The Ashes, 2009

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In 1877 a bunch of upstarts from the antipodes sailed back to Mother England, and played cricket. Various games were won and lost until a decisive match occurred in 1882, when England, chasing a modest total of 85 in the fourth innings, collapsed and were all out just seven runs short. Some questioned their lack of "pluck", and shortly afterwards the following obituary notice appeared in the Sporting Times.

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.

The England Australia rivalry has continued unabated, with England trying to "regain the ashes". There are various small trophies which have been used from time to time, but the main one is a tiny urn held in the Marylebone Cricket Club. It is about 6 inches high.



Note that all this took place before the six colonies of Australia united into a single Commonwealth. We had a national cricket team before we had a national constitution, government, or leader. We didn't need to go to war to declare independence; we just beat the Poms at sport.

Ever since, the rivalry has grown steadily. Tours were undertaken, series contested, men injured, blood spilled, flags burned, questions asked in The House, and ambassadors summoned. (Yes, really, during the notorious 1932-3 "Bodyline" series).

Of late, Australia has held the upper hand, as this graphic from Wikipedia shows:


Soon, battle is to be joined again. The squad was announced six weeks ago. They arrived in England almost a month ago. They played in some 20-over games (one "over" = six "balls" = six pitches). They have played warm up games against county sides and the England Second XI. Meanwhile, the England team are warming up with their own internal matches.

Here is the tour itinerary:

Australia in England 2009
June

24-27 v Sussex, Hove

July

1-4 v England Lions, Worcester

8-12 1st Test, Cardiff

16-20 2nd Test, Lord's

24-26 v Northants, Northampton

30-3 Aug 3rd Test, Edgbaston

August

7-11 4th Test, Headingley

15-16 v Kent, Canterbury

20-24 5th Test, The Oval

28 ODI v Scotland, Edinburgh

30 Twenty20 international, Old Trafford

September

1 Twenty20 international, Old Trafford (d/n)

4 1st ODI, The Oval

6 2nd ODI, Lord's

9 3rd ODI, Rose Bowl (d/n)

12 4th ODI, Lord's

15 5th ODI, Trent Bridge (d/n)

17 6th ODI, Trent Bridge (d/n)

20 7th ODI, Riverside

Yes, an ashes tour takes three months.

We take our sport seriously.

The ODIs are "One Day Internationals", where each side gets 50 overs, but the real deal is the test matches, five bouts, each five days long, two innings per side, with all the strategy and gamesmanship you can imagine.

Despite Australia's recent dominance, this series is open for the winning. After the last 5-0 thrashing Australia handed out, came the retirement of almost half of the team, including several all-time greats: Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie, Adam Gilchrist, Damien Marten, Matthew Hayden. Most of the team are young and have only a little international experience. The team have just come through very difficult tours against South Africa and India, and have barely clung to their world number one rating.

England, by contrast, are building up with a solid win over the West Indies, and should be feeling confident on their home wickets.

SO! Stay tuned, cellar dwellars, for I will make occasional posts to tell you all how things are going. I'll try to explain the game as we go.

The first test starts in a day or two, depending on your timezone.