![\"Ben](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1753778772_15_0_England-v-India-4th-Rothesay-Test-Match-Day-Five.jpg\")
Ben Stokes’ England lead India 2-1 with one Test to go(Image: Popperfoto via Getty Images)<\/p>\nEXCLUSIVE: England head to The Oval this week knowing they will win the series against India if they avoid defeat in the fifth Test, just like against Australia in 2005<\/p>\n
18:29, 28 Jul 2025Updated 18:33, 28 Jul 2025<\/p>\n
Ben Stokes’ England lead India 2-1 with one Test to go(Image: Popperfoto via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Ashes legend Matthew Hoggard now runs a barbecue school – and after landing the holy grill in 2005 he says England must cook up a storm this week.<\/p>\n
Going to The Oval 2-1 up in a gripping marquee series? Hoggard has been there and done that 20 years ago as Michael Vaughan\u2019s heroes recaptured the urn in a seismic summer when cricket<\/a> was the only show in town.<\/p>\n Now England are in the same boat after a tetchy, thrilling win at Lord\u2019s and a sour finish to the stalemate at Old Trafford as Ben Stokes<\/a> fed two Indian batters joke bowling to bring up their centuries when they refused to shake hands on the draw earlier. And Hoggard was thrilled the class of 2005 was namechecked by Joe Root<\/a> as one of his inspirations growing up after Yorkshire\u2019s batting royalty unfurled his 38th Test century at the weekend.<\/p>\n Hoggy, who took 248 wickets in 67 Tests, said: \u201cListening to Joe being interviewed, after he had just become the second-greatest run scorer of all time in Test cricket, saying he had been inspired by the Ashes winners of 2005 was music to my ears. That\u2019s why we play cricket – to leave a legacy, and leave something behind to inspire younger generations, still gives you goosebumps.<\/p>\n READ MORE: England captain Ben Stokes points finger at India after refusal to shake hands<\/a>READ MORE: England star’s X-rated seven-word fury speaks volumes after India disappointment<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI think back to 2005 with 10,000 people being turned away from the final day at Old Trafford, people bunking off work or school to watch the finale at The Oval and, yes, it was the best of times.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I look at footage of the open-top bus parade to Trafalgar Square, and none of us look sober, in the social media age we would probably have been crucified but I genuinely can\u2019t remember anyone giving us any stick. We went round the Prime Minister\u2019s house a bit worse for wear, went to Trafalgar Square for the parade a bit bleary-eyed and went back to Lord\u2019s for a reception in a state of disrepair – but nobody minded because we were winners.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoggard hopes Stokes\u2019 side will turn up cooking on the front burner on Thursday after a nerve-jangling climax in 2005 was only settled by Kevin Pietersen\u2019s audacious 158 on the final afternoon.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had gone 2-1 up at Trent Bridge in an unbearably tense finish when I was hiding under towels and trembling in the physio\u2019s room, unable to watch as the wickets fell as we chased 129 to win,\u201d Hoggard who is now working as one of the UK\u2019s leading Motivational Speakers<\/a>, told Mirror Sport.<\/p>\n \u201cBut when it was my turn to bat, with 13 runs still needed and Brett Lee\u2019s bowling 95mph rockets, you switch on and it gets easier – because you\u2019re the one who is empowered to take charge and get the job done.<\/p>\n \u201cLee was either trying to kill me or york me, but when he got one wrong and I managed to send it to the extra cover boundary I think Vaughany (captain Michael Vaughan) nearly fell off the balcony. I\u2019m not sure he\u2019d ever seen me hit an extra cover drive before.<\/p>\n \u201cAs Ashley Giles, who hit the winning runs, and I walked off, he said, \u2018Enjoy the moment, we\u2019re kings for the night.\u2019 He was right – our pace attack was called the Fab Four but it was really a fab five because Gilo was the forgotten man of that bowling unit. He was immense.<\/p>\n \u201cBut when we got to The Oval for the final Test, the nerves took over again. The night before I was out for dinner with my wife and I was so uptight I called for the bill and walked out. My head was all over the place, I\u2019m afraid I was a bit of a t**t.\u201d<\/p>\n England\u2019s pace attack was detained in the field 143 overs as they chased victory in vain at Old Trafford, and Hoggard warned: \u201cIt\u2019s going to be survival of the fittest and it reminds me of 2005. You can\u2019t go to The Oval and play for a draw because you\u2019ll come unstuck if the mentality isn\u2019t right.<\/p>\n \u201cIn an ideal world<\/a> we bat first, go big and put India under pressure to match us or go past us. England have more gears in the batting line-up than India, especially if they are going to be without Rishabh Pant.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been hard graft for bowlers on both sides, but we score quicker than India and if they have to put their foot down to chase the game, that\u2019s when The Oval can be a tricky customer.\u201d<\/p>\n For more information visit https:\/\/champions-speakers.co.uk<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Join our new WhatsApp community <\/a>and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: England head to The Oval this week knowing they will win the series against India if they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300761,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4101],"tags":[111208,92886,43331,48604,111209,1406,7618,111207,66284,63432,63036,79354,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-300760","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-2005-ashes-series","9":"tag-ashley-giles","10":"tag-ben-stokes","11":"tag-brendon-mccullum","12":"tag-brett-lee","13":"tag-cricket","14":"tag-england-cricket-team","15":"tag-england-v-india-cricket","16":"tag-joe-root","17":"tag-kevin-pietersen","18":"tag-matthew-hoggard","19":"tag-michael-vaughan","20":"tag-sports","21":"tag-uk","22":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114935653111431090","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"NOTTINGHAM,](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_GettyImages-53466097.jpg\")
Matthew Hoggard helped England win the Ashes in 2005(Image: Tom Shaw\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"England](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_England-v-Australia-Cricket-2005.jpg\")
Ashley Giles and Matthew Hoggard led England to victory in the fourth Test of the 2005 Ashes(Image: Daily Mirror)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_England-v-India-3rd-Womens-Vitality-IT20.jpg\")
The Oval will host the final Test of the series between England and India(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n