A short history of the Ashes

urn

What is the Ashes Urn?

The Ashes urn is a small terracotta artifact

standing only 11 cm high. It was presented to Ivo Bligh, the captain of the

English Cricket Team, during the 1882-83 tour in

Australia as a personal gift. The urn has come to represent “The Ashes of

English Cricket” which is a term first used in 1882.

England first home test defeat

In 1982, the Australian cricket team visited

England to play a one off test match at the Oval

cricket ground. This was before the Ashes was

thought of. WG Grace was playing for England. Sadly

for England, they were defeated by seven runs

and this was he first ever test match loss on home

soil.

The death of English cricketDue to the loss against Australia, Brooks wrote the now legendary mock obituary in ‘The Sporting Times’. It is perhaps the most important piece of cricket writing in

history, and his words live on over 130 years later.

Aiming to regain the AshesLater in 1982, Brooks'

obituary joke was followed up by the new England captain, the Hon. Ivo Bligh, who set sail for the 1982/83 winter's return series in Australia. He pledged to "bring back the ashes” in response to ‘the

death of English cricket’ and 'the body will be cremated

and the ashes taken to Australia'. He repeated the statement when arriving in

Melbourne, and the legend of 'the Ashes’ took hold.

The 1982/83 birth of the Ashes

England lost the first Test, but won the series 2-1.

This included the first ever innings victory in Test cricket. Afterwards, a

group of Melbourne ladies (one of whom would later

marry the England captain) presented Bligh with a small, terracotta

urn containing the ashes of something.

What is inside the Ashes urn?

Most versions of the story say a bail is inside, but others claim a stump, a ball and even a veil.

The leading authority on all things cricket, Wisden, retold the story of the Ashes in its 1954 book and claimed the ashes came from a stump

used in the third Test.This version appeared in future editions until

1970 when a stump from the 3rd test match was replaced by a bail.

Most importantly, the Ashes was born, and the English and Australians have been competing

for and arguing about it ever since.

What is written on the Ashes urn?

The England team of 1882/83