The Ashes: Ranking the 10 Best Innings in England vs. Australia History

The heat of an Ashes battle can make players wilt. Others, however, seem to relish the red-hot atmosphere of playing in a game between arch-rivals England against Australia.

Ahead of the start of the 2015 series, we have picked out the top 10 Ashes innings played on English soil.

We have tried to select a number of great knocks from each era, though it is obviously hard to ignore those that have happened in more recent times.

Considering the sheer dedication and focus that it takes to make a triple hundred, all four individual scores of 300 or more have been included.

There has also been an importance placed on the match situation, whether it be in a rearguard action to save the day or in helping their team get over the line.

Picking out just 10 great knocks is hard enough, but placing them in an order is even tougher. If you disagree strongly, argue your case in the comments section.

Twins Steve Waugh and Mark Waugh both scored centuries for Australia in the fifth and final Test of the 2001 series.

While Mark majestically eased his way to 120, older brother—by all of four minutes—Steve hobbled his way to 157 not out before declaring his side's innings at 641 for four.

The senior Waugh should not really have been playing at all, as he had been stretchered off the field after tearing a calf muscle in the third Test.

He missed the following match at Headingley, having to sit and watch on as England won.

However, his determination to return and lead his country in the final game meant he played at the Oval.

Batting on one leg, Waugh somehow fought through the pain to produce an innings that, while not the most atheistically pleasing, was a fitting example of his determination and courage. 

Batsmen filled their boots in the fourth Test of the 1964 Ashes series, none more so than Australian Bob Simpson.

The opening batsman made 311 for the visiting side, who cashed in on the chance to bat first at Old Trafford by amassing 656 for eight declared.

Simpson faced 740 deliveries during his time at the crease, hitting 23 fours and a solitary six.

He shared in an opening stand of 201 with Bill Lawry, with the partnership only coming to an end when the latter was run out.

England, however, responded to Australia's mammoth total by making 611. 

The 1985 tour was a tough one for Australia captain Allan Border.

A rebel tour to South Africa had denied his squad of several experienced players, and the visitors lost the opening Test at Headingley.

However, Border led a fightback at Lord's. Well, not so much led as inspired, as he made 196 in the first innings.

Replying to 290, Australia were indebted to their captain and Greg Ritchie, who made 94, as the pair shared a fifth-wicket stand of 216.

Border wasn't finished there—he returned to the crease in the second innings at Lord's to make an unbeaten 43, steering the tourists to a four-wicket win as they just managed to chase down a target of 127.

The left-hander scored 43 percent of his team's runs in the entire match, per Brian Scovill's report for Wisden (h/t ESPN Cricinfo).

A generous declaration may have helped his cause, but Mark Butcher still had to play the innings of his life to see England to victory in the fourth Test in 2001.

Already 3-0 up in the series and without the services of regular skipper Steve Waugh due to injury, stand-in captain Adam Gilchrist decided to make a game of it in the final innings.

Australia declared their second innings on 176 for four after 39.3 overs, leaving their opponents requiring an unlikely 315.

England slipped quickly to 33 for two on the fifth morning at Headingley, but Butcher combined with his skipper, Nasser Hussain, to put on 181 for the third wicket.

While Hussain departed for 55, Butcher just went on and on.

He hit 23 fours and a solitary six in his career-best score, helping the home team ease to a six-wicket triumph that made sure there would be no series whitewash at the hands of their oldest rivals.

The great Ashes series of 2005 saw more twists and turns than you'd get on a roller-coaster ride.

Australia won the first Test emphatically at Lord's, but fell agonisingly short in the next match at Edgbaston after being denied the services of Glenn McGrath due to a freak injury on the first morning.

England carried the momentum into the third Test in Manchester, and a big century from skipper Michael Vaughan on the opening day immediately put them in charge.

The tourists surrendered a sizeable first-innings lead and, with England scoring quick runs second time around, the Australians were set a target of 423.

Early wickets soon put paid to any slight hopes they had of an historic run chase, leaving skipper Ricky Ponting to try to steer the ship to safety.

He made 156 against England's seam-heavy attack, though he must have feared his battling century was going to be in a losing cause when he fell late-on to Steve Harmison.

And yet, somehow, Australia survived for a draw. The last-wicket pairing of Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath stood firm, leaving the series all-square at 1-1 with two Tests to play.

Headingley proved a popular destination to visit for Don Bradman during his illustrious career.

Having hit a career-best 334 at the home of Yorkshire County Cricket Club in 1930 (more on that to come), he returned four years later to score yet another triple century at the venue.

Australia had been 39 for three at one stage, only for Bradman and Bill Ponsford to combine in a fourth-wicket partnership worth 288.

The Don was eventually dismissed for 304, having hit 43 fours and two sixes in his 473-ball stay at the crease.

The match, meanwhile, ended in a draw.

Kevin Pietersen's maiden Test century was certainly a memorable one.

Drafted into the side at the start of the famous 2005 series to play ahead of the experienced Graham Thorpe, the South African-born right-hander scored a trio of half-centuries in his first three innings.

However, he saved his best for last, making 158 on the final day of the fifth Test at the Oval.

England needed just a draw to clinch a 2-1 series victory, though their prospects looked bleak when they slipped to 126 for five.

Pietersen, though, decided the best form of defence was attack. He took on anything short from Brett Lee, and fortune favoured the brave.

When he was finally dismissed, bowled by Glenn McGrath, the hosts were already beginning the celebrations—the draw was secure, meaning England would win the Ashes for the first time since the 1986/87 series.

Bradman made his Test best in an Ashes contest, hitting 334 at Headingley in the 1930 series.

What made the Don's innings even more remarkable was that the next highest score in the Australia side was the 77 made by Alan Kippax.

Bradman faced just 448 deliveries as he dominated proceedings—he scored an astonishing 309 runs in a single day's play as England's bowlers were put to the sword.

When he was eventually dismissed—caught behind off the bowling of Maurice Tate—the tourists were 508 for six.

Despite his heroics, and England being forced to follow-on, the third Test of the summer finished in a draw.

Bradman finished the tour with the small matter of 974 runs to his name.

Ian Botham wrote his name into Ashes folklore in the summer of 1981.

Yet the England all-rounder actually endured a miserable start to the series. Dismissed for a pair in the second Test at Lord's, he resigned as captain with his side 1-0 down.

It appeared Australia would double their advantage when they reduced their opponents to 135 for seven in their second innings at Headingley, raising the real possibility of an innings defeat.

Botham, however, played one of the most famous knocks in Test history.

With just tail-enders Graham Dilley, Chris Old and Bob Willis for company, he smashed an unbeaten 149 from 148 balls. Left chasing just 130, Australia collapsed to 111 all out.

Botham followed up his batting exploits with a wicket as England snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

Len Hutton made Test history in 1938 when he scored 364 in the fifth and final Test of the series at the Oval.

The Yorkshireman was playing in just his sixth match for England, yet made the most of a seriously flat pitch to enter cricket's record books.

Hutton's innings spanned three days, saw him face 847 deliveries and included 35 fours.

He was finally out to Bill O'Reilly, though by then he had set a new best for the highest Test score by an individual batsman.

His record stood until 1958, when Garfield Sobers made 365 for the West Indies.

As for the game itself, the hosts eventually declared on 903 for seven. Australia mustered 201 and 123 in reply, meaning they lost by the small margin of an innings and 579 runs.

Do you agree that Hutton's world-record score deserves to sit on top of the pile? There is really no right or wrong answers to the question, so let the debate begin in the comments section.

All stats used in the slideshow were from ESPN Cricinfo.