The Ashes

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 nominally biennially, alternately in England and Australia. However since cricket is a summer game, the venues being in opposite hemispheres means the break between series is alternately 18 months and 30 months. A series of "The Ashes" now comprises five Test matches, two innings per match, under the regular rules for international cricket. If a series is drawn then the country holding the Ashes retains them.

The series is named after a satirical obituary published in an English newspaper, The Sporting Times, in 1882 after the 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 then dubbed the next English tour to Australia (1882-83) as the quest to regain The Ashes.

During that tour in Australia, a small terracotta urn was presented as a gift to the England captain Ivo Bligh by a group of Melbourne women at some point during the 1882-83 tour of Australia. The contents of the urn are reputed to be the ashes of an item of cricket equipment, possibly a bail, ball or stump. 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 Ivo Bligh always considered it to be a personal gif. 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 bequeathed to the MCC by Ivo Bligh's widow upon his death.

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.

Australia currently hold The Ashes, after beating England 5-0 to regain them in 2006-07. The next Ashes series will be held in England in 2009.

1894/95 Series
This series began in sensational fashion when England won the First Test at Sydney by just 10 runs having followed on. Australia had scored a massive 586 (Syd Gregory 201, George Giffen 161) and then dismissed England for 325. But England responded with 437 and then dramatically dismissed Australia for 166 with Bobby Peel taking 6/67. At the close of the penultimate day's play, Australia had been 113-2, only needing 64 more runs. But heavy rain fell overnight, and next morning the two slow left-arm bowlers, Peel and Johnny Briggs, were all but unplayable.

England went on to win the series 3-2 after it had been all square before the Final Test, which England won by 6 wickets. The English heroes were Peel, with 27 wickets in the series at 26.70, and Tom Richardson, with 32 at 26.53.

1902 Series
Main article: Australian cricket team in England in 1902
The 1902 series in England became one of the most famous in the history of Test Match cricket. Five matches were played and the first two were drawn after being hit by bad weather. In the first match (the first Test ever played at Edgbaston), after scoring 376, England bowled out Australia for 36 (Wilfred Rhodes 7-17) and reduced them to 46-2 when they followed on. Australia won the Third and Fourth Tests at Bramall Lane and Old Trafford respectively. At Old Trafford, Australia won by just 3 runs after Victor Trumper had scored 104 on a "bad wicket", reaching his hundred before lunch on the first day.

England won the last Test at The Oval by one wicket. Chasing 263 to win, they slumped to 48-5 before Jessop's 104 gave them a chance. He reached his hundred in just 75 minutes. The last wicket pair of George Hirst and Rhodes were left with 15 runs to get, and duly did so. When Rhodes joined him, Hirst is famously supposed to have said: "We'll get them in singles, Wilfred." Unfortunately the story appears to be apocryphal and in any case they are believed to have scored at least one two among the singles.

Reviving the Ashes Legend
After what the MCC saw as the problems of the earlier professional and amateur series, they decided to take control of organising tours themselves, and this led to the first MCC tour of Australia in 1903-1904. England won it against the odds, and Plum Warner, the England captain, wrote up his version of the tour in his book How We Recovered The Ashes. The title of this book revived the Ashes legend and it was after this that England v Australia series were customarily referred to as "The Ashes".

England and Australia shared the spoils for the next few years. The entrance of South Africa onto the world cricketing scene meant less time for Ashes series, but even so there were four played after Plum Warner's series, each of the sides taking two victories. In 1905 England's captain, Stanley Jackson, not only won the series 2-0, but also won the toss in all five matches and headed both the batting and the bowling averages. England won the last series in 1911-1912 by four matches to one, with Jack Hobbs establishing himself as a regular with three centuries and Frank Foster (32 wickets at 21.62) and Sydney Barnes (34 wickets at 22.88) forming a formidable opening partnership.

1912 Triangular Series
Main article: 1912 Triangular Tournament
England then retained the Ashes when they won the Triangular tournament, which also featured South Africa, in 1912. England looked as if they had established themselves as the dominating force by the time World War I intervened and brought a halt to all international cricket. However the 1912 Australian touring party had been severely weakened by a dispute that caused Clem Hill, Victor Trumper, Warwick Armstrong, Tibby Cotter, Sammy Carter and Vernon Ransford to be omitted.

