High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The 1997 English cricket season centred on the six Test Ashes series against Australia. England won the first, at Edgbaston, by the decisive margin of nine wickets, and the rain-affected second Test at Lord`s was drawn, but any English optimism was short-lived. Australia won the next three games by huge margins to secure the series and retain the Ashes, and England`s three-day victory in the final game at The Oval was little more than a consolation prize. The three-match ODI series which preceded the Tests produced a statistical curiosity, with England winning each match by an identical margin, six wickets.