The biggest series was born from ashes, the foundation was laid 142 years ago, the winner gets the smallest trophy

ash. It is a 142 year old incident. England got a target of 85 runs to win at The Oval in London. In reply, they scored 51 runs for the loss of 2 wickets. Now the target was 34 runs away and 7 wickets were remaining. Victory seemed certain. Then George Ullyot got out. Two runs later, Sir WG Grace departed. Then it was as if the ‘spirit of the devil’ (so said the British) possessed the Australian pacer. Australia’s Frederick Spofforth bowled lethally and England collapsed for 77 runs. Australia registered its first victory on English soil. The next morning, the British newspaper ‘The Sporting Times’ published a condolence message, ‘English cricket has died, its last rites will be performed and the ashes will be taken to Australia.’

Cricket’s oldest and most prestigious series was also born with this defeat of England at The Oval. English fans cursed their team and captain Ivo Bligh vowed to win. Four months later, when the English team left for Australia, Ivo Bligh said, ‘We are going to take back the ashes taken to Australia in August.’ From here the Australia-England Test series came to be called The Ashes. The England cricket team went to Australia in December 1882 and brought back The Ashes trophy.

England won the first series
England won 2 out of 3 Tests on the tour of Australia. After the victory, English captain Ivo Bligh was presented with a small urn containing ashes in Melbourne. British fans promoted it as the ashes of Australian cricket. It is said that after the defeat in the Melbourne Test, some women burnt the wooden bails and placed their ashes inside the trophy. However, this was never officially accepted.

The smallest trophy
The Ashes is considered to be the smallest trophy in the world. Its original trophy is kept in the MCC Museum at the Oval Ground in London. Now the team that wins the series is given its replica trophy.

Australia won 34 series
Australia has the upper hand in The Ashes series which started in 1882. So far 73 series have been played between the two countries. Out of these, Australia has won 34 series. England has won the series 32 times. The remaining 7 series have been draws.

tag: Australia vs England, On this day, Test cricket