1920s
After the war, Australia took firm control of both the Ashes and world cricket. For the first time, the tactic of using two express bowlers in tandem paid off as Jack Gregory and Ted McDonald regularly destroyed the England batting. Australia recorded thumping victories both in England and on home soil. They won the first eight matches in succession, and England only won one Test out of fifteen from the end of the war until 1925, and suffered a whitewash in 1920-1921 by the team led by Warwick Armstrong.

In a rain-hit series in 1926, however, England managed to eke out a 1–0 victory with a win in the final Test at The Oval. Because the series was at stake, the match was to be "timeless", ie played to a finish. Australia had a narrow first innings lead of 22. Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe took the score to 49-0 at the end of the second day, a lead of 27. Heavy rain fell overnight, and next day the pitch soon developed into a traditional sticky wicket. England seemed doomed to be bowled out cheaply and to lose the match. In spite of the very difficult batting conditions, however, Hobbs and Sutcliffe took their partnership to 172 before Hobbs was out for exactly 100. Sutcliffe went on to make 161 and in the end England won the game comfortably.

Despite the appearance of Donald Bradman, Australia could not win the next series in 1928-29 either, losing 4–1. England had a very strong batting side, with Walter Hammond contributing 905 runs at an average of 113.12, and Hobbs, Sutcliffe and Patsy Hendren all scoring heavily; the bowling was more than adequate, without being outstanding.

1930 Series
Bradman won the next series in 1930 almost by himself (974 runs at 139.14), as one of the best batting line-ups of all time began to form in the early 1930s, including Bradman himself, Stan McCabe and Bill Ponsford. It was the prospect of bowling at this line-up that caused England's captain Douglas Jardine to think up the Bodyline tactic. In the Headingley Test of 1930, Bradman made 334, reaching 309* at the end of the first day, including reaching his hundred before lunch. However he himself thought that his 254 in the preceding match, at Lord's, was an even better innings. England hung on until the final Test, at The Oval, which they went into at 1-1. However yet another double hundred by Bradman, and 7-92 by Percy Hornibrook in England's second innings, enabled Australia to win by an innings. Clarrie Grimmett's 29 wickets at 31.89 for Australia in this high-scoring series were also important.

1932/33 Series
In 1932, after Bradman's routing of the English team in the previous series, Douglas Jardine developed a tactic of instructing his fast bowlers to bowl at the bodies of the Australian batsmen, with the goal of forcing them to defend their bodies with their bats, and provide easy catches to a stacked leg side field. Jardine insisted that the tactic was legitimate and called it leg theory but it was widely disparaged and its opponents dubbed it bodyline (from on the line of the body). Although England won the Ashes, bodyline caused such a furore in Australia that diplomats had to intervene to prevent serious harm to Anglo-Australian relations, and the MCC eventually changed the laws of cricket to prevent anyone from using the tactic again.

Jardine's comments summed up England's views: "I've not travelled 6,000 miles to make friends. I'mhere to win the Ashes."

1934 to 1947
On the batting-friendly wickets that prevailed in the late 1930s, most Tests up to the Second World War still gave results. It should be borne in mind that Tests in Australia prior to the war were all played to a finish. Many batting records were set in this period.

Len Hutton scored 364 at The Oval to give England a draw in the 1938 series. This was the world record Test innings at the time. Several high partnerships were recorded through the 1930s, many of them involving Bradman.

1948 Series
Main article: The Invincibles (cricket)
Australia's first tour of England after World War II, in 1948, was led by the 39-year-old Bradman in his last appearance representing Australia. His team has gone down in cricketing legend as The Invincibles, as they played 36 matches including five Tests, and remained unbeaten on the tour. They won 27 matches, drawing only 9, including of course the 4–0 Ashes series victory.

This series is also known for one of the most poignant moments in cricket history, as Bradman batted for Australia in the fifth Test at The Oval — his last — needing to score only 4 runs to maintain a career batting average of 100. Eric Hollies bowled him second ball for a duck with a googly, denying him those 4 runs and sending him into retirement with a career average of 99.94.

