The World Cricket Tsunami Appeal was an effort by the International Cricket Council to raise funds to support the humanitarian relief efforts following the Indian Ocean tsunami of 26 December 2004. It was scheduled to be held over two games but was reduced to one due to an over-crowded international playing schedule and concerns for players' health playing in the April heat in Kolkata. The match was played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 10 January 2005.
Warwickshire County Cricket Club start 2005 as defending county champions and 11–4 favourites to retain their title. They play their totesport League cricket in Division Two. Warwickshire won the title in 2004 through their batting, and they have further enhanced it with the addition of Alex Loudon.
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club in 2005 are playing their cricket in Division One of both the County Championship and totesport League. They started the Championship at 18-1 to win it, and as one of the teams most likely to be relegated from it. So they were—only their five draws prevented them from finishing bottom, and they were the only team to lose to bottom-placed Glamorgan. By the end of August, they were relegated, with three games to spare. In the National League, they were never better than sixth at any time during the season, and lost three games in succession to be ninth before the final round of matches. They won their last match, but were still relegated due to a worse net run rate than Lancashire. They were thus the first club to suffer double relegation since Leicestershire in 2003. Their Twenty20 and C&G Trophy campaigns ended almost as early as they could have done—Gloucestershire did get past the first round of the C&G Trophy, beating Berkshire, but were knocked out by Surrey.
Essex County Cricket Club played their cricket during the 2005 season in Division Two of the County Championship and Division One of the Sunday League. They started the season 8–1 to win the Second Division Title, and were second in the Championship table at 9 May, but five matches without a win following that sent them down to fifth place at the Twenty20 break in June. They only intermittently broke into the top three after the Twenty20 break, and when they did their opponents behind them usually had a game in hand. They finished fifth, 15.5 points behind the promotion spot, and with 36 bowling points they picked up the fewest in the entire Division Two. In the National League, however, they only lost once in sixteen games – against Gloucestershire Gladiators in August – and won the League on 28 August with three games to play. In the C&G Trophy, they went out to Lancashire at the second round stage, while they finished fifth in the group stage of the Twenty20 Cup, two points off a guaranteed quarter-final spot.
Glamorgan County Cricket Club started their 2005 season as defending totesport League champions, but the 2005 season ended without a trophy – instead, they suffered relegation in the first class form. They played their first-class cricket in the First Division of the County Championship. They started the Championship season at 25–1 to win, and favourites to be relegated – which they eventually were, winning one of sixteen games in the Championship season to finish bottom – nearly 100 points behind the first team to avoid relegation. By the end of August, they had confirmed relegation with three games remaining. In the National League, they hovered around mid-table for most of the season, before a run of three unbeaten games at the end of August sent them out of the relegation zone, and they finished the season in fourth place. In the C&G Trophy, they were knocked out at the second round stage by eventual champions Hampshire, while the Twenty20 campaign saw them finish bottom of their group with two wins from eight matches.
Somerset County Cricket Club played in Division Two of both the County Championship and the Sunday League in 2005. Somerset started at 10-1 to finish Division Two County Champions. Batting seems strong with Smith, Jayasuriya, Blackwell and Trescothick. But the same cannot be said of the bowling, which will find it difficult to dismiss teams twice on the flat Taunton pitch.
The MCC University matches in 2005 are games played between the University Centre of Cricketing Excellence ("UCCEs") and first-class opposition. This is the first year the games are called "MCC" University matches, after the MCC announced a funding plan to support the development of student cricket.
Kent County Cricket Club in 2005 played their cricket in Division One of the County Championship and Division Two of the totesport League. They started the Championship at 11–2 to win it, behind Surrey and Warwickshire. Their first first-class game, however, was against the students of Cardiff UCCE. They fell to 104 for 6 before rain prevented any further play. They had little luck in their first Sunday League game, against Derbyshire, which was also abandoned through rain.
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club played their cricket in 2005 in Division One of both the County Championship and the totesport League. They started the season at 7-1 to win the title, and with a new captain, New Zealand's Stephen Fleming.
