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Ashes Guides

a) Every other year, British and Australian cricket teams play against each other in an event caused 'the Ashes,' and it is one of the most popular sporting events across the world. Television networks have been known to bid hundreds of millions of dollars in order to have the opportunity to broadcast the game live, and hundreds of millions of people across the world vigilantly watch the matches.

And yet the Ashes began simply in the mid 1800's when a British cricket team in Liverpool thought it would be fun to play the Australians in cricket. When they arrived in Australia, the team was shocked to find out that the Aussies already knew about cricket and played it frequently. In fact, really great cricket players in Australia were treated like modern celebrities. If anything, cricket was more popular in Australia at the time than it was in Britain. Many people do not realize that these first Australian teams were composed solely of indigenous Australians. And after playing fourteen matches against them, the British realized that the Australians were really good at cricket. The British team suffered five draws and three losses on this first trip to Australia. The British were incredibly embarrassed by their loss, and a real rivalry between the Australian and British teams began to develop. Over the next few years, the British came back to Australia again and again in an attempt to reclaim a sport that they considered to be their own. After all, how could a bunch of gentlemen loose to uncivilized peoples and the ancestors of convicts? The British were determined to win at all costs.

So, in 1882, the British put together the best team they could out of the greatest players in the country. This match, which would be held at the Oval in England, would surely finally evidence the British's superiority at cricket!

Towards the end of the match at the Oval, it looked like the British finally had victory in the bag. They had reached a score of 4 for 65, and during one stage with only five wickets left, the British needed only nineteen more runs to win. But then, Australian bowler Fred Spofforth managed to keep the British from getting a single run in the whole rest of the stage. Whereas spectators thought that the British could not be beaten from this position, the unthinkable happened. The British lost by only eight runs.

The British were so exasperated and woeful about their loss that the British press published a eulogy for English Cricket. The eulogy explained how English Cricket died at the Oval on the 29th of August 1882, and how many sorrowing friends mourned its loss. The paper reported that the body of English Cricket would be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia. This is how the match between the British and the Australians came to be known as the Ashes. Over the past decade, fans on both sides have remained just as passionate about the game, and the Ashes is still the most popular competition of its kind.

b) It is hard to say who will make off with the win this year in the 2009 Ashes. Both teams seem to be about evenly matched, and it is hard to say whether or not the tests will end in a draw. On the Australian side, captain Ricky Ponting has a team of eighteen 18 players. With players such as Glen McGrath and Shane Warne recently leaving the team, many people have wondered about how strong Australia will be this year. However, the team still has some really great players, including Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Michael Hussey, and Ricky Ponting.

Brett Lee - Can bowl at speeds of up to 160 kph, making him one of the fastest bowlers in the world - In his test debut against India, within the first few innings, he bowled a 5-wicket haul - He can also deliver incredibly fast bouncers and well disguised slower bowls - The highest Twenty20 International score he has is 43 not out off 21 balls against South Africa in 2006.

Stuart Clark - Often compared to Glenn McGrath - Named Bowler of the Series in the last Ashes series - Very accurate bowler, and very consistent also

Ricky Ponting - In 1996, in a match against Sri Lanka, he made 96 runs - Over the last few year, he has become an incredible run scorer - In February of 2005, he hit 98 not out off 55 balls against New Zealand - In both 2006 and 2007, Ponting was awared the title ICC Player of the Year

On the British side, the team has a new coach, Andy Flower, who has brought in many new players to make up for the recent loss of several key team players. New recruits include Ravi Bopara, Graham Swan and Graham Onions. The British side also still has experienced player Andrew Flintoff, as long as he recovers fast enough for the Ashes.

Ravi Bopara - In his test debut in the West Indies, he scored 124 not out in a warm up match, and then scored his first tesst century. - When selected for another test series against the West Indies, he scored two more centuries. He is only the fifth British player in the history of the game to score three consecutive centuries.

Andrew Flintoff - the best all-around player Britain has had for the past several years - Named ICC Player of the Year 2005 - Awarded the MBE in 2005 - Was paid 1.55 million dollars to play on the side of the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League

However, Flintoff keeps getting injured again and again. In February he tore a muscle in his right hip, and then injured his knee a few months later while playing in the Indian Premier League. It is hard to say if he will be in good enough shape to compete in the Ashes. Both of these teams have recently lost some of their best players and replaced them with largely untried players. It will be a fun match that will really prove the abilities of some of these newer players.

c) Most Americans are not familiar with cricket and know nothing about how the game is played besides that it is similar to American baseball. But with the Ashes is coming up, many Americans have become more interested in cricket. The Ashes is a cricket match between the Australians and the British that is famous across the world. During the Ashes, there are five five-day long test matches. Similar to baseball, cricket teams earn runs and get out when the ball they hit is caught. But in order to really enjoy watching the match off, here are some additional rules about cricket that you should know.

