This is an imagined depiction of the Test cricket match between Australia and England which resulted in the creation of the Ashes cricket series. The tussle began with England’s defeat by Australia in a match at The Oval in August 1882, the first time the English side had been beaten on home soil. Australia made only 63 runs in the first innings and 122 in the second, leaving England with a meagre run chase of 85 to win, but they were bowled out just seven runs short of victory. A mock obituary appeared in the Sporting Times lamenting the death of English cricket, stating that ‘the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia’. When the English team toured Australia in 1882–1883, captain Ivo Bligh resolved to ‘regain those ashes’ and did so, winning the series 2-1. A group of ladies, including Bligh’s future wife, then presented the English captain with an urn reputedly containing the ashes of a stump or ball. Now residing in the MCC Museum at Lord’s, the urn and its disputed contents remain the so-called ‘prize’ in the biennial Test series still played between the two countries.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009
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