Coming off the back of a 7-1 ODI series thrashing of England, Australia hammered their commonwealth rivals in the semi-final by nine wickets. England, who had impressed themselves in the tournament by defeating Sri Lanka and South Africa, succumbed as Shane Watson and Ricky Ponting both hit centuries.

New Zealand, who had defeated Pakistan by five wickets in their semi-final, were skittled out for a paltry 200. Peter Siddle removed dangerman Brendan McCullum for a 14 ball duck, as a rejuvenated Brett Lee, who missed the Ashes tour through injury, took two scalps. Shane Watson again proved he is one of the world’s leading all-rounders, as he hit an unbeaten 106 to steer the Aussies to a six wicket victory. Despite a fiery 3-27 spell by Kyle Mills, Watson was given ample support by Cameron White, who hit 62.

In other cricket news, enigmatic English spinner Monty Panesar has signed with South African outfit Highveld Lions to try and reclaim his spot in the England set-up. Panesar, who has been criticised for his lack of guile and variation, only featured in one Ashes test match. He has since fallen behind Graeme Swann and Abdul Rashid in the pecking order. The 27 year old will be hard pressed to find turn on South African wickets that favour seamers. England all-rounder Paul Collingwood is a doubt for the Indian Premier League as he faces a scan on a buttock muscle injury, sustained in the defeat to Australia.

Australia resumed on 80-0 and needed a further 466 to produce a world record win. However with four wickets lost in just as many overs, England managed to regain the Ashes at the Oval, after losing 5-0 in Australia in 2007.
Andrew Flintoff, in his final 79th Test, managed to run out Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey. The injury scarred Flintoff’s critical moment came when he eliminated Ponting (66) from the series in mid-afternoon.
Australia had looked to threaten England and re-write the scripts during a 40-over period of superlative batting, however soon after Ponting’s departure it enabled England to attack effusively, ending a day of celebrations reminiscent of 2005.

In the actual Ashes game however, England had little to be please about. Their wicketkeeper Matt Prior, who’d suffered back-spasm scares in training before the game, along with Alastair Cook, were the only England players to reach double figures in an overall lackluster display. Andrew Strauss’ team were over and out for 102, with eight players leaving the field with catches from either Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin or the slip cordon. At the end of the game, Prior was the only batsman left standing on 37 runs, in a performance England was ousted in just 24 overs.
On the other side of the fence however, the Australian’s team had plenty to shout and drink about. Their high speed bowler Peter Siddle finished one of his best days ever, with five for 21, and recalled bowler Stuart Clark took three wickets justifying his selection in the team.

The Englishman is already admittedly ruled out of all three Ashes Tests in the current series, following his operation to fix his injury trouble. Pietersen, declining to set a date for his return, told reporters ‚ÄúI don’t want to put pressure on myself. As soon as you put tell people a date they work for that date. I want to give myself the best chance to recover. I am missing the Ashes, which is devastating, but there is nothing I can do. I want to give myself the best chance to recover 100% so the next four or five years of Test cricket are injury free."

The 29 year old, who has been using a range of treatments for his injuries woes, in order to avoid from invasive surgery, said "When the surgeon said I had to have surgery it was heartbreaking, I was really upset. But I tried everything and couldn’t do much more. I had injections at Cardiff and Lord’s. I really could not play properly. During the Lord’s Test match I was almost in tears, I literally could not walk. I could not do anything on my leg."
First troubled by ankle injuries after the West Indies Tour this year, the cricketer deplored at being unable to continue playing without surgery, as discomfort continued though to the first two tests against Australia this summer.

The South African born cricketer has also been under the limelight radar after susurrations emerged he may reject playing for England in the future, instead looking at playing abroad for more lucrative deals. Pietersen fiercely quashed such rumours however, saying "It’s definitely not going to happen for me, Test cricket is my everything. People need to realise that in order to get the big cheques you need to do something. To get these big cheques you have to play Test cricket and play it well. You have to have a reputation of being one of the best players in the world, you have to be an attacking player, a player with flair. The players who are pretty much the best players in Test cricket are the ones who are earning the big cash in the IPL. You have to make a name before you participate in such tournaments for such money."
Pietersen, born in South Africa, made his first-class debut for Natal before moving to England in 1997, voicing his reason as the South African racial quota system at the time. He currently excels as a right-handed batsman and off spin bowler at English club Hampshire County Cricket Club. He also captains the Indian Premier League team Royal Challengers Bangalore, thus the cricket pro is no stranger to moving elsewhere to find work.
Notably, Pietersen holds the record as the first person to bat over 1,000 and 2,000 runs in One Day International Cricket. He also has the highest average number of runs for any Englishman in 20 innings of One Day cricket.