The Ashes trophy is a tournament associated with the game of Cricket. It is played between the countries — Australia and England.
The series normally comprises 5 Test matches and is hosted alternatively by both the nations’ respective cricket boards.
So, why is the Ashes series so special among cricket fans?
One reason must be its longevity and rich 100+ years long history. Ashes had its origin in 1882 and has been played since then. With its long history, one must look into the complete stats report (head to head and individual records) of the Ashes series to understand how competitive it is and how equally both teams dominate it.
Australia currently stands ahead with a head-to-head of 34–32.
So close, right? That’s how competitive it is. Let’s look deep into why a tournament played between two countries is considered so significant in the Cricketing world.
The History of Ashes
Though the game has been played between Australia and England since 1877, it was in 1882 the series got its historically special name, which we use now — The Ashes.
It all started with the dramatic loss of the English team on their own home soil in 1882 (one match series) against Australia, thanks to ‘the Demon bowler’ — Fred Spofforth. Fred picked 14 Wickets in that game-7 wickets each in both innings. He took his final 4 wickets for just 2 runs, leaving England short of 7 runs off their target of 85.
This loss of England against a Colony on the home soil astonished English fans and the media. Especially, the media took England’s loss very seriously.
On 2nd September 1882, a more celebrated mock obituary, written by Reginald Shirley Brooks, appeared in The Sporting Times.
It read:
In Affectionate Remembrance
of
ENGLISH CRICKET,
which died at the Oval
on
29 August 1882,
Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing
friends and acquaintancesR.I.P.
N.B.-The body will be cremated and the
ashes taken to Australia.
Referring to that, Ivo Bligh, the English captain then, before his team’s following tour (1882–83) to Australia, promised to recover those Ashes, and eventually, he did. England won that 3-match Test series 2–1.
And, yes… “England recovered their Ashes” was the headline then. Even then, it took 20 more years for the name to stuck. Pelham Warner, the English captain of the 1903 tour to Australia, mentioned the word ‘Ashes’ again, which is picked up by the Australian media. And, this time, the name got stuck. Since then, the series of Australia and England have been regularly called the Ashes Series.
The Arrival of Donald Bradman and the Body-line Series
During the late 1920s and the early 1930s, other cricketing powerhouses, namely West Indies, New Zealand and India, came into the world of Test cricket.
It was also the time when Donald Bradman, the master Aussie batsman, one of the best, made his debut. It is apt to say Don Bradman ruled the game of Cricket during his widely distributed tenure. He played as a batsman in his early career, scoring bulk of runs, and led the Australian team in his later stage.
In his 1930 England tour, Bradman scored 974 runs at 139.14, which remains the highest aggregate in a Test series to date.
His insanity in creating cricketing records even made the English team do unfair things in the cricketing field. Douglas Jardine, the English captain of the 1932–33 Ashes series, instructed his fast bowlers to aim bowling on the body line of the Australian batsmen.
The idea is to make the batsmen fall out in the trap of close leg side fielding by bowling right at their body, which led to the term Bodyline series.
The idea worked as England won that series 4–1, but it was undervalued by the Australian media and cricketers, calling it an unfair attempt.
The injured Australian captain Bill Woodfull expressed his disappointment after the series by quoting, “There are two teams out there. One is playing cricket; the other is not attempting to do so.”
So, why it is significant?
Unpredictability is the other quality the Ashes series possess.
The tournament has seen the rise and fall of many cricketers. With the higher competitiveness and pressure situations, the only thing that stays is quality, which makes the unpredictable turnaround in one’s career.
Not stopping there, there are more classic events that made Ashes the biggest tournament of the longest format of the game — Test cricket.
Like, the epic duck-out of Bradman in his final Test innings in 1948. He was needed just 4 runs in that innings to finish with a Test career average above 100. Even though he didn’t, his average of 99.94 is still a dream for any cricketer.
Then there is Jim Laker, who picked up the 1st ever 10-wicket haul in a Test innings at Old Trafford in 1956. In that match, the English off-spinner picked 19 of Australia’s 20 wickets, which is still an unbeatable figure in Test bowling.
In the recently concluded series, Australia thumped England 4–0 in the Ashes 2021/22, starting with a nine-wicket win in Brisbane, followed by a 275-run win in the day-night Test in Adelaide. They then sealed the series at the MCG in just three days by claiming an innings-and-14-run victory in the Boxing Day Test. England hung on to a thrilling final-over draw in Sydney but Australia dominated in Hobart as well, in another three-day finish.
To conclude, cricket has always been known for its quality and the quality of players who make the game special.
And Ashes has it in abundance!
Originally published at https://cricclubs.com.
