody wanted to go on that bus trip. We really didn't.
"We just wanted to be left for two days in a hotel. Let's enjoy ourselves and then you could parade us whatever you want after that. But we needed to get out of our system and I think we captured the nation a little bit more. Going through Trafalgar Square was just a massive eye opener.
"They told us that we were going on a bus trip. There'll be nobody, just families. Then we saw so many people, It was ridiculous. I think that we knew we captured the nation, but we didn't realise how big it was. But some of us hadn't been to bed.
"There was a Lancastrian [Flintoff] who hadn't stopped drinking, he'd never stopped drinking. He just kept going and going until quarter to seven. I stopped for about an hour and managed to try and get some food and breakfast in, but nobody had been to sleep.
"It was great to be on that trip, that bus trip. We appreciated the public outpouring of gratitude and love for what we had given them and they had given us. But we could have done it 48 hours later because we didn't at that time, it wasn't the best idea."
Following the bus tour, the team visited 10 Downing Street to meet the Prime Minister and that was where things truly went off the rails. An iconic photo of Flintoff and captain Michael Vaughan looking worse for wear as the team posed on the outfield at Lord's had already been taken and another iconic snap was taken outside Downing Street as a bleary-eyed Flintoff and a dishevelled Pietersen, sporting a pair of sunglasses and a skunk haircut, arrived to meet with Blair.
"We had a few more beers and carried on," Jones added. "Then we headed to Number 10. Tony Blair was rubbing his hands thinking of the massive PR stunt. Then he saw us fall off the bus and must have thought 'Oh my God.'
"We got in and there was just orange juice and lemonades. Vaughan came over to the lady who was holding a tray. He said ‘Can you get some beers and wine please'. He turned and saw this young boy and said 'You, go and sort it out please'. It was [Blair's son] Euan! Fair play he did."
Once inside No 10, Flintoff ended up "holding a meeting" in the Prime Minister's chair and being told to "f*** off" by a security guard, before relieving himself in the garden. "I went in the house looking for a toilet but then started wandering around the house," he said during an appearance on the Australian version of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!.
"I found the Cabinet room, where all the meetings are. So I had a bottle of beer in my hand and I was sat in the Prime Minister's chair with my feet on the table, slurping beer and holding a meeting.
"The security guard came in and said: 'Alright Freddie, you've had your fun, now f*** off'. I didn't find the toilet, I actually p***ed in the garden." Hoggard, meanwhile, went one step further and called Blair a "k**bhead" during the visit.
"We got to 10 Downing Street, I was walking behind Vaughany, in front of Tony Blair, and Tony Blair asked what all the f***ing cameras wanted," Hoggard told the Barmy Army's The Shackles Are Off podcast. "He asked a stupid question so he got an answer appropriate to the stupidity of the question.
"I said, 'They want a photo, you k**bhead'. We were ushered back onto the bus fairly quickly. 'It's about time you all left'. So we did." On the way back to the team hotel the festivities finally caught up with Flintoff as he fell asleep, prompting Harmison to take advantage.
"[He] went to the front of the bus, pulled out a permanent maker, put 'C***' on his forehead, 'Ashes 05' on the cheek, 'T***' on the other cheek," Hoggard added. "He had to get off the bus at the other end with his jacket over his head.
"It was a mad 24, 48 hours afterwards, because we went out that night as well! We had about 48 hours on the p***. I'm surprised we got away with it, because we looked really bad, we acted inappropriately as well, but nobody cared."
