The Cricket blog

Let the ashes begin..

Having nothing much to cheer on the india situation after being white washed in South africa, its time to turn my attention to the ashes series played in australia. But first things first, a little about the history of “ASHES”

The 9th test match ever between England and australia in 1882 was a low scoring affair in which england could not manage to score 85 runs needed for victory and fell short by 7 runs.

The defeat was widely recorded in the English press. In the 31st August edition of a magazine called “Cricket: A Weekly Record of The Game” there appeared a now obscure mock obituary to “English Supremacy in the Cricket Field which expired on the 29th day of August at the Oval”. Two days later, September 2, 1882 a second mock obituary, written by Reginald Brooks, appeared in The Sporting Times. This notice read as follows:
“In Affectionate Remembrance of ENGLISH CRICKET, which died at the Oval on 29th AUGUST, 1882, Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances R.I.P.
N.B. — The body will be cremated and the “ASHES” taken to Australia.” The English media fastened on to this notice and dubbed the English tour to Australia of 1882-83 as the quest to regain The Ashes of English Cricket. Thus was born the name of the game..

Over the years the battle between the two cricketing rivals has only intensified and kept cricketing fans glued to the news of this event. Here is a rundown of all the test matches and their breakdown from the wikipedia source..

ashes timeline