Ashes

The Ashes is a Test match series, played between England and Australia.. It is one of international cricket's most celebrated rivalries which dates back to 1882.. It is currently played biennially, alternately in England and Australia as a summer game in the 2 countries, Nov-Jan in Australia and Jun-Sep in England... 

 

The series is named after a satirical obituary published in an English newspaper, The Sporting Times, in 1882 after the 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 then dubbed the next English tour to Australia (1882-83) as the quest to regain The Ashes.

During that tour in Australia, a small terracotta urn was presented as a gift to the England captain Ivo Bligh by a group of Melbourne women. The contents of the urn are reputed to be the ashes of possibly a bail...

The urn is erroneously believed, by some, to be the trophy of the Ashes series but it has never been formally adopted as such and Ivo Bligh always considered it to be a personal gift. Replicas of the urn are often held aloft by victorious teams as a symbol of their victory in an Ashes series, but the actual urn has never been presented or displayed as a trophy in this way. Whichever side holds the Ashes, the urn normally remains in the Marylebone Cricket Club Museum at Lord's since being bequeathed to the MCC by Ivo Bligh's widow upon his death.

Since the 1998-99 Ashes series, a Waterford Crystal representation of the Ashes urn has been presented to the winners of an Ashes series as the official trophy of that series.

Australia currently holds The Ashes, after beating England 5-0 to regain them in 2006-07.

The Ashes is one of the most fiercely contested competitions in cricket.

The failure of England to regain the Ashes for 16 years from 1989, coupled with the global dominance of the Australian team, had dulled the lustre of the series in recent years throughout most of the cricketing world, although it has remained the most popular cricketing contest for Australians. 

However, things changed in the 2005 series and England won it with Reverse swing as their weapon.. England were upbeat about their win but in the subsequent tour down under, they lost miserably to Australia 5-0.. 

Things are quite different now.. It perhaps is the 1st Ashes after the era of Aussie domination in world cricket.. 

England have a poor captain this time in Strauss, will he motivate the team and bring about key changes in bowling and fielding is the big question here.. Strauss and Cook should give a good opening stand followed by Bopara and KP.. Bopara has to play really well and justify his position, KP will once again be the pivot of the batting.. Bowling is quite strong with Broad, Anderson and Flintoff who can swing the ball, the aussies dont play the swing pretty well.. Swann, Panesar and Rashid, the 3 spinners will come in handy.. There are speculations that England may go in with 2 spinners in their playing 11.. Not a bad idea as the Aussies dont play spin that well either.. But that is if the spinners are of some quality, don't expect Rashid to cause them any problem.. Yes, the Aussies are troubled by spinners but they were troubled by Mendis' unpredictability, Kumble, Harbhajan and of late Saeed Ajmal and Afridi in ODI cricket but that is no reason why they shouldn't play Rashid or Panesar with ease.. 

Australia will depend heavily on the openers and tail enders for runs.. Hughes is in spectacular form and Katich is always reliable.. Then comes the middle order which hasn't performed or dominated for ages now.. Ponting ever since he was troubled by Ishant is out of touch, Clarke has no performances to his credit, M.Hussey is already complaining of playing non-stop cricket and even contemplated quitting one form of the game.. Haddin is the player to look out for if he plays all matches that is.. Lee is not that threatening but the likes of Hilfenhaus, Clark and Siddle are not to be taken for granted.. Australia beat South Africa in SA with these Hilfenhaus and Siddle.. Mitchell Johnson is the man to look out for this entire series, this guy takes 5 wickets and then puts his pads on and scores vital runs for the side and then again is seen running up and taking wickets.. He can easily fit in as a player in the lower middle order too.. 

This series may be decided in who handles pressure better, whether Australia can play out the new ball, spin and a fully fit Flintoff ; England on the other hand need to play Mitchell well and get him out quickly.. The runs scored by the tail may come in handy too..