Australia won by 6 wickets

Who could forget? England started Day 5 at 1-59 in their second innings and 97 runs in front. The previous four days had been a bat-athon, with the two teams combining for 1123 runs for the loss of just 17 wickets. So how was Australia supposed to take nine wickets in enough time to then make whatever runs were required to crush England’s spirit? However this would be a climax no one could have predicted - and one of the greatest of all-time. It began with Andrew Strauss being wrongly given out - caught at short leg by Mick Hussey off Shane Warne - when the replay showed the ball did not make any contact with his bat or gloves. And it just keep getting worse for the visitors, as 2-69 became 3-70 when Ian Bell was inexplicably run out by Michael Clarke two overs later, and then 4-73 when first innings century-maker Kevin Pietersen was bowled behind his legs with a Warne gem just seven balls later. England would go on to lose their last nine wickets for 60 runs, and be bundled out for 129.

2006. Shane Warne's devastating second innings spell of 32-12-49-4 gave Australia a chance to win the Second Test.  Picture: Getty Images

It set the home side a one-day style run chase of 168 runs in 36 overs at a run rate of 4.6 as spectators poured into the ground to witness history. Where Warne had turned the game on its head earlier with 4-49 off 32 overs, it was Hussey who completed the miracle with the bat, blasting an unbeaten 61 off 66 balls, including the winning runs. With just three overs to spare, "Mr Cricket" blazed a cover drive to secure the victory and then jumped in the air to embrace teammate Clarke, setting off frantic celebrations among the players and fans. In essence, this was classic Adelaide - a batting paradise early but when the pitch began to crumble, so too did the shaky Poms. Paul Collingwood’s 204 in the first innings made him the first Englishman to score a double ton in Australia in 70 years... but still it wasn’t enough.

2006. England's Paul Collingwood (R) made 206, and Kevin Pietersen 158 in England's 6 declared for 551 in the first innings of the second Ashes Test. Picture: Getty Images

1993
Australia vs West Indies - 4th Test

West Indies won by 1 run

From one extreme to the other, in terms of thrilling finishes for Australia. It was a game the Aussies had in their grasp, then let slip, then pulled back, then gave back, and then almost snatched, and then - somehow - had it stolen from them... by the narrowest margin in Test history. Leading the series 1-0, the home side put itself in a strong position to clinch the Frank Worrell Trophy for the first time in a generation long by bowling out the West Indies twice cheaply. All that was left to do in the final innings was knock off the 186 runs needed to win in the remaining two days, albeit on a rain-affected pitch that was proving hard for anyone to make a score (the highest for the match was Richie Richardson's 72). The other problem was the menacing duo of Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh.

Australia was trudging along slowly but surely at 3-64 until the fearsome Ambrose turned the game by rocking Australia's two best 'man-for-a-crises' batsmen, Allan Border and Steve Waugh, with a couple of brutal deliveries. Ambrose had 10 wickets for the match and the Aussies looked gone at 7-74. However, Justin Langer, making his Test debut, channelled the "street fighter" edge that would become his trademark in a fighting 54 in 254 minutes. He was joined by local boy Tim May, who had earlier bowled Australia back into the game with an incredible spell of 5-9 off just six overs. Now he threatened to deny the Windies with the bat.

1993: 1993. Phil Simmons and Keith Arthurton embrace Courtney Walsh, who took the last Australian wicket off Craig McDermott. The West Indies' victory by one run tied the series.  Picture: Getty Images

Even when Langer departed with Australia still needing 42 runs to win, the last-wicket pairing of May and Craig McDermott stayed strong as an anxious crowd counted down every run and the singing of "Waltzing Matilda" grew louder. However on the last ball of the 79th over, McDermott got himself into a tangle as he tried to fend off a nasty delivery from Walsh. The ball found its way into the keeper Junior Murray’s gloves and McDermott was given out caught behind after the umpire controversially ruled the ball had hit the batsman's gloves. The air was completely sucked out of the Adelaide Oval save for the frenzied high fives and screams of the jubilant West Indians. May, on his birthday no less, was left stranded not out on 42. His country, meanwhile, was left one run short... on Australia Day no less.

1993: More frustration for beleaguered Australian captain Allan Border, who had long fought a lone hand against West Indian dominance. Picture: Getty Images

2003
Australia v India - 2nd Test

India won by 4 wickets

India had not won a Test on Australian soil in 21 years, and the Australian team - at that stage captained by Steve Waugh - had not lost a Test to any country at home for five years. You would have got long odds for India to break their drought after the first day and a half of this game. A superb 242 from Ricky Ponting provided the back bone of Australia's commanding first innings total of 556. It was the type of massive first-up Adelaide Oval run-feast that should have at least guaranteed the home side a draw, however Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman had other ideas. In a backs-against-the-wall stand eerily similar to their incredible match-turning effort in Kolkata just a few years earlier, Dravid and Laxman stitched together a 303-run partnership that took India from a precarious 4-85 late on day two to 5-388 nearly 100 overs later. Dravid was nearly flawless in compiling, brick by brick, a masterful 233, while Laxman played with his usual wristy flair for 148 as the pair rekindled "the ghosts of Kolkata" to beat up on an Australian attack featuring Brad Williams, Andy Bichel, Jason Gillespie and Stuart MacGill.