Durham County Cricket Club started the 2005 season with odds of 20-1 to win the Second Division of the County Championship, and in one-day cricket they started the season in Division Two of the National League. However, they were promoted in both competitions - in the County Championship, they finished second after an initial run of four wins and eight matches without defeat. They only lost two of 16 Championship matches, securing promotion a week before the end of the tournament. In the National League, they were promoted with two weeks to spare, and won their last five matches - yet finished two points behind Sussex Sharks, who had a similar run. The cup competitions gave them lower final placings, however - in the C&G Trophy, they were knocked out in the first round by Derbyshire, and without internationals Mike Hussey and Paul Collingwood, who played in the NatWest Series, they lost five of eight matches in the group stages in the Twenty20 Cup to finish fifth in the North Division.
Leicestershire County Cricket Club in 2005 are playing their cricket in Division Two of the County Championship and of the totesport League. They started the season as 25-1 outsiders to take the Division Two Championship title. These odds looked reasonable as they plummeted to an innings defeat in their first match, picking up only one point against Durham. They then lost their first totesport match, also against Durham, by 9 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis method.
Lancashire County Cricket Club played cricket in Division Two of the County Championship and Division One of the totesport League in the 2005 English cricket season. After their shock relegation last season, they were 11-10 favourites to win the Second Division of the Championship, and they managed this with seven wins and a total of 212 points. They also survived in Division One of the National League, beating Worcestershire Royals on the last matchday to stay up. Lancashire also qualified for the final of the Twenty20 Cup, but lost by seven wickets to Somerset Sabres.
Worcestershire County Cricket Club in 2005 played their County Championship games in Division Two and their totesport League games in Division One. Under their new captain, Vikram Solanki, they were tipped to go straight back up to the top flight of the County Championship, and started the season 9-2 second favourites to end up as Division Two champions.
The England cricket team toured Australia in 2002–03, playing a five -Test series for The Ashes and a number of tour matches against Australian domestic teams. They also played a triangular ODI series against Australia and Sri Lanka. The first Test of the series, at Brisbane, was the 800th Test match to be played by England.
The England cricket team toured Pakistan from October to December 2005. England were looking to maintain the form that had taken them to second place in the ICC Test Championship, and to victory in the 2005 Ashes series at home to Australia, but they suffered a sharp reversal of fortune, losing the test series 2-0 to Pakistan. Pakistan also won the one day series by 3 games to 2.
The English cricket team toured India during February, March and April 2006. The English cricket team was aspiring to maintain the form that took them to second place in the ICC Test Championship before their disastrous spell against Pakistan, and which helped win the 2005 Ashes series at home to Australia. This goal was substantially hindered by the usual stomach complaints which nearly always dog the English team in the opening weeks of Indian tours, and a recurrence of an injury to the captain Michael Vaughan; the swing bowler Simon Jones and the absence of Ashley Giles who missed the tour for an operation. As well as this, stand-in captain Marcus Trescothick flew home for "personal reasons", not wishing to divulge further, leaving Andrew Flintoff, who missed the birth of his son, to take on the title of skipper for the first time having to captain two maiden international cricketers on the English side: Alastair Cook and Monty Panesar as well as Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Piyush Chawla and Munaf Patel for the home team.
The West Indies cricket team toured Australia in October and November 2005 as part of the 2005–06 Australian cricket season. The West Indian cricket team will be looking to prove that they can perform against the number one rated side in the world. Australia on the other hand will be looking to build on their World XI performance and prove their Ashes critics wrong - and after winning the first two Tests by convincing margins, the Australians secured the series win to retain the Frank Worrell Trophy for the sixth time running. The West Indies were looking to avoid the series whitewash for the second consecutive time, and posted their highest total of the series in the first innings of the third Test, with Brian Lara making 226 to pass Allan Border as the all-time highest scorer in Test cricket.
The 2005 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy was the 4th Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy, an English county cricket tournament, held between 3 May and 3 September 2005. The competition was contested by all 18 first-class counties, as well as 10 minor counties and the national teams of Scotland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Denmark, to make up a full 32-team tournament. The final was won by the Hampshire Hawks, who beat the Warwickshire Bears by 18 runs at Lord's on 3 September 2005. This would be the final year that the competition was held as a knock-out only format and was also the final year to date in which the minor counties also participated. It would be the first year white balls and coloured clothing was used although red balls and white clothing were still used in the early stages in matches between first class counties and the minor counties.
