England have won the Ashes – a statement that has a magnificent ring to it. – Derek Pringle in The Telegraph

On the last day of the most brilliant summer of our sporting lives the
impossible occurred. As the sun played across this old ground …
not only did the drama refuse to abate, it intensified. England won the Ashes, but long after this is a detail of cricket
history assigned amid a thousand others, this day, this summer, will
surely live at least as long as all who saw it and felt it and were
carried, for a small but totally absorbing fraction of their lives,
into a world where men, however young and green, however steeped in
gritty experience, kept digging down and finding new dimensions to both
their will and their talent. – James Lawton in The Independent

When Shane Warne dropped Kevin Pietersen at first slip, little did he
know that he had just dropped the Ashes. If he had caught Pietersen at
that time, England would have been under tremendous pressure and I
think Australia would have won. – Geoff Boycott in The Telegraph

Flintoff was the first recipient of the Compton-
Miller Medal and man of the series for England; Warne was man of the
series for Australia. His final haul of 40 is an Australian record for
a five-match series. It was a reminder that it was Australia every bit
as much as England who had made this the best Ashes series of them all. – Christopher Martin-Jenkins in The Times

How England heroes rated: ANDREW FLINTOFF – Quite simply, the greatest living
Englishman. Immense throughout. A brilliant century at Trent Bridge,
three more 50s and five wickets at The Oval. 10/10 – The Sun

When, in the Australian
vernacular, an event is classified “good for cricket”, it usually means
that the national team has lost, and is almost invariably said through
gritted teeth. In light of the first occurrence, there will be being a
lot of “good for cricket”-ing across Australia as you read these words.
There is, however, little need for the grudging tone. It
was hard to watch England retrieve the Ashes yesterday, but only
because the fingers of one’s hand tended to obscure the view, as the
teams presented another gift of a game that just kept on giving. It was
a drama, thriller and comedy rolled into one, though not a tragedy.
Nothing much is genuinely tragic in sport, least of all an end of 16
years’ one-way traffic. – Gideon Haigh in The Guardian.

Both captains deserve credit for the sporting atmosphere that
prevailed. Michael Vaughan led his side superbly. Naturally, the
Australians were disappointed, but they were beaten fair and square.
England were the better side. – Peter Roebuck in The Independent.