#the ashes

4 incidents tagged

The Birth of the Ashes — Oval Test, 1882

England v Australia

1882-08-29

Across two August days in 1882, Australia beat England by seven runs at The Oval in the only Test of the tour. Fred 'The Demon' Spofforth took 14 for 90 in the match — 7/46 in the first innings and 7/44 in the second — to bowl England out for 77 chasing only 85. Within hours The Sporting Times printed a mock obituary declaring that English cricket was dead and that 'the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.' The most famous trophy in the game was born from a satirical paragraph.

#the-ashes#ashes-origin#spofforth

😂Moderate

The Sporting Times Mock Obituary — How a Joke Became a Trophy, 1882

England v Australia

1882-09-02

Four days after Australia's 7-run win at The Oval, the satirical weekly The Sporting Times printed a 30-line mock obituary by Reginald Shirley Brooks announcing the death of English cricket and noting that 'the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.' The squib was meant for one Saturday's amusement and ended up giving cricket its most enduring trophy name.

#the-ashes#sporting-times#reginald-brooks

⭐Serious

Bligh's 'Quest to Recover the Ashes' — 1882-83 Tour

England v Australia

1882-12-30

Six weeks after the Sporting Times mock obituary, the Hon Ivo Bligh sailed for Australia at the head of a private English team with the explicit, half-joking goal of bringing 'the Ashes' home. England lost the first Test at Melbourne, won the next two at Melbourne and Sydney to take the official series 2-1, and at the end of the tour Bligh was presented with a small terracotta urn that, decades later, became the most famous trophy in cricket.

#ivo-bligh#the-ashes#1882-83

⭐Serious

The Ashes Urn — Rupertswood Presentation, 1882-83

England v Australia

1882-12-25

Sometime over Christmas and Easter 1882-83, at the Rupertswood estate of Sir William Clarke at Sunbury, near Melbourne, the Hon Ivo Bligh was presented with a small terracotta urn 10.5 cm high that was said to contain the ashes of a burnt bail. The presentation, initially a private joke during a country-house cricket match, eventually produced the most famous trophy in the sport.

#ashes-urn#rupertswood#florence-morphy