Basic cricket set-up

- There are eleven players on each team in a cricket match - Cricket is played on a large, grassy field referred to as a pitch - In the very middle of the pitch is a 22 yard long strip of grass called the wicket where players come to bat - At both ends of the wicket, there are three sticks placed just next to one another called stumps - On top the stumps are placed two smaller sticks called bails. When a batter's ball hits the stumps and knocks them over, he is out. - A chalk outline is drawn around the stumps, and is called a crease. The crease is a safe area for batters.

Like baseball, there is an in team and an out team. There are two main kinds of cricket players; batters and bowlers (who throw the ball). There is also a player called the wicket keeper. The wicket keeper's position is equivalent to a catcher in baseball. His main goal is to stop balls that pass the batsman in order to keep the other team from scoring runs, but is also in a close position to get the batsman out. The game also has two umpires that referee the matches. One major difference between baseball and cricket is that in cricket, there are two batsmen playing at a time, one on each end of the wicket. So, the batting team tries to get as many points as they can while the bowling team tries to keep them from getting points. Then, the teams switch positions.

What are the ways that cricket teams can earn runs?

- A run is scored every time the batting pair runs between the wickets after a ball has been bowled - If a ball is bowled and goes outside of the playing area, it scores runs. If the ball touches the ground before leaving the playing area, it scores four runs. If it does not touch at all, six runs are scored. - If the bowler does not throw the ball correctly, the opposing team will get as many as four runs

What are the ways that players get out?

- If the batter hits the ball and the ball is caught, he is out - If the a member of the opposing team throws the ball and it hits the wickets and knocks them over, if the batter is not within the area of the crease, he is out. - The wicket keeper can also get the batter out when the batsman is stepping all the way out of the crease

d) The Ashes have been going on now for over 125 years, and this year, millions of people throughout the world will tune in to watch the match. Over the years, there have plenty of incredible matches and bizarre facts about the event.

Cricket has been around for centuries

Cricket is the second most popular sport in the world, the first most popular being soccer. Although no one is sure exactly when the game began, it was already beginning to become popular as early as 1611. However, the game was perceived as illegal and immoral, and so that year in England, two men playing the game were arrested because they should have been at church. These arrests did little to nothing to curb the growing popularity of the game, and for the next few years, an increasing number of arrests of players were made.

The birth of "the Ashes"

Ironically, just a few centuries later, cricket had become a gentleman's game. A British team from Liverpool decided that they would like to face off a group of Australians in a match. Thinking that they would easily win, the British were taken by surprise when they found out that Australian cricket players were actually really good at the sport. Most of these early Australian players were indigenous Australians.

After a few years of matches with the Australians, the British set up a huge match with the Australians in August of 1882. The British searched the nation for the best players, and it seemed like they were set to win. But, at the end of the match, the Australians shockingly defeated the British. The British were so upset about the loss that the press published a satirical eulogy saying that English Cricket had died and that the ashes of Cricket's body would be taken back to Australia. This is how the event got its name, "The Ashes," and that years match began an eternal rivalry between the two countries.

About the famously ugly Ashes cup"

In 1883, the British won the series against Australia, and so a group of women from Melbourne presented the team with a small 6 inch terracotta urn. Even today, no one is sure what is in the urn. Since it is so fragile, the the urn was placed in the MCC Cricket Museum in 1953. Due to its fragile condition, a Waterford Crystal replica of the original terracotta urn was made for the winning team to keep until the next match.

Highlights of some of the record breaking Ashes matches: "

1938: Len Hutton made 364 runs to break Don Bradman's record of 334 runs. 1938: Hutton was not the only batter to score centuries this year. Maurice Leyland and Joe Hardstaff also scored centuries, giving England the largest margin of victory they have ever had before or since. 1948: The Australian team known as the Invincibles doesn't lose a single match during the whole tour. 1976: Australia wins the match by 45 runs at the Melbourne cricket ground. The really weird thing about this match was that in 1876, exactly a hundred years before, Australia also beat England by 45 runs at the Melbourne cricket ground. Between 1987 and 2001, Australia won the Ashes seven times in a row, the biggest winning streak in the history of the event.

The Ashes Videos