subject: The Ashes – A Cricketing and Sporting Icon [print this page] The Ashes A Cricketing and Sporting Icon
One of the most competitive sporting traditions is the cricket series of matches between England and Australia which dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in England and Australia. Ask any Australian or Englishman how serious he takes the Ashes and he will reply to have the bragging rights for the two years they hold the ashes is great fun. It is taken seriously enough to be one of the world's most intense sporting rivallry.
While growing up in the 1970's and 1980's one of the most memorable sportsman was Sir Ian Botham who from an impossible position helped beat the Aussies in 1981 with the greatest innings in Cricket history.
The series is named after a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, he Sporting Times, in 1882 after a match at The Ovall in which Australia beat England on an English ground for the first time. The obituary stated that English cricket had died, and the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia. The English media dubbed the next English tour to Australia (188283) as the quest to regain The Ashes.
During that tour a small terracotta urn was presented to England captain Ivo Bligh by a group of Melbourne women. The contents of the urn are reputed to be the ashes of an item of cricket equipment, possibly a bail, ball or stump. The Dowager Countess of Darnley claimed recently that her mother-in-law, Bligh's wife Florence Morphy, said that they were the remains of a lady's veil.
The urn is erroneously believed by some to be the trophy of the Ashes series, but it has never been formally adopted as such and Bligh always considered it to be a personal gift.
Replicas of the urn are often held aloft by victorious teams as a symbol of their victory in an Ashes series, but the actual urn has never been presented or displayed as a trophy in this way. Whichever side holds the Ashes, the urn normally remains in the Maryleborne Cricket Club Museum at Lord's since being presented to the MCC by Bligh's widow upon his death.
Since the 199899 Ashes series, a Waterford Crystal representation of the Ashes urn has been presented to the winners of an Ashes series as the official trophy of that series.
Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues being in opposite hemispheres, the break between series alternates between 18 and 30 months. A series of "The Ashes" comprises five Test matches, two innings per match, under the regular rules for test Match Cricket. If a series is drawn then the country already holding the Ashes retains them.
During the ashes test In 1981, England, despite being 135 for 7, produced a second innings total of 356, Sir Ian Botham scoring 149. Chasing just 130, Australia were sensationally dismissed for 111, Bob Willis taking 8/43. It was the first time since 189495 that a team following on had won a Test match. Under Brearley's leadership, England went on to win the next two matches before a drawn final match at The Oval to regain the ashes.
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