The England cricket team have been awarded the Team of the Year prize at the 2009 BBC Sports Personality show.

Led by captain and top 10 Sports Personality contender Andrew Strauss, England reclaimed the Ashes with a 2-1 victory over old foes Australia.

Their opening victory came in the second Test at Lord's and they clinched the series in the fifth and final Test at The Oval.

England's cricketers first won the Team of the Year prize in 2005.

Strauss, in South Africa with the England team, said: "It is a truly great honour. It has been a long and arduous 12 months and a lot of ups and downs.

"What I am most proud about is that we have stuck together in some pretty tough times. That is what got us over the line in the Ashes and this award can act as a spur to achieve more in the future."

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They started the year by losing a five-match Test series against the West Indies 1-0 in the Caribbean, but they bounced back to to take the one-day series 3-2.

Revenge was exacted when West Indies came to England at the start of the summer, with the home side comprehensively winning both Tests in the two-match series and taking the one-day series 2-0.

However, an embarrassing four-wicket defeat by the Netherlands at Lord's in the opening match of the ICC World Twenty20 tournament followed as England failed to qualify from Group E.

The Ashes series started with a thrilling game at Cardiff as James Anderson and Monty Panesar defied Australia for 40 minutes to clinch a draw while the second Test saw England end a 75-year wait for a win against Australia at Lord's with Andrew Flintoff taking three of the five wickets needed on the final day to wrap up a 115-run win.

The rain-hit third Test at Edgbaston was drawn, but Australia levelled the series with a crushing victory at Headingley by an innings and 80 runs.

Needing a victory at The Oval in the fifth and final Test, England were struggling at 39-3 in their second innings but Jonathan Trott's debut century and Graeme Swann's aggressive 63 helped the hosts to a 197-run victory and series win.

Australia took the one-day series 6-1 and then beat England by nine wickets in the semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy.

This winter's tour of South Africa has got off to a decent start with a 2-1 one-day series win. The first of four Tests begins on Wednesday, 16 December.

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