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- The first test series (two matches) between England and Australia was played in Melbourne, Australia, in 1877.
- Australia won the first match while England won the second.
- Six more test matches were played between the two teams over the next five years.
- Australia won three of these, England won one and two matches ended in a draw.
- Now, out of these eight matches, seven were played in Australia.
- The one that was played in England in 1880, England had won convincingly (by 5 wickets).
- Then in 1882, Australia toured England to play only one match.
- And in a low-scoring match, it beat England by 7 runs.
- It was the first time England had lost a test match at home.
- And a British colony beating England at home shocked the public and media.
- An English newspaper, The Sporting Times, featured a satirical obituary mocking English cricket.
- It read: “In Affectionate Remembrance of English cricket, which died at the Oval on 29 August 1882.”
- N.B.A Latin phrase nota bene, meaning “note well”: The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.
- The then England captain vowed the team would regain those ashes and the media termed the next series (1883) ‘a quest to regain the Ashes’.
- In 1883, in the three-match series played in Australia, England beat Australia 2-1 to “reclaim the Ashes”.
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Image courtesy of John Garghan through Flickr
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