The Ashes is a Test cricket series between England and Australia. The two very famous cricket teams come together every year to play this test match series. The Ashes series is the epic rivalry among teams of England and Australia and has a very interesting and rich history. It is a matter of pride for every player to represent his country in the Ashes test series. Both the teams play passionately to win and with great hunger in their body to take the trophy to their home country.
In the beginning, it was just a game. Now, it is a competition that rules the minds of billions of people across the globe. Cricket is such an old sport, yet it has never lost its appeal for one reason or the other. The Ashes series of cricket has been taking place between England and Australia since 1882 and remains one of the most popular sporting events in the world today. Below you will get all the knowledge about what are the ashes in cricket and what does it mean to all cricket fans.
The Roots Of The Ashes
It is hard to visualize the old times at all. It was a time of absolute simplicity and pure professionalism. Cricket did not have any real modernization and was run by private clubs and village cricket teams. The term Ashes got its name from an 1860 tour to Australia where two teams of English players returned after the tour with so much money that they were said to be ‘ashy’. In 1884, this word became a symbol for success in Australia and was thus adopted by the Australian fans when they saw how their team had been playing in the matches against England.
The First Ashes Series
The first Ashes series was played between England and Australia in 1895 and became known as the Ashes. Australia won this series, and the next couple of series followed only after some time. In 1905, England toured Australia and won all four matches against them. This remained the last tour by England for a long time until after World War 2 where they came back again to win the 1952-53 Ashes series.
The momentum of Ashes games took off with their winning streak in this series, where they hammered the Aussies on all fronts, winning 7 out of 12 matches. The next series in England in 1956 may be due maybe to the fact that England did not want to play it in Australia due to the fear of another defeat. However, England lost all the tests, and so did Australia.
Interesting Facts About Ashes
Here are some facts that excite every fan of cricket in the world.
- Shane Warne of Australia is the best bowler of spin in Ashes. He has a total of 129 wickets in his bags full of wickets. Due to his great bowling ability, he was known as the king of spin bowling. However, you will be surprised to hear that he had an average of 23.26 in taking wickets.
- Suppose you talk about the best batsmen of the Ashes series. The first name which comes up on the list is Sir Donald Bradman. There would not be any who watches cricket and does not know about this cricket legend. He was a great batsman during his time, and he left his mark in the ashes series too. He has scored 5028 runs in all total games of ashes.
- The trophy is exchanged every time if the winner of the previous ashes series fails to keep the crown. Thus the trophy goes to the winning team.
- Since the start of this legendary rivalry between England and Australia, Australia has been leading the list in winning the trophy more times. England has won this trophy 31 times, but Australia has won this 32 times.
- The highest score of team England in ashes is 903, which they scored in 1930. And the highest score of Australia was 731 in 1930.
The Ashes test match series is the name of a cricket tournament between England and Australia. This event marks the culmination of more than 100 years of history between these two countries, with Australia emerging best team so far. Due to the rarity of such an event and its importance in both countries’ sporting culture, it’s not surprising that the Ashes test series has been seen as a battle for national pride. Each team goes out in the field with an extreme passion for winning the series for their country.