The phenomenon called the Ashes

On 2nd September 1882, when a certain Englishman named Reginald Shirley Brooks wrote the following obituary, mocking the English cricket team’s astonishing defeat to one of their then colonies, little would he have realised that he had gifted the world with a name that would grow to become synonymous with one of the biggest rivalries in the entire sporting world in the times to come.

The obituary in Sporting Times which started ‘The Ashes’

Later that season, the English skipper Ivo Bligh pledged to bring “The Ashes” back to England and did lead his team to a 2-1 victory over the Kangaroos on the subsequent tour. The English team had brought back the ashes. Although, it wasn’t until a couple of decades later that “The Ashes” would cement its place in the cricketing lexicon forever.

It was in 1903, that the then English skipper Pelham Warner promised his compatriots of returning back with “The Ashes” (much like Bligh had done in 1882), before his team left to play a Test series Down Under. Earlier, during the tour of 1882, a small terracotta urn was presented to the English skipper Ivo Bligh by a group of Melbourne women.

The urn, as it is believed, contained the ashes of a set of bails. This urn remained with Bligh through his lifetime and now rests with the MCC. Although it gives its name to the Ashes, it itself hasn’t been presented to the winning team. It is only a replica that we see being presented to the winning team nowadays. Anyway, back then, both the Australian and the British media took well to the symbolism that it brought, and hailed the England-Australia rivalry as “The Ashes”.

Over the decades, the Ashes has lived up to the aura that surrounds the very mention of its name. Be it the “Classic 1902 series”, the “Triangular” Ashes of 1912 (which saw South Africa as the third contender), the “Bodyline” series, the continued dominance of Australia through the 1980s-90s, or the phenomenal comeback staged by England in the last decade – the Ashes has always satiated the cricket fans’ thirst for witnessing a great cricketing contest across the globe.

So, what makes the Ashes so special? One may sometimes wonder. Is the Border-Gavaskar trophy any less anticipated by the fans? Doesn’t India-Pakistan rivalry evoke the same emotions from the fans around the world?

Although both the aforementioned rivalries have given us some wonderful memories to cherish, the Ashes trumps them convincingly. The Ashes has been played for over a century now, whereas the India-Australia series has only gained prominence over the last decade or so. Only the India-Pakistan rivalry is comparable.

Moreover, Ashes generates as much interest all across the cricketing world as it does in the two countries fighting it out – a rare phenomenon given the lesser eyeballs Test cricket usually garners nowadays. The packed stadiums through the length of the series are a delight to the eyes of a cricket purist.

With less than a week left for the Ashes 2013 to take off in the first match at Nottingham, both the teams look set to give us a tightly contested spectacle. This series comes on the back of English team’s dream run over the past couple of years.

A promotional poster for The Ashes 2013 in England

On the other hand, the visitors will be eager to forget the humiliating drubbing they received on their Indian tour earlier this year, which also happens to be their last Test series before the Ashes. The Australians have not yet forgotten how a youthful side led by Michael Vaughan in 2005 dumped all the odds in their backyard and produced arguably the most famous series wins in the recent Test history. They will not restrain from taking a leaf out of the then English team’s book this time around.

A victory for England however will take the overall Ashes series wins tally to 31 each, which currently stands at 31-30 in favor of the Kangaroos. Forms notwithstanding, both the teams’ think tanks are well aware of the surprises the Ashes can throw at them. This rivalry has always inspired players from both the sides of the hemisphere to bring out their best and register themselves as heroes in the history books.

The first ever World Test Championship is slated to begin on the English soil in 2017. Until then, those cricket fans who still prefer watching the players sweat it out in the all-whites can sit back and enjoy the biggest phenomenon in the Test arena yet, the Ashes.