The momentum of the game completely switched, the placid Adelaide Oval wicket then began to give bowlers more assistance late in the match, as usual, and Indian seamer Agit Agarkar took full advantage, grabbing 6-41 in the second innings as Australia was bowled out for 196. Requiring 230 to win, India then completed the stunning comeback by reaching the target six wickets down and again it was Dravid who top scored with an unbeaten 72. It meant the man nicknamed "The Wall" had scored 305 runs for the game (only once out) from 616 balls and batted for a combined 835 minutes. Ponting's 242 was, at the time, the highest score by a batsman in a losing team, and Australia's 556 was the third highest total ever made by a losing team. It just goes to show that scoring big in Adelaide doesn't always guarantee safety, for the ground accounts for a sixth of the 35 highest Test totals made by teams in losing causes.

2003: Ricky Ponting's 242 was not enough in the face of a massive partnership from Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. Pictures: Getty Images

2005
Australia v West Indies -  3rd Test

Australia won by 7 wickets

Some happier memories for Australian fans. In fact, here the Aussies did to the West Indies what India did to Australia in 2003-04. This time it was Brian Lara playing the role of Ricky Ponting, crafting a virtuoso 226 off just 298 deliveries in the first innings of the match. It included a history-making moment when the West Indies king surpassed Allan Border to become the highest run scorer in Test history at the time. Shortly after, Lara was dismissed in what would be his second last innings on Australian soil, and the visitors’ innings was wrapped up for 405.

2005. West Indies superstar Brian Lara made 226 in the first innings of the Third Test, to pass Allan Border record as the most prolific scorer in Test history. Picture: Getty Images

And it would not be enough. Australia replied with 428 thanks to a glorious 133 to Mike Hussey and 99 to Justin Langer, and then unleashed Shane Warne on a deteriorating pitch. Aiming to equal the record for most wickets in a calendar year, Warne was at the peak of his powers and ran through the West Indies on day four, picking up the key wickets of Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul cheaply as part of his six-wicket haul. The Windies were 1-50 before Warne imposed himself and spun out five of the next six batsmen to reduce them to 7-106. Having skittled the visitors for 204, Australia took until just after lunch on the final day to chase down the 182 runs required. The match was also remembered for the West Indies being on the wrong end of several questionable umpiring decisions and sparked heavy debate about whether Test cricket should employ technology to assist on-field umpires. The second top score behind Lara in the first innings had been just 34.

Shane Warne again won a Test for Australia, with 6/80 in the second innings. Picture: Getty Images

1995
4th Test Australia v England  

England won by 106 runs

Another Ashes classic. Although Australia had already retained the Urn by fighting out a draw in Sydney and holding a 2-0 lead, the contest was still very much alive when the two teams went to Adelaide, despite the fact injuries had forced England to select a second-string bowling attack. Under massive pressure from the English press back home, the ageing Mike Gatting responded to the scrutiny by batting almost the whole innings for a laborious 117 in the Poms' total of 353. However that knock would be upstaged by a man on debut, home town hero Greg Blewett. The stylish right-hander would become the 16th Australian to score a hundred on debut with a dashing 102 in front of his friends and family that would ultimately give his team a 66-run lead.

With rain intervening, a draw seemed like England’s best result as they began day five 154 runs ahead but with only four wickets in hand. Enter Phil DeFreitas. The hard-hitting tailender would produce the batting performance of his career by smashing 88 off 95 balls including 22 off one Craig McDermott over that featured four fours and a six. In all, Defreitas scored 68 of England's 108 runs, in 18.5 overs, on the final morning, in a display that suddenly brought the prospect of an England win into the picture. Set 263 to win in 67 overs, there was an ominous early sign for Australia when Michael Slater top-edged a ball to Phil Tufnell - known as one of the game’s worst fielders - who he the catch at fine leg. The charismatic spinner turned to the Barmy Army behind him with an excited fist pump and the moment seemed to energise the whole team.

With pacemen Chris Lewis (4-24) and Devon Malcolm (4-39) running riot, Australia slumped to 5-64 and then 8-83 to be left with only one option - seeing out the remaining overs to force a draw. A controversial moment came when Lewis, drafted into the touring party after being found playing sub-district cricket in Melbourne, dismissed McDermott and then gave him a blunt send off by repeatedly pointing his finger to the dressing room. Keeper Ian Healy (51 not out) and tailender Damien Fleming (24) fought valiantly to get Australia to the shadows of stumps, however the partnership ended when Lewis got a ball to keep low and trap Fleming LBW. It was then left to Malcolm to dislodge No.11 and debutante spinner Peter McIntrye LBW in the fifth last over of the match to secure a stirring triumph.

It was the Poms’ first Test win in Australia for eight years and the team’s celebrations with the Barmy Army afterwards were worthy of the achievement.