Chances are that if you are living in the UK or Australia at the moment that you will not have escaped media coverage of The Ashes. England won back The Ashes in the final match against Australia. Famously competitive, there is a rich history behind The Ashes and one of the most unusual "Trophies" in the world.
Not only is cricket an important sport in England but it is also an important one in Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, India and the West Indies. Anyone who competes professionally in this sport is aiming to be asked to play for their countries team and win many of the cricket trophies available. However for England and Australia one trophy is prized above all others and that is “The Ashes”.
Every couple of years England and Australia meet to contest a number of matches in either country to either regain or retain this particular trophy. This year (2009) is when the competition is being held once more between these two countries and is this time taking place in England. Where hopefully the weather will remain good so that the set of 5 matches (games) can be watched.
Even though Australia and England have been competing against each other at this sport for quite some time “The Ashes” series didn’t come into being until after 1882. This was when England were defeated for the first time by Australia on their home ground “The Oval”.
After this defeat the team from England then sailed to Australia to compete against their rivals between 1882 and 1883. It was when this tour was taking place that the Captain of England “Ivo Bligh” was presented by some women from Melbourne with a small Terracotta urn. As to what is held inside the urn no one is actually sure. Some believe it contains part of the wickets (bails or stumps) from the game in 1882 that England lost or others believe it contains the ashes of King Cole a cricketer from Australia who had toured in England in 1868. Then there are others who think that the urn contains the ashes of a woman’s veil.
Yet although this trophy will be awarded to the winning team at the finish of the Ashes Series it has not been adopted as the events official trophy. Also the urn that the team are awarded with at the end is not the original but a replica. The original urn is now held at Marylebone Cricket Club Museum at Lord’s Cricket Ground, London after being passed to them by Ivo Bligh’s widow.
The trophy that the teams are also awarded with today and which has been presented to them since the 1998-1999 series is actually a replica made from Waterford Crystal. It is this trophy which has now been adopted by the teams and the organizers of the event as its official trophy.
Along with this trophy there are many other cricket trophies that teams from around the globe wish to be awarded. The ones that are most coveted today by these teams include the Cricket World Cup and the Cricket World 20/20 ones.