The Ashes, the legendary cricket series between England and Australia, began in 1877 with the first-ever Test match played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The rivalry quickly grew after England lost to Australia on home soil in 1882, prompting a satirical obituary in The Sporting Times declaring that “English cricket had died, and the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.”
Australia, led by Bill Woodfull, toured England in the summer of 1930 for a 5 Test series. The tourists won the Ashes back after winning two of the matches and losing one, with the other two tests drawn.
The 21-year old Don Bradman on his maiden tour to England with just 4 Tests under his belt was the star of the series scoring a record 974 runs. His innings of 334 at Leeds was a ferocious, sustained assault such as cricket had never experienced. This knock paved the way for Australia's Ashes victory. His dominance was established by scoring 2,960 runs on tour at an average of 98.66, with scores of 236, 185, 252, 191, 254, 232 and 205, and capped by the then world record Test innings at Headingley.
Wisden summed up Bradman's record breaking run as "It is not too much to say that he took England and the whole cricket world by storm. Those who had seen him play in Australia were fully prepared for something out of the common but little would we dream that his progress would be of such a triumphal nature."
1980: Kim Hughes lights up Lords in Centenary Test
Fletcher: Gambhir needs to be more positive (SCG)
around the world |
---|
|
|
|
more... |
CricketCrowd Articles |
---|
|
|
|
more... |