1950 to 1980
Australia gradually weakened after 1948, allowing England back into the fray in the early 1950s when they won three successive Ashes series, from 1953 to 1956 to be arguably the best Test side in the world at the time.

In 1954/55, Australia's batsmen had no answer to the pace of Frank Tyson and Brian Statham.

A see-sawing series in 1956 saw a record that will probably never be beaten: off-spinner Jim Laker's monumental effort at Old Trafford when he bowled 68 of 191 overs to take nineteen out of twenty possible Australian wickets. Never has the phrase "he won the match single-handedly" been more appropriate.

England's dominance was not to last, however. Australia thumped them 4–0 when they next toured in 1958-59, having found a good bowler of their own in Richie Benaud who took 31 wickets in the 5-Test series.

England failed to win any series during the 1960s, a period dominated by draws as teams found it more prudent to save face with a draw than risk losing. Of a total of 25 Ashes Tests playing during this decade, Australia won seven and England three. It was in the 1960s that the predominance of England and Australia in world cricket was seriously challenged for the first time. West Indies defeated England twice in the mid-sixties and then South Africa, in its last series before it was banned, completely outplayed Australia.

In 1970/71, Ray Illingworth led England to a 2-0 win in Australia, mainly because of John Snow's fast bowling, while Geoff Boycott and John Edrich scored the runs. It was not until the last session of what was the 7th Test that England's success was assured and the win was a triumph for Illingworth.

The 1972 series finished all square at 2-2, with England retaining the Ashes as a result.

By the 1974-75 series, with England going into decline and without their best batsman Geoff Boycott, Australian pace bowlers Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee wreaked havoc. A 4-1 result was a fair reflection as Engalnd were left shell shocked. England lost the 1975 series at home 0-1, but at least restored some pride under Tony Grieg as their new captain.

Australia won the 1977 Centenary Test (which was not an Ashes contest) but then a storm broke as Kerry Packer announced his intention to form World Series Cricket.

England was already in decline and no longer a match for West Indies. World Series Cricket damaged Australia too and for many years they struggled in Test cricket. The Ashes had long been seen as a sort of cricket world championship but that view was no longer feasible.

The 1977 series in England resulted in a 3-0 win for England under Mike Brearley. The Australian team were split and without Dennis Lillee. Brearly captained Engalnd superbly and the return to test cricket of Geoff Boycott was a resounding success as he averaged 147 in his 3 matches. Ian Botham also made his test debut in the series.

In 1978/79 Mike Brearley led England to an overwhelming 5-1 series win over an Australian side led by Graham Yallop. During this series Allan Border made his Test debut for Australia. The England team contained the likes of Boycott, Gower, Gooch, Botham and Willis and although the cricket was often not of the highest class, the Australian team were unlucky to lose so heavily.

1981 Series
Ian Botham started the series as England captain but was forced to resign or was sacked (depending on the source) after Australia took a 1-0 lead in the first two Tests of the 1981 series. Mike Brearley, who had previously retired from Test cricket, agreed to be reappointed before the Third Test at Headingley. Australia looked certain to take a 2-0 lead in the third Test when they forced England to follow-on 227 runs behind. England, despite being 135 for 7, produced a second innings total of 356 with Botham scoring 149*. Chasing just 130, Australia was dismissed for 111, with Bob Willis taking 8/43. It was the first time since 1894/95 that a team following on had won an Ashes Test. Under Brearley's leadership, England went on to win the next two matches before a drawn final match at The Oval.

There is no doubt that this was an exciting and entertaining series but it must be seen as a paradox in that the excitement was produced by two generally disappointing teams, neither of which could match the West Indies at the time.

1980s
Australia had Greg Chappell back in 1982–83, while the England team was weakened by the enforced omission of the South African rebels, particularly Graham Gooch and John Emburey. Australia went two-nil up after three Tests, but England won the fourth Test by 3 runs (after a 70-run last wicket stand) to set up the final decider. However, the game was drawn.

