'The Ashes' is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is international cricket's most celebrated rivalry and dates back to 1882. It is currently played every two years alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. 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.
The series is named after a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, The Sporting Times, in 1882 after a match at The Oval 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 (1882–83) as the quest to regain The Ashes. |
The Ashes urn is reputed to contain a burnt cricket bail. |
During that tour a small brownish red 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, a bail. 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 Marylebone Cricket Club Museum at Lord's since being presented to the MCC by Bligh's widow upon his death.
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| The ashes urn alongside the WaterFord Crystal Trophy |
Since the 1998–99 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. England currently holds The Ashes after defeating Australia 2-1 to regain them in the 2009 Ashes series which took place in England and, for the first time, Wales. The 2010-11 Ashes series, taking place in Australia, is in progress and is currently tied at 1-1 with two tests to play (first Test was a draw).
Summary of results and statistics:
A team must win a series to gain the right to hold the Ashes. A drawn series results in the previous holders retaining the Ashes. Sixty-five series have been played, with Australia winning 31 and England 29. The remaining five series were drawn, with Australia retaining the Ashes four times (1938, 1962–63, 1965–66, 1968) and England retaining it once (1972). The win-loss ratio in Ashes Tests (up to and including the 2009 series) stands at 122 wins for Australia to 97 wins for England, with 86 draws.
Ashes series have generally been played over five Test matches, although there have been four-match series (1938; 1975) and six-match series (1970–71; 1974–75; 1978–79; 1981; 1985; 1989; 1993 and 1997). Australians have made 264 centuries in Ashes Tests, 23 of them over 200, while Englishmen have scored 212 centuries, of which 10 have been over 200. On 41 occasions Australians have taken 10 wickets in a match, Englishmen 38 times.
