Australia has won the Ashes, but the Ashes will not be given to Australia

ASHES TESTS

The Australian cricket team has defeated England in the third Test at the WACA to take an unbeatable series lead of 3-Nil. So, according to the newspapers, the much talked about Ashes will be returning to Australia.

Wrong!

The much talked about Ashes will remain in their little terracotta urn in the Long Room at Lords.

Strange as it may seem, the greatest rivalry in sport, the TEST cricket matches between Australia and England has never resulted in the winning side “taking” the Ashes. That is because the actual ashes in the terracotta urn is not a sporting trophy. They were a gift to the Honourable Ivo Bligh and on his death in 1927, his widow, presented the urn to the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).

It all started way back in 1877 when an Australian cricket team beat an England eleven by 45 runs in the first ever Test match between the two countries.

In 1882 an Australian team travelled to England to play three Tests. (Of course, there really was no Australia, officially, until Federation was proclaimed on January 1^st, 1901.) England won the first two Tests but, horror of horrors, the colonial upstarts defeated England in the final Test. A tense Test match at The Oval.

England was shocked to be beaten at their own game, and on home soil, by a team of colonial s from Australia. A satirical obituary was placed in The Times of London saying that English cricket had died and “the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.”

In the Australian summer of 1882/83 the Honourable Ivo Bligh” led an English cricket team to Australia to play a series of three Tests. Bligh said he was going to Australia, “to regain those ashes” From then on, the media described Bligh’s trip as a “quest to regain the Ashes.”

After England had won the first two Tests, Bligh and his team enjoyed a Christmas break staying with some of the landed gentry in Sunbury, near Melbourne. His team played a social match in Sunbury and after the game some of the ladies burned a bail and put the ashes in a container. A young lady named Florence Morphy presented the container to Ivo Bligh, saying, “Here are the ashes of Australian cricket.”

Within a year the Honourable Ivo Bligh had married Miss Morphy and they made their home in England, with The Ashes taking pride of place in Ivo Bligh’s trophy room. They stayed there till Lady Florence presented them to the MCC. So, the Ashes were never, ever a sporting trophy. However, that did not stop Australian and English cricketers claiming that they had won the Ashes back for their country whenever they won a Test series

In 1988, for Australia’s Bi-Centenary the actual urn holding the Ashes presented to Ivo Bligh by Miss Morphy, did travel to Australia. And they did again for the 2006/7 series. Since 1988/89 England and Australia have played for a Waterford crystal trophy representing the Ashes urn. It is called the Ashes Trophy.

So, there it is. The only REAL Ashes matches are those Test cricket matches played between England and Australia. Media hype about the recent women’s Ashes Test matches between England and Australia are just that. Hype. There are no Ashes being played for in women’s cricket. Just as there are no Ashes being played for when some rugby journalist waxes lyrical about rugby Test matches between England and Australia. It is just more hype.

The cricket competition between Australia and England is regarded as the oldest rivalry in sport. It started in 1877 when Australia beat England by 45 runs in Melbourne. One hundred years later the two rivals played against each other again in Melbourne. Australia won be exactly 45 runs once again.

But is it the oldest rivalry in sport? If a Test match is a game between two international teams it might be claimed that the very first international TEST cricket match was played between Canada and the USA in 1844 when a group of US cricketers from the St George Club in New York City travelled to Toronto and beat a local team by ten wickets. They won $250 prizemoney. Though it is fair to say neither side could claim to be a representative national side. The Toronto team was selected from some payers who were available on the day.

Four years later in 1848 a more formal match was organised in New York City for a prize of $2500. Quite a substantial sum in those days. It is estimated that $100 000 was bet on the outcome. Canada won the match by 23 runs. Apparently, cricket was quite popular in the Us until the Civil War of 1961-65. After that its popularity faded away.

People can argue till the cows come home about what is the oldest sporting rivalry, but no one can argue that the only matches that are played for The Ashes are cricket matches between the Australian and England national cricket teams. Even though those famous Ashes do not travel anywhere, no matter who wins the series.