History of the oldest cricket series.

Let's have some background about the Ashes trophy.
Why it's called Ashes trophy?The series is named
after a thriller column published in a British newspaper,
The Sporting Times, in 1882 after a match at The Oval
in which Australia beat England on an English ground
for the first time.The obituary stated that English
cricket had died,and the body will be cremated and
the ashes taken to Australia. The English media dubbed
the next English tour to Australia (1882–83) as the rescue
operation to take back Ashes Trophy.A few weeks later
an English team, captained by the Hon Ivo Bligh [later
Lord Darnley],counter claimed to tour Australia, with
Bligh promising to return with "the ashes";On the other hand
Australian captain WL Murdoch similarly promised to defend them.

Apart from playing three scheduled matches against the
Australian national team,England Captain Bligh and the
beginner players in his team took part in many social
matches.It was after one such match,at the Rupertswood
Estate outside Melbourne on Christmas Eve 1882,that
Bligh was given the small terracotta urn as a symbol
of the ashes that he had travelled to Australia to regain.

Bligh married Florence Morphy in Febryary 1884.Then they
returned to England, taking the urn - which Bligh always
regarded as a personal gift.It was kept on the mantelpiece
at the Bligh family home - Cobham Hall,near Rochester in
Kent - until Bligh died,43 years later.At his request,
Florence gave the urn to MCC.Today,over 75 years on,the
tiny,delicate and irreplaceable artefact resides in the
MCC Museum at Lord's.Each year,it is seen by about million
of visitors from all parts of the world.

In the 1990s,recognising the two teams desire to compete
for an actual trophy,MCC commissioned - after discussions
with the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket
Australia - an urn-shaped Waterford Crystal trophy.
This was first presented to Mark Taylor after his
Australian side emerged winner in the 1998-99 Test series
against England.Since then,the trophy has been presented
to the winning captain at the end of each Test series
between Australia and England.From October 2006 to
January 2007,the urn formed the centre of attraction
of the MCC Travelex Ashes Exhibition.

Let us trip to ground used for the Ashes series matches.
In Australia, the grounds currently used are "The Gabba"
in Brisbane (first staged an England-Australia Test in the
1932–33 season),Adelaide Oval (1884–85), The WACA, Perth
(1970–71) the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) (1876–77)
and the Sydney Cricket Ground(SCG) (1881–82). One Test
was held at the Brisbane Exhibition Ground in 1928–29.
Traditionally,Melbourne hosts the Boxing Day Testand
Sydney hosts the New Year Test, which is the first Test
of every year. Cricket Australia has proposed that the
2010–11 series consist of six Tests, with the additional
game to be played at Bellerive Oval in Hobart.
The England Cricket Board is yet to agree to this.
In England the grounds used are The Oval (since 1880),
Old Trafford (1884), Lord's (1884), Trent Bridge (1899),
Headingley (1899) andEdgbaston (1902). One Test was held
at Bramall Lane, Sheffield in 1902. SWALEC Stadium in
Cardiff,Wales held the first (and its first) Test in the
2009 Ashes series.In addition, the Riverside Ground in
County Durham will host an Ashes test in 2013.

According to tradition to play Ashes series it is being
played between Australia and England currently,Before
the start of the Ashes series everyone was concerned about
if this test series will attract the fans or not.But it is
seem to be successful in this attempt and current result is
1-1.In first test,England cricket team was accused of not
playing with right attitude.Some former cricketer
says there was nothing wrong and some says English
cricketers did not do right.Let us see what happens at oval.
Ricky pointing have already awarded this last match as
the biggest match of his carrier.(First image is Ashes
series result so far.)