Ponting has been a true gentleman this series, won a lot of respect from me, fair play :)

Ponting always had respect from me from 4 years ago in that epic ashes series. This series was good but not as historic or iconic as the one 4 years ago.

I wonder how many of the Ashes team will get OBEs/MBEs in the next queen's honours list?

I doubt they'll get much handed out this year. Shame we won't be able to watch Freddie Flintoff stumbling out of a hotel onto a parade bus this year!:laugh3:

I just watched the highlights on 5. Excellent, especially Freddy's throw at the stumps to dismiss Ponting!:D

England's cricket heroes celebrate Ashes victory with a night of partying (although it's not QUITE as raucous as 2005)

 

 

By Arthur Martin

Last updated at 9:38 AM on 24th August 2009

 

 

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They were adamant they would not toast their Ashes victory quite so wildly as four years ago, but England's triumphant cricketers were never going to celebrate quietly.

Fittingly, Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff, the hero who dispatched Australian captain Ricky Ponting to turn around the final Test, led the team in an epic drinking session after last night's historic win.

As soon as the final wicket fell at the Oval late yesterday afternoon, the champagne corks began to pop and the drinking lasted well into the early hours.

 

 

Jubilant: England's cricketers head back to their hotel after winning the Ashes

 

 

 

 

Let's party: Graham Onions, left and, Paul Collingwood, right, head inside for a few more drinks

 

 

The players, their families and friends stayed at the London ground well after night fall as they tried to absorb the result.

They eventually headed back to their hotel at 11.30pm, still clutching a champagne bottle or two and looking a little the worse for wear.

 

Some were still wearing their cricket shoes and studs as they arrived back at the Grange City Hotel to a heroes welcome from fans.

 

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• 'Ashes coming home i reckon, im off to razzle': Lily Allen gives her verdict on the cricket
  
• As it happened - day four of the victorious Test from The Oval
  

 

Captain Andrew Strauss and Flintoff were among the group to stumble inside, singing Jerusalem which only hours earlier had resounded around the ground following their huge victory.

 

Flintoff, 31, who has now played his final test for England and faces yet another operation tomorrow, had to be helped out of his car as they pulled up.

 

The all-rounder was propped up by childhood friend and England colleague Steve Harmison who produced some magic of his own to help bring the Ashes home.

 

 

Leader of the pack: Andrew Flintoff loosening up his drinking arm moments after winning and right, arriving back at the team hotel several hours later where the party continued into the early hours

 

 

In the moments after the match ended, Flintoff had insisted he was aiming for a much quieter night and would celebrate by taking his wife Rachel - who had been at the match - out for dinner.

But shortly afterwards, he had already given up on this idea and admitted it would most definitely be service as usual - another marathon drinking session.

 

'I'm going to celebrate with a few drinks with the boys,' he said. 'I'll take my wife out for lunch tomorrow and see my family and by tomorrow night I'll probably be nil by mouth anyway. '

In fact, sources said none of the players ate dinner as they forgot all about food amid the jubilation of once again thrashing Australia.

 

Outside the hotel, Paul Collingwood said: 'It's been a brilliant day. We've drunk a lot and the Australians were cracking.'

Once inside, the party carried on in a private penthouse. Crates of vodka, beer and some Red Bull were spotted being carried upstairs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well done Daddy: Holly Flintoff enjoys a special moment with her father after the Ashes win

 

 

 

 

Must you, Dad? Flintoff gets a hug from his father Colin and right, Rocky Flintoff with mother Rachel

 

 

 

The last home Ashes win in 2005, where England beat Australia for the first time in 16 years, sparked wild all-night celebrations.

 

Flintoff then famously appeared for the open-top bus parade through London with distinctly red eyes and later turned up drunk for a Downing Street reception where one player urinated in the garden.

The team are keen to appear more circumspect this time round after what is now seen as a big overreaction and there will be no repeat of a parade.

Most of the players also now have to focus on the one-day series against Australia which starts in Belfast on Thursday.

A quick glance up to the stands yesterday proved that the players on the field were a few years older at least, if not any wiser.

Rather than one daughter, who he held aloft on the open-top bus in 2005, Flintoff now has three children: Holly, five, Corey, three, and Rocky, one, who were all there to watch.

The all-rounder's parents Colin and Susan were also looking on proudly. Once the win was in the bag, his father swept him up in a very public bear hug - much to the player's embarrassment.

'It's a real special moment,' said Flintoff, who crowned the day by running out Ponting with a stunning throw at the stumps. 'I was nearly in tears when I saw my Mum up there.'

