Ashes 2009

England won something – at last!!! Friendly rivalry is one thing but to constantly lose can be very tiring. Which is why England’s win in this Ashes’ series against Australia is all the more satisfying. Last time we won was in 2005 and I think we also won the Rugby that year as well. Clearly remember Johnny Wilkinson being in the newspapers quite a bit. Evidently Freddie Flintoff’s post cricket celebrations were also not missed by the papers either; the man couldn’t stay up right! Here’s a reminder in case you forgot! Start watching the clip at 0.40 for Freddie's contribution ;) Unfortunately I didn’t watch the series in 2005 due to exam time stress and all stuff. This time however, even though it was still exam/dissertation time, I made a point to watch at least a few matches rather than avoid it altogether. How did I not notice the size of the Ashes urn previously, that thing is tiny?!

Apparently the real one is kept some place safe – Interesting history though...

QUOTE: < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_ashes >
“The series is named after a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, The Sporting Times, in 1882 after a 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 dubbed the next English tour to Australia (1882-83) as the quest to regain The Ashes.

During that tour a small terracotta urn was presented to England captain Ivo Bligh by a group of Melbourne women. The contents of the urn are reputed to be the ashes of an item of cricket equipment, possibly a bail, ball or stump. The Dowager Countess of Darnley claimed recently that her mother-in-law, Bligh's wife Florence Morphy, said that they were the remains of a lady's veil.

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 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 presented to the MCC by Bligh's widow upon his death.”