The Ashes

The tale Of Cricket’s Oldest rivalry – The Ashes

The test series is played between Australia and England, it is a 5 test match series and it is held alternatively in Australia and England. The Ashes is the most coveted title ever in the history of cricket and it has a historical tale associated with it.

The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, The Sporting Times, immediately after Australia’s 1882 victory at The Oval, their first Test win on English soil. The obituary stated that English cricket had died, and “the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia”. The mythical ashes immediately became associated with the 1882–83 series played in Australia, before which the English captain Ivo Bligh had vowed to “regain those ashes”. The English media therefore dubbed the tour the quest to regain the Ashes.

After England had won two of the three Tests on the tour, a small urn was presented to Bligh by a group of Melbourne women including Florence Morphy, whom Bligh married within a year. The contents of the urn are reputed to be the ashes of a wooden bail, and were humorously described as “the ashes of Australian cricket”. It is not clear whether that “tiny silver urn” is the same as the small terracotta urn given to the MCC by Bligh’s widow after his death in 1927.

It is not confirm that the Ashes are of the wooden bail and it has always been a debatable issue in cricket world. The original Ashes are kept in the museum of MCC at The Lords.

The winning team is presented with a replica of the urn and a crystal trophy which is now the official trophy of The Ashes series.

Since its inception Ashes has seen some brilliant and magical performances from both sides, it has witnessed the great Sir Don Bradman’s 19 centuries overall and Jim Laker’s 19 wickets in a test match. The Ashes is always regarded as the finest test series played and winning the ashes is always a matter of honor and respect for both the nations. Ashes saw various players becoming legends and it also saw legends becoming villains.

From October 2006 to January 2007, the urn formed the center piece of the MCC Travelex Ashes Exhibition, which visited seven museums in six Australian states and attracted over 105,000 visitors. It remains the last time that the Urn left Lord’s.

The full length story of ashes cannot be summed up in so less words as it has been a tale of more than 100 years of cricket which has numerous heroics on the 22 yards and countless moments that deserve to be captured and the memories to be cherished by cricket world.

The Recent Ashes Series took place in Asutralia (2021-2022) and they won the series 4-0 on their home turf beating the English side at all venues except on the Sydney cricket ground. Travis Head of Australia was the highest runs corer in the series with 357 runs and Pat Cummins of Australia took the most wickets (21) in the series.

Here are few records associated with the Ashes to give you the taste of this epic rivalry between England and Australia:

Highest Score: By a batsman in Ashes test match belongs to Len Hutton’s 364 at the Oval in year 1938. Hutton batted for 797 minutes, played 847 deliveries and struck 35 fours in his marathon innings for Australia, Don Bradman’s 334 holds the record which he made at Leeds back in year 1930 off just 448 balls! There have been a total of 5 triple centuries made in Australia vs. England test cricket and no less than 29 double centuries.

Highest total: was made by England against Australia = 903/7 declared off 335.2 over at the Oval in year 1938. Australian highest test match score against England has been 729/6 dec at Lords off 232 over back in year 1930. England highest Ashes total in Australia is 636 at Sydney back in 1928.

Most Runs: in all Australia vs. England Ashes test series is made by Don Bradman who has 5028 runs at an average of 89.78 from 37 games. Jack Hobbs leads England’s most prolific Ashes batsman with his 3636 runs from 41 games. Allan Border made 3548 runs in Ashes test series.

Most Wickets: in Ashes test career is by Shane Warne who dismissed 195 England batsmen from his 36 games with a best bowling of 8 wickets for 71 runs. Warne picked up eleven 5 wicket hauls and four 10 wicket hauls against England. Ian Botham has most wickets from England against Australia = 148 from 36 games.

Best Bowling figures: in an innings of a Ashes test match = Jim Laker who once got all 10 wickets (and 9 in second innings) in a match at Manchester.

A Tale Of Cricket’s Oldest Rivalry: The Ashes