The Ashes

About this event

The Ashes is the Test cricket series between England and Australia and the oldest rivalry in the sport. It takes its name from a mock obituary published in The Sporting Times after Australia's 1882 win at The Oval, which declared English cricket dead and its ashes taken to Australia; the small terracotta urn presented to the England captain the following winter became the symbol of the contest. The series is normally five Test matches, each up to five days, played alternately in England and Australia roughly every two years, and the holder retains the urn if a series is drawn. Its history carries the sport's most contested episodes, from the Bodyline tour of 1932–33 to Don Bradman's final innings in 1948, which left his career Test average at 99.94. Australian summers give the series its largest crowds, with matches at the traditional grounds in Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. The next series window runs from November 2027 into January 2028 across Australian grounds.