Australia Inflicts Ashes Whitewash read the Headlines this morning. OK- I admit- being a girl I am not so knowledgeable on the sport- but it is always good when the home team whoops arse don’t you think? Condolences to all the Pommies out there. The good news is- most that I have talked to- did still seem to enjoy their trip to OZ since we custom ordered cool weather and rain to make them feel at home. He He He.
But What is the Ashes- many of you might say? In fact many of you might say- what is cricket? I’ll tackle the later question first as a way to stir up a few folks from cricket loving countries. Read at your own risk….
Cricket- is a bizarre baseball-type sport that is a fabulous way for a bunch of guys to stand around a field all weekend long drinking beer, hanging out in the sun and occasionally catching a ball. Only two players are really engaged at any given time- the baller (pitcher) and the batter. The rest of the guys mostly hang out, scratch themselves, smoke, play in the dirt, and generally enjoy themselves. Honestly- I think the world would be a much better place if all warring countries took it up as a way to settle disputes. By the time the Test (match/game) was over, no one would really remember what the problem was in the first place.
As I am told the highlight of going to watch professional cricket is making Beer Snakes or long rows of empty beer cups after the beer has been drunk (the picture to the right is 23 Meters long and made of 1000′s of cups!). The excitement comes not only from drinking the beer but from trying to keep security from confiscating the hard wrought snakes and other items such as the security-feared-ever-evil-crowd-pleaser- the beach ball.
The Ashes: One of the major focuses of the controversial Where in the Bloody Hell Are you Campaign. According to Wikipedia: The Ashes is a Test cricket series, played between England and Australia – it is international cricket’s oldest and most celebrated rivalry dating back to 1882. It is currently played nominally biennially, alternately in England and Australia. However since cricket is a summer game, the venues being in opposite hemispheres means the break between series is alternately 18 months and 30 months. If a series is drawn then the country holding the Ashes retains them.
Here’s the good stuff:
The series is named after a satirical obituary published in The Sporting Times in 1882 after the match at The Oval, in which Australia beat England in England for the first time. The obituary stated that English cricket had died, and the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia. The English media dubbed the next English tour, to Australia (1882-83) as the quest to regain The Ashes.
Apparently the trophy is a replica Urn symbolic of a a real one that started out as a practical joke between the teams. According to Yahoo Australia, Australia inflicted only the second 5-0 whitewash in an Ashes series after beating England by 10 wickets in the fifth Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground. This Years Australia joined