The Ashes

England has beaten Australia to gain The Ashes. This is the most prestigious battle in sport fought by the two nations that hold sportsmanship higher than the victory. Two teams carrying the highest accolades of mankind … each and every one of them hold the sportsmanship on a pedestal and that is why this particular game is the Gold Medal of all sporting events.

“Three cheers to all the cricketers who took part in this 2009 event … Hip, Hip, Hip Hooray! Well done to each and every one of you. You gave your all and we all appreciate the battle of events – bowl-by-bowl – bat-by-bat – run-by-run and wicket-by-wicket. Thank you for your skills and for giving us such dedicated entertainment!”

For all those who watched it shows where the expression first came from ‘it isn’t cricket.’ Only cricket being truly fair.

The Ashes Urn 

The Ashes are the oldest international sports fixture for cricket and began in 1877 in Melbourne in the month of March, when Australia won the very first test series. Usually the test series is made up of five separate test matches.

This special urn it is said contains the ashes of the bales (the little wooden pieces that sit loose on top of the stumps). It is claimed that in 1882 when England lost to Australia for the first time at home – the bales were cremated and placed into a small wooden urn. The Ashes Urn then became the symbol of this sporting event between England and Australia. 

The words on the urn are as follows:

When Ivo goes back with the urn, the urn;
Studds, Steel, Read and Tylecote return, return;
The welkin will ring loud,
The great crowd will feel proud,
Seeing Barlow and Bates with the urn, the urn;
And the rest coming home with the urn.

I’ll leave you all to guess at what they mean – some, of course, are names!

Cricket, being both the ultimate test of sport and the total test of the sportsman or sportswoman, I have often wondered why the USA has never fully embraced this wonderful game.

“There is nothing quite like the sound of leather hitting willow. We should never forget that it’s not ever about the outcome but always the taking part that counts. I would sooner lose a thousand games played fairly than win just one by cheating.” Anon