 

 

Well done son! Andrew Flintoff gives his mum Susan a kiss as dad Colin and daugther Holly look on

The victorious England side doused each other in champagne after Strauss lifted the tiny Ashes trophy to the delight of the capacity crowd of 23,500.

 

Later, he gave his sons and wife Ruth their own personal look at the famous urn.

 

Meanwhile, Collingwood's two daughters Shannon, two, and Keira, one, busied themselves collecting the tickertape strewn on the grass as their proud father stretched out on the turf.

Fireworks had filled the sky as Jerusalem and Land of Hope and Glory were sung by most in the crowd and later the Queen sent her congratulations to the team.

 

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: 'The Queen congratulates the England team on their victory in The Ashes, and extends her good wishes to both teams on their excellent performances over the course of the series.'

Gordon Brown was said to be planning to write to the team but his wife beat him to it on Twitter, saying: 'Sarah Brown wishes Freddie Flintoff a successful knee op - one of the heroes of England's conquest to regain the Ashes today.'

 

A nappy event: Paul Collingwood with Shannon, left, and Keira after England's Ashes victory at the Oval

Holding the trophy: Andrew Strauss with sons Samuel and Luca, and wife Ruth

Meanwhile a forlorn Ricky Ponting, sporting a nasty cut to his lips caused by a fiercely struck ball, once again had to give up the Ashes on the same ground where he lost them four years ago.

'We're all disappointed, obviously, and I guess for me as the captain of the side it's even more disappointing,' he said.

 

'It's probably fair to say I've had a few disappointing times here. It's probably not my favourite ground in the world.'

Back in Australia, the mood was predictably sombre. The final ball of the England victory came shortly before three o'clock on a Sydney Monday morning.

The headline in the city's Morning Herald read: 'Strauss Waltzes Matilda.' The Melbourne Age said: 'Sackcloth for Australia - Ashes for England'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joyous: The victorious England team on the podium after winning the Ashes series 2-1

 

 

The triumph has produced a new England golden boy in Stuart Broad. The blond 23-year-old, named man of the match yesterday, is expected to earn a multi-million-pound fortune.

I'll drink to that: Man of the match Stuart Broad

 

And if he becomes the David Beckham of cricket, there is a budding Posh at his side in the attractive form of his girlfriend Kacey Barnfield.

The 21-year-old actress played the bullying Maddie Gilkes in the children's TV show Grange Hill.

 

Broad, whose father Chris helped England to the Ashes with three consecutive centuries during the 1986-87 series in Australia, counts a former Miss England amongst his ex-girlfriends.

 

PR consultant Max Clifford said the 6ft 6in cricketer, nicknamed Malfoy by team-mates for his resemblance to the character in the Harry Potter films, could find his earnings quadruple over the next year as he enjoys the kind of adulation afforded to Flintoff.

 

'Stuart Broad is emerging as Freddie is bowing out - it has all those romantic connotations,' said Clifford. The King is dead and a new one is rising.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1208484/England-hour-drinking-binge-crack-open-champagne-stunning-Ashes-victory.html#ixzz0P5XBZVQW

The Aussie cricket team is starting to finally falter. Some of the guys are too old and are losing it a bit IMO but nobody's replacing them for some retarded reason.

F**k off england, you just got lucky. Lucky that our selectors are massive DICKHEADS!!!!

Yeah, the selectors need a kick in the head. They're playing the same old faces every match and really those same old faces are losing it. I don't know why they keep doing it, it's happening very often now.

^Looks like we have some "whinging Possums" in da house!!:lol:

Oh goodness, I agree! Australians can't take a loss. I'm an Aussie, but I'm a die-hard England fan. They totally covered it up over here though. Quick mention on the news, then onto the weather. And everyone is trying to make up excuses here there and everywhere! "The pitch was dusty" "The selectors chose wrong"...blahblahblahblah YOU LOST!

 

If the pitch was so dusty, how does that effect Australia anymore than it did England?

Oh goodness, I agree! Australians can't take a loss. I'm an Aussie, but I'm a die-hard England fan. They totally covered it up over here though. Quick mention on the news, then onto the weather. And everyone is trying to make up excuses here there and everywhere! "The pitch was dusty" "The selectors chose wrong"...blahblahblahblah YOU LOST!

 

If the pitch was so dusty, how does that effect Australia anymore than it did England?

 

Exactly! The conditions are the same for everyone!!;)

Arguably the pivotal moment in the series was when your guys failed to get out one of our two last batsmen in Cardiff.

That was an unbelievable fail!!

Your? They're not mine. Consider me an ex-pat when it comes to cricket..

Your? They're not mine. Consider me an ex-pat when it comes to cricket..

 

Are you an emigrant then?:confused: