The Glorious History of the Ashes

The Ashes is a cricket series that happens between England and Australia every year and a half to three years. The teams have been meeting on opposite shores since 1882 when a topical newspaper at the time said that England cricket was dead following a defeat by Australia.

Australia and England actually met for the first time in 1877 but it was not until the 1882 match when Australia won in spectacular fashion at the Oval that the series was given a birth into mainstream sport. It was this year that was to signal the start of the most intense rivalry in sport and even today any Australian or Englishman will say that they would like nothing better than to stuff the other.

The Ashes are a symbol of this death and the urn that is permanently housed in the Lords Cricket Ground Museum is one of the most treasured prizes that are available in top-level sport. Needless to say replicas of the urn are always made for each series.

There have since been many squabbles between the English Cricket Board and Cricket Australia with the latter wanting the urn to be held in the country that possesses it in the statistics. It is no secret that CA have made this argument as the Australians have held the Ashes for greater periods of time than the English have done.

Ever since the Ashes began the sides have always played a series of five test matches, which has resulted in many memorable series e.g. the bodyline series and the 2005 series. Australia have been the more dominant of the two sides and currently hold the trophy heading into the 2009 series.

Australia and England have never gotten on in a cricket sense. The evolution of so many factors that are present in the modern game have originated when these two teams have met. For example it was between England and Australia that the banter known as sledging developed. This has been used by cricket players ever since as a way of unsettling the batsmen of an opposition side.
The real bitterness between the two sides developed during the 1932-1933 series when England’s bowlers used a series of bodyline tactics to get out many Australian batsmen. They used tactical and aggressive bouncers to try and hit the batsmen, which resulted in much hard feeling and is still held by some to be the most defining hatred of any Australian player towards the English.

It can also be said that the hatred that was generated between the two during this series has also been carried over into other sports. For example whenever the English and the Australians meet in a game of Rugby Union the rivalry is just as fierce and it is because of the Ashes. The Ashes started the great duel between the two and is the reason that it has carried on along different parallels for such a long time.

Needless to say that many great players have featured during the history of the Ashes. Arguably the greatest batsman of all time, Don Bradman, would regularly put England to the sword scoring many hundreds as he maintain the high class average that he had the ability to display through his entire career.

His centuries as well as memorable performances from the likes of Sir Ian Botham and Bob Willis in later series have all led to the memory of many great sporting moments that have had us all glued to the edge of our seats.

In 1989 Australia won the Ashes back and held the urn for the next 16 years. It was not until 2005 that the beauty and history of the event was once again opened up and captured the imagination of the public concerned. The 2005 series was hailed as the best Ashes series of all time and owing to the fact that it was broadcast on English domestic television means that it is the first instance of test cricket that some have ever watched.
Many former players will put the Ashes down to a simple battle of wit and pressure. The Ashes has produced some legends of the game and the 2005 series showed that even in the later part of his career, Australian legend, Shane Warne, could still prove a thorn in the side of the English.

Warne made his debut in the 1993 series between the sides and his first ball ever in the test match arena was to become known as the greatest ball ever bowled. Warne pitched a ball to England batsman, Mike Gatting, which turned square and clipped the off stump, signalling the start of one of the greatest careers ever in the game.

Warne bowled out England four times on his own in the 2005 series despite Australia losing but he bowed out in grace when his country won back the urn just two years later, thumping England 5-0.

Even when England were being beaten so comprehensively in each series that was played between the two teams there was always an air of anticipation and excitement that the old enemy could be overcome and this is exactly the same with the 2009 series that is about to start, which pretty much renders the last result useless.

There are few better spectacles of sport for the spectator to just sit back and take in and because the Ashes is such a long series the drama can go on for weeks and even months. It is a strange game but some will say that they would not trade a single second of it for any amount of limited overs cricket that is currently available.

There is also the history of the grounds that is involved in any Ashes series. Whether it be Perth in Australia or at Lords, the Home of Cricket, the venue that gets to hold an Ashes match always seems to be buzzing and this series will be no different. Although the first venue for the 2009 series has been heavily criticized it can be guaranteed that the place will be jumping, as the majority England crowd will look to get right on top of the Australians and bring back the Ashes to their country of origin.
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