Blog : THE ASHES Greatest rivalry in cricket history ever since

The ashes is one of the earliest and the most discussed topic of cricket over the decades is a test cricket rivalry between Australia and England Ashes are traditionally of five tests,hosted by England and Australia Alternatively atleast once in a span of 2 years The Ashes are regarded as being held by the team that most recently won the Test series. If the test series is drawn, the team that currently holds the Ashes retains the trophy.

The first ever test match between Australia and England was played in the year 1878 in MCG of Australia,but the name ashes was given after the ninth match,the only test match played between them in the year 1882 at THE OVAL in London. Australia recorded one of the most memorable victory in cricket history leaving England short of just 8 runs.

Ivo Bligh promised that on 1882 83 tour of Australia, he would, as England's captain, recover those Ashes . He spoke of them several times over the course of the tour, and the Australian media quickly caught on. The three-match series resulted in a two-one win to England, notwithstanding a fourth match, won by the Australians, whose status remains a matter of ardent dispute.After 20 years of Bligh's campaign, the term THE ASHES Largely disappeared from the audience. The term became popular again in australia first, when George Giffen used in his memoirs as if the term was well known. The English media therefore named it as THE ASHES.

After England had won two of three tests on a tour, a small urn was presented to Bligh in Melbourne. The contents of THE URN are reputed to be the ashes of a wooden bail, and were described as the ashes of Australian cricket .THE URN was given to the MCC after his death.THE URN jas never been the official trophy of THE ASHES series. However it's replica are often held by the victorious team as a symbol of their victory. Since the 1998 99 Ashes series, a Waterford Crystal representation of the Ashes urn called the Ashes Trophy has been presented to the winners of an Ashes series as the official trophy of that series. Irrespective of which side holds the tournament, the urn remains in the MCC Museum at Lord's it has however been taken to Australia to be put on touring display on two occasions as part of the Australian Bicentenary celebrations in 1988, and to accompany the Ashes series in 2006 07.

The statistics of the series over the decades holds good for Australia with SIR DONALD BRADMAN ,Australian batsman with record of maximum runs 5028 and Australian bowler SHANE WARNE leading with highest number of wickets 195 . Overs the decades, Australians scored 264 centuries in camparision to 212 centuries by Englishmen.

There have been 71 Ashes series Australia have won 33, England 32 and six series have been drawn. Statistics simply concludes with Australia holding the upper hand in this great battle not only between the two teams but between two countries..