In 1985 England were bolstered by the return of Graham Gooch and John Emburey as well as the emergence at international level of Tim Robinson and Mike Gatting. Australia, under Allan Border were weakened by a rebel South African tour, the loss of Terry Alderman who dominated the 1981 and 1983 series a particular factor. England won 3–1, with David Gower scoring a career-high 215 in the fifth Test to help England to a 2–1-lead, and an innings win in the final test, where Gower scored 157 and Gooch 196.

The 1986/87 England side started badly and attracted some criticism.[7] However, Chris Broad got three hundreds in successive tests and bowling successes from Graham Dilley and Gladstone Small meant England won 2–1. The final test was again marred by a controversial umpiring decision as Dean Jones was given not out early on in his innings to what appeared a legitimate catch. He went on to score 185* as Australia recorded their only win. It was though a resounding win for England and few could have predicted how long it would be until they won the Ashes again as after those wins a period of extended Australian dominance began. England would have to wait until 2005 to win the Ashes again.

1989 Series
It was the Australia of old who arrived in England in 1989 and proceeded in a determined and professional manner to demolish a poor England team and win the series 4–0. Allan Border had stood firm through the lean years and now enjoyed the company of some top-class team mates with the arrival on the scene of Mark Taylor, Merv Hughes, David Boon, Ian Healy and above all Steve Waugh, who was to be a thorn in England's side for years to come. England were lead once again by David Gower, but a team hit by injuries, poor form and players secretly planning to undertake a rebel tour of South Africa was no match at all for Border's team. Had the rain not intervened, a 6-0 whitewash was highly likely.

1990s
There can be little doubt that England reached rock-bottom in the 1990s and was at one stage at the foot of the international rankings. After re-establishing its credibility in 1989, Australia underlined its superiority with a succession of victories in 1990/91, 1993, 1994/95, 1997, 1998/99, 2001 and 2002/03 series — all by convincing margins.

Great Australian players in these years were fast bowler Glenn McGrath; wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist; batsmen Justin Langer, Damien Martyn and Ricky Ponting who succeeded Waugh as captain after 2002/03; and unorthodox leg-spin bowler Shane Warne.Australia's record since 1989 has impacted upon the overall statistics between the two sides. Before the 1989 series began, Australia had won 36.9% of all Tests played against England, England 33.5% with 29.7% of matches ending in draws. Previous to the 2005 series, Australia had won 40.8% of all Tests, England 31% with 28.1% drawn.

In the period between 1989 and the beginning of the 2005 series, the two sides had played 43 times; Australia winning 28 times, England 7 times, with 8 draws. Even more astonishingly, only a single England victory had come in a match in which the Ashes were still at stake, namely the first Test of the 1997 series. All others were consolation victories when the Ashes had been secured by Australia.

2005 Series
England were undefeated in Test matches in the 2004 calendar year, which took the team to second in the LG ICC Test Championship and raised hopes that the 2005 Ashes series would be closely fought. In fact, the series was even more competitive than anyone had predicted, and was still undecided as the final session of the final test began. The first Test at Lord's was convincingly won by Australia, but in the remaining four matches the teams were evenly matched, and England fought back. England won the second Test by 2 runs, the smallest victory by a runs margin in Ashes history, and the second-closest such victory in all Tests. The rain-affected third Test ended with the last two Australian batsmen holding out for a draw, and England won the fourth Test by three wickets after forcing Australia to follow on for the first time in 191 Tests. A draw in the final Test gave England victory in an Ashes series for the first time in 18 years, and their first Ashes victory at home since 1985. Experienced journalists including Richie Benaud rated the series as the most exciting in living memory. It has been compared with the great series of the distant past, such as 1894/95 and 1902.

2006-07 series
Australia regained The Ashes in the 2006-07 series by winning 5-0, only the second ever Ashes whitewash (after Australia's 5-0 victory in 1920-21, the first series after World War I). Determined to avenge their defeat of 2005, they took advantage of England's failure to maintain pressure at key moments. Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Justin Langer, three of Australia's greatest cricketers, retired from Test cricket at the end of the series, whilst Damien Martyn retired halfway through the series.

The Ashes. (2007, February 18). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 02:58, February 19, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Ashes&oldid=109109462

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