Michael Vaughan on 2005 Ashes thriller at Edgbaston and proving Geoffrey Boycott wrong

Michael Vaughan reflects on the 2005 Edgbaston thriller and proving Geoffrey Boycott wrong ahead of Sunday's Ashes Watchalong.

From Thursday through to Sunday on Sky Sports Cricket, we are replaying in full the famous Birmingham Test from 2005 - a game which England won by two runs to draw level in a series they would go on to take 2-1, as they regained the urn for the first time in 18 years.

Then-England captain Vaughan will join us for a special Watchalong of the closing stages of that Edgbaston cracker on Sunday, but below are his views on the Test as a whole, taken from a podcast he recorded with Sky Sports' Nasser Hussain, which you can listen to in the player above.

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England were 1-0 down in the five-match series after slumping to a 239-run defeat to Australia at Lord's - but two slices of fortune and an aggressive mindset meant they went on to make Boycott eat his words...

Vaughan said: "I basically said in a team chat [ahead of Edgbaston], when Glenn McGrath comes on, when Shane Warne comes on, take them on. As I walked out, [head coach] Duncan Fletcher said 'we could be 30 all out at this rate!' I said 'maybe, but you might as well have a pop'.

"You need luck and we had two massive elements of luck on that Thursday morning.

In the present you are not going to show much emotion. You are around your team-mates and are trying to be cool, trying to pretend these sorts of things happen all the time. Since then, and especially over the last couple of years, I realise it was a special, special series. A real iconic sporting moment for the whole country.

"First, McGrath stood on the ball. I have never seen an England team happier, never seen Marcus Trescothick smile so much. It was massive.

"Looking back to Lord's and what McGrath had done to our batting unit - knocked my off stump out the ground, Andrew Flintoff's, snuck off Tres again. Got Straussy [Andrew Strauss] out. He dislodged all the top order.

"So when you realise you are not going to have to face that bowler again that week, you get a boost and a bit of energy flying through you.

"Then, when Ricky Ponting called right at the toss, I thought 'Oh god', so when he said he'd have a bowl, I just grabbed his hand as quick as possible - but I didn't expect us to do what we did on that first day.

"I didn't expect us to score 400 in 80 overs. The way Strauss and Trescothick came out and took them on was remarkable - I think Tres put Warney into the stands twice in his first over. It was a good mindset to see.

"I remember being in the dressing room after day one and I could see the players suddenly started to believe.

"I went to the car park and as I got into my car, Geoffrey Boycott came up to me, with his hat on, and said, 'Aye, entertaining cricket that, but you won't win cricket matches batting like that!'

"On the Sunday, when it got to that tight situation, the Aussie crowd were singing in the stands and Simon Jones dropped a catch at third man, all I could think of was Boycott.

"I thought, 'he's going to come up to me and say, I told you' so when that wicket fell and I ran around like an idiot, I had that split moment thinking, 'I've proven Geoffrey Boycott wrong!'

"But it also sent a message to us. We got over the line but it showed how good a side Australia were.

"They had not had a good week and we had played probably as well as we could, played out of our skin, and yet we only won by two."

Listen to the podcast for Vaughan's full reflections on the 2005 Ashes series - and make sure you watch the re-run of the Edgbaston Test, including Sunday's Watchalong, on Sky Sports Cricket.