Cricketing World

Possibly the best-known cricket matchup in the world is the Ashes, a rivalry series between England and Australia, that has been played since 1882. The Ashes series features five Test matches with two innings per match and is played under the normal Test-match rules of international cricket.

The Ashes was originally named by a writer for The Sporting Times. In it he expounded the satirical notion that since Australia had for the first time defeated England on its home turf, that English Cricket was dead. He stated that the cremated ashes were to be taken to Australia. The next tour of Australia undertaken by the English cricket team was referred to as “the quest to regain the ashes.”

While the name did not take hold in England at first, George Giffen brought it to popular Australian usage in his memoir, “With Bat and Ball” in 1899. England went back to Australia in 1903 and their Captain, Pelham Warner, promised a return of “the ashes” of English Cricket. A 3-2 victory for the English team fulfilled that promise.

While there is no official “funeral urn” for the ashes, several artifacts have been used as symbolic representations of the concept. The oldest and most famous was the one presented to Ivo Bligh, the future Lord Darnley, during the 1882-83 season. The small terracotta urn he was given has never been traded back and forth to the victors but is housed in the Marylebone Cricket Club museum since being given to them by Lord Darnley’s widow in 1927.