Legend of Ashes...
There are some stories that cease to remain stories with time, they become legends and later folklore. The story of Ashes has become a modern-day legend. No other sport in the history of mankind has a story as unique as that of Ashes. No wonder its revered so deeply by the cricket lovers. Its not just a game of cricket between Australia and England. It is part of history, part of legend and one day will be part of folklore.
The year was 1882. For the first time in the history of test cricket had Australia defeated the full-side England. A British journalist wrote a mock obituary in the paper. It is all part of folklore, when one of the English player's wife took the bails of the wicket, burned it and put the ashes in the urn. Three weeks later, England went to Australia to take back that urn (the ashes) and so the story started.
Mock Obituary of England team printed in a newspaper in 1882, which started the Legend of Ashes...
The original urn is kept in a cricket museum and it has only be taken twice to Australia as part of Australia's Bicentennial celebrations.
The text of the urn says,
The original urn with ashes of the bails
"When Ivo goes back with the urn, the urn;
Studds, Steel, Read and Tylecote return, return;
The welkin will ring loud,
The great crowd will feel proud,
Seeing Barlow and Bates with the urn, the urn;
And the rest coming home with the urn."
Ashes has gone through a lot including the turbulent "bodyline" series where English bowlers would target Australian batsmen esp. Bradman's body and they would end up giving catch on the leg-side to save themselves (this is before helmet were worn by players).
1932-33 Bodyline Series. Note the number of players on leg-side, ready to catch any ball that the batsmen tries to defend.
Over time the series was evenly split, although gradually Australia became more dominant. Australia had retained the Ashes since 1989 till 2005 when one of the greatest Ashes series took place with England prevailing in the end. I not only saw all the matches but read one of the best books about cricket based on the series, David Frith's Battle of the Ashes, with details of its each and every match.
2005 Ashes Series, which revived the legend once again...
As the 2006 series rolls along, the legend of Ashes continues...
The year was 1882. For the first time in the history of test cricket had Australia defeated the full-side England. A British journalist wrote a mock obituary in the paper. It is all part of folklore, when one of the English player's wife took the bails of the wicket, burned it and put the ashes in the urn. Three weeks later, England went to Australia to take back that urn (the ashes) and so the story started.
Mock Obituary of England team printed in a newspaper in 1882, which started the Legend of Ashes...The original urn is kept in a cricket museum and it has only be taken twice to Australia as part of Australia's Bicentennial celebrations.
The text of the urn says,
The original urn with ashes of the bails"When Ivo goes back with the urn, the urn;
Studds, Steel, Read and Tylecote return, return;
The welkin will ring loud,
The great crowd will feel proud,
Seeing Barlow and Bates with the urn, the urn;
And the rest coming home with the urn."
Ashes has gone through a lot including the turbulent "bodyline" series where English bowlers would target Australian batsmen esp. Bradman's body and they would end up giving catch on the leg-side to save themselves (this is before helmet were worn by players).
1932-33 Bodyline Series. Note the number of players on leg-side, ready to catch any ball that the batsmen tries to defend.Over time the series was evenly split, although gradually Australia became more dominant. Australia had retained the Ashes since 1989 till 2005 when one of the greatest Ashes series took place with England prevailing in the end. I not only saw all the matches but read one of the best books about cricket based on the series, David Frith's Battle of the Ashes, with details of its each and every match.
2005 Ashes Series, which revived the legend once again...As the 2006 series rolls along, the legend of Ashes continues...
posted by fursat at 3:34 PM
22 Comments:
oh ho am first again :D
good post, aayee to mein mein hun don post pardhney ke liyey and saw this, chalo let me read that one also
Cricket......nothing much to say...Aus is my fav team!!! n the recent entry in my drool worthy list is Kevin Peterson !!
I didn't know this legend or story. Nice to read and thanks put it here.
If I say Ausie is my fav team then hope you wouldn't go gurrrrrrrrr kitttttttttttt.
for a cricket illiterate like me, this was like a kindergarten lesson!
thanx for the piece of info
okayy.. me's here! :D
Ah man!! The love of the game. This is soo cool. And ROFL @ the mock mourning. Too funny. Though I completely understand the sentiments underlined there. And yeah, man! Ashes 2005 was totally kick@$$ Cricket. I want a complete DVD of that. Keep the Cricket spirit alive!!!!!
payal: hmm i hate cricket... :)btw..rain updated
Ricky :)
How u doing?
Me here 4 the 1st time.
Thatz an interesting read, though I am not a big cricket fan :)
Love,Live,Laughter
Lust4Life
ricky-brialliantly informative! I stopped following cricket after the 1998 world cup and the match fixing scandal...an interesting post...keep it up :-)
i cant seem to put a comment with blogger as an identity?
btw...cud u plss mail me the "winter wonderland" pic from snow, snw, everywhere??
payal-da raingal
vadiya paaji!
abhi exams wagera ho gaye...blog karne ka time mil gaya aapko...humme bhi 2 minute ki entertainment mil gayi...
i am not a cricket fan but found your story interesting :) So thats is how ashes got its name.. i always thought it was rather crazy name :) now i know why..
bhandari's - Yipppieee!!
Thanks!!
mehak - LOL!! Drool worthy toh uski gf hain yaar [:D]
Juneli - Thanks!! I love Aussie team too [:D]
anks - :-)
pinks - You are welcome!!
reema - Ha ha!! This is the shortest comment from your side [:P]
cosmic dust - Thanks!! You too!!
payal - LOL
lust4life - I am doing good. How are you doing? Welcome to my blog. Thanks for liking it.
marlee - Thanks Marlee!! You should be able to put comment with blogger identity or even without it.
payal - Done!!
riddhi - I am glad I could entertain you.
kishley - Thanks!!
:) good read and thanks for badao my gyan *smiles*
faith - Thank You jee [:D]
lol! meyne sirf attendance lagaaya hai.. im clueless! reading it was like takin a calculus class 4 me.. :|
:p
reema - LOL
Hi, i was looking over your blog and didn't
quite find what I was looking for. I'm looking for
different ways to earn money... I did find this though...
a place where you can make some nice extra cash secret shopping.
I made over $900 last month having fun!
make extra money now
Post a Comment
<< Home