Monday Milestone: The Ashes

“In Affectionate Remembrance of
ENGLISH CRICKET,
which died at the Oval on
29th AUGUST 1882,
Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing
friends and acquaintances
—-
R.I.P.
—-
N.B. — The body will be cremated and the
ashes taken to Australia.”

– Mock obituary in the Sporting Times following Australia's defeat of the English for the first time at the Oval in London

This Week in History:
1882, August 31
The mock obituaray appears in the Sporting Times after Australia defeat England on their home soil for the first time in Test Cricket history.
 

Every great story has a great beginning, a legend that grows through the generations, and in this case a rivalry that through the decades has become fundamental to world cricket across the planet. .

The Milestone parks the Delorean this week way back in 1882, when the English newspapers were lamenting the fact that Australia had just defeated England at their own game on their own turf, calling it the ‘death’ of cricket, never realising one of the greatest rivalries in world sport had begun.

England were reeling. How dare these upstarts from their little colonial backwater, beat them at our own game? They’d even provided the good sportsmanship and grace to even let these Australians travel across the world and partake in a match with them, and these minions beat them? The impertinence!

But nonetheless it was that day, on the Oval in London that it all began.  After knocking over the Australians in the first innings the day before for just 63 of a remarkable eighty overs, the English made 101 in reply as Fred “the Demon” Spofforth took seven English wickets. It highlights just how the game has evolved considering both sides were bowled out in a single day.

The following day Australia were much more composed and openers Alec Bannerman  and Hugh Massie putting on a great stand with Bannerman making a half century. But then, Australia too would collapse, ultimately being bowled out for 122, meaning that much like any previous Test in the old country, England should have the necessary arsenal to knock these 84 runs off.

Instead history rose up and growled. First England slumped to 4 for 53. Then the Demon removed the English wicket keeper and they were 5 for 66. A hush fell around the ground. By the time Spofforth had taken three more wickets, the tension was palpable. 8 for 75, and the English held their breath. Accounts report a spectator dropped dead, and another gnawed through the handle of his umbrella. It was that tight.

But by the next over, England were all out for 77, and Australia had won that day at the Oval for the first time on English soil. It was purportedly on that day that famously the bail was burned and placed in an urn.

The Ashes were born.

The legacy of this famous defeat has echoed through generations. Any cricket fan in either country even today yearns for the Ashes, and from the moment the urn is surrendered, days are counted until the next opportunity to reclaim it. It is the greatest rivalry in world cricket envied in every other Test playing nation on the planet. On that day, whilst glumly bemoaning their first defeat on home soil, the English cricketing team had no idea what they were creating.

The famous mock obituary in the English paper got it wrong. This was not the death of English cricket.

It was the birth of it.

 

Milestone Five:  Greatest Rivalries in Australian Sport.

5. AFL: Carlton v Collingwood
The great rivalry of Australian Rules goes back to the 1910 Grand Final when a huge brawl broke out, and many were suspended. They have been sworn enemies ever since.

4. Rugby Union:  Wallabies v All Blacks.
Due to disdain towards rugby union, it is with a huge amount of reluctance this is included but even the Making the Nut stables have to acknowledge the size of the Bledisloe Cup since 1931.

3. Motor Racing: Holden v Ford
That one Sunday each October when rev heads and bogans alike flock towards Mt Panorama in Bathurst brings out two distinct camps, since 1963.

2. Rugby League:  Queensland v New South Wales
There are few greater spectacles in Australia than the annual three match State of Origin that stretches back to 1980

1. Cricket: The Ashes
Australia and England continue their rivalry today after 135 years of Test cricket rivalry.

 

With thanks to Oli Scarff/Getty Images Europe for the picture.