The Ashes

This week in Australia, it's been all about Cricket.  The Ashes are on, and although you probably haven't heard of this series, the entire cricketing world has its eyes on Australia to see the English and the Aussie's have it out.

The Ashes is the name for the five cricket test matches played between England and Australia every few years.  Although I haven't quite figured out cricket (or, for that matter, heard a convincing argument why I should put in the effort), I have learned a few interesting things about the series in the run-up to the first test, which was played just blocks from my house in the Gabba, the Brisbane cricket ground:

                  1. Since cricket is a summer sport, and England and Australia have opposite

                      summers, the series is played not every year, but every 18-30 months, 

                      depending on some factor that probably makes sense to Cricket fans.  

                  2.  It's not just the English Cricket team that's in town.  So is the Barmy Army - 

                       the semi-organized fan group that follows the English Cricket team on 

                       international tours, including, most passionately, The Ashes.  I've actually 

                       seen quite a few Brits strutting around town proudly displaying Barmy 

                       Army shirts, and English flags have been popping up more frequently, 

                       including on a ferry that drove down the river covered by the Union Jack.

However, my favorite fact about the Ashes is the story of how the test got its name.  In 1882, an Australian cricket team beat the English in England for the first time.  The homeland was horrified to be beaten by the former convict colony, which had  been discovered only a century before.  So horrified, in fact, that the British Press, ever one for a theatrical story, declared English cricket dead.  In the obituary, one newspaper said that the body would be cremated, and the ashes sent to Australia.  Fully appreciating their come-from-behind win, Aussie fans presented the English team with an urn filled with ashes (of a cricket ball, a wedding veil, or various other items, depending on the version of the story you listen to).  And so, even 120 years later, smart British humor hangs on, and the series continues to be known as The Ashes.