Between their defeat to India in 2003 and 2018, Australia lost only once at Adelaide Oval. It was a remarkable stretch of dominance punctuated by a loss as dramatic as it was rare.
The series began in Brisbane, where England clawed back from a disastrous Day 1 collapse to salvage a draw. Centuries from Mike Hussey and Brad Haddin had put Australia in control, but England’s top order responded with a marathon effort, batting for two full days to secure parity and a vital psychological edge.
Kevin Pietersen had had a poor run of form in the summer before the series, failing to make a century in any of the six Tests and averaging below 30. This continued at the Gabba, where he made 42 in the first innings before being surplus to requirement in the second.
In Adelaide, however, Pietersen produced a generational innings.
Australia won the toss and elected to bat, but chaos ensued from the outset. Simon Katich was run out without facing and Jimmy Anderson got Ricky Ponting first ball, edging to second slip, 2/0. In his second over, he got Michael Clarke with an almost identical delivery, and the Australians found themselves 3/2.
Shane Watson and Hussey briefly steadied the innings, and Brad Haddin chipped in down the order too, but another collapse saw the last five wickets tumble for just 38 runs.
After years of trauma for England in Adelaide, it was Australia’s time for capitulation.
Doug Bollinger struck early, removing Andrew Strauss in the second over, but Australia’s next wicket wasn’t until the 49th, when Ryan Harris dismissed Jonathan Trott for 78. This was only the start for the hosts, however, as England’s resolute batting, the key to their series win, continued to grind the Australians into the dirt.
Alastair Cook compiled a patient 148, but Pietersen stole the show. He dismantled the Australian attack with a commanding 227, peppered with 18 boundaries against Bollinger and Xavier Doherty.
Pietersen and Cook’s partnership added nearly two hundred and once the opener fell, KP piled on another hundred with both Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell. Eventually he was dismissed but the damage was done and England soon declared for 5/620.
Chasing 375 merely to make England bat again, Australia crumbled as Graeme Swann claimed five wickets to seal an emphatic innings victory.
England’s win in Adelaide flipped the series narrative on its head and Australia, stunned by the scale of the defeat, never truly recovered their footing.
England carried that momentum through the remainder of the series, winning in Melbourne and Sydney to seal a historic 3–1 triumph: their first Ashes win on Australian soil since 1986/87. Adelaide was more than a victory; it was the turning point that defined an era, remembered as the stage where Pietersen’s brilliance broke a 24-year drought and rewrote the script of Ashes history.