The Ashes, the Test series played between England and Australia, is the oldest rivalry in international cricket, and predates even the modern Olympics. It one of the most intense cricketing contests irrespective of the relative standings of the two teams at any particular point in history.
It was not originally known by this nomenclature, and the trophy which is played for between the two sides has borne various names over the years, depending on sponsors.
However, mention the Ashes to any cricket fan in the world and they will immediately know what it means.
The two sides had first met in Melbourne in 1876/77. Australia won by 45 runs. The teams met again a week later, England getting their revenge with a 4-wicket victory.
There were to be six more tests after that, five in Australia and one in England, with the home side generally getting the better of things on each occasion.
However, it was in 1882 that the Ashes can really be said to have begun.
That is when the Australian team toured England and play as solitary Test match at The Oval.
It was a low-scoring match, Australia making 63 in their first innings, the hosts replying with 101. Second time round, Hugh Massie scored 55, but Australia were all out for 122, meaning that England needed just 85 to win.
But fast bowler Fred Spofforth then ripped through the England batsmen, taking 7-44, as the home side were dismissed for just 77.
Australia had won by 7 runs.
The British press of the time was fulsome in their praise of the Australian side for their bravery, but lambasted the England team. The Sporting Times published a mock obituary to English cricket, saying that it died at the Oval and the ‘body will be cremated and taken to Australia’.
The phrase ‘The Ashes’ immediately caught on, especially after England captain Ivo Bligh pledged to regain them when his side visited Australia the following winter.
After England had won two of the three Test matches of that series, Bligh was presented with a small urn by a group of Melbourne women (one of whom, Florence Morphy, he went on to marry).
According to legend, the contents of the urn were the ashes of a bail, and they were humorously described as the ‘ashes of Australian cricket’.
While the urn has never been the official trophy, to this day replicas of it has frequently held aloft by the winning captain in an Ashes series.