The famous cricketing rivalry between Australia and England is tested during the Ashes – but how did the series get its name?
It began when Australia won their first Test on English soil on 29 August 1882. The next day in the Sporting Times, English journalist, Reginald Shirley Brooks, published a mock “obituary” to English cricket. He declared the sport dead and ‘the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia’.
England captain Ivo Bligh vowed to “bring back those ashes” when his side returned to Australia for another Test series a few months later – which the visitors did indeed win 2-1.
A small urn was presented to the England team following the victory – and so the Ashes was named, with the series continuing to be played approximately every two years since.
When Bligh passed away in 1927, the original urn was donated to the Marylebone Cricket Club at Lord’s in London. A replica has always been used as the trophy.
But the contents of the original Ashes urn have long been speculated.
Many believe it contains the ashes of a bail used in the third match, which Australia lost to England to hand them the series.
But in 1998, Bligh’s 82-year-old daughter-in-law claimed the urn contained the remains of her mother-in-law’s veil.
Some also say it holds the remains of a burnt ball cover and there are other claims it contains a burnt stump.
The inscription on the urn is a six-line poem referencing the early days of the series and reads:
“When Ivo goes back with the urn, the urn;
Studds, Steel, Read and Tylecote return, return;
The welkin will ring loud,
The great crowd will feel proud,
Seeing Barlow and Bates with the urn, the urn;
And the rest coming home with the urn.”
There have been 73 Ashes series, with Australia winning 34 and retaining the urn six times from draws. England have won 32 series and retained it once.
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