On This Day: When Ashes Was Born 135 Years Ago

If you look back at the history of cricket then definitely the England-Australia battle tops the charts as these were the two teams who kick-started international cricket in 1877. The famous rivalry, the Ashes began on this very day 135 years ago in 1882. Harry Boyle and “Demon” Fred Spofforth guided Australia to their first ever Test victory against England at the Oval in 9 matches. Chasing 84 to win in the 4^th innings, the Englishmen were skittled out for just 77 handing Australia a 6 runs victory.

Lamenting the humiliating defeat, the Sporting Times published the following lines.

In Affectionate Remembrance of ENGLISH CRICKET, which died at the Oval on 29th AUGUST 1882, Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances

R.I.P.

N.B.-The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.

The term Ashes came into existence from the following year when England defeated the Aussies in Australia and a cricket bail was burnt in the memory of the Ashes. The ashes of the burnt bails were then put in an 11-inch terracotta urn and later a few Melbourne women handed the urn to the legendary English captain Ivo Bligh.

In the following decades, there has been a string of controversies surrounding the urn. Over the years if we look at the history, Australia has been the more dominant side among the two and on the account of their domination, Aussies demanded that the urn should be given to them but the MCC has refused all the time. England considers this as their property and the winning team is only handed over the replica and not the original one.

Meanwhile, if we look at the history of Ashes, Sir Donald Bradman leads the batting charts by a fair margin. The greatest batsman of all time scored 5028 runs in 3 Ashes Tests at a staggering average of 89.78, but still, 10 runs less from his career average. The leading run getter among the Englishmen is Jack Hobbs who amassed 3636 runs in 41 Tests.

Two Australian bowlers lead the chart for most wickets in an Ashes series, While the legendary leg-spinner Shane Warne has prized out 195 scalps, he is followed by his one-time teammate Glenn McGrath who has bagged 157 wickets. The previous Ashes in England was won by England and the arch-rivals will fight it out for yet another time later in this year Down Under in Australia.