How Did The Ashes Get Its Name?

The Ashes was born out of a match in 1882 when England played Australia at the Oval cricket ground in England.  It was a close match but the Australian bowler FR Spofforth made enough wickets to push ahead. Following the match, a spoof obituary was published in The Sporting Times.  It read, 'In affectionate remembrance of English Cricket, which died at the Oval on 28th August 1882.'

A month later in Australia, the English team was presented with an urn that supposedly contained the Ashes of English Cricket!! From then on, the urn became a trophy to reward the winner of the battle between England and Australia. No one is quite sure what is contained in the urn, but many think it holds the burned remains of a bail used in a Melbourne test match.

Today, the original urn stays in England and when Australia players win (which they usually do) they only get to take home a replica of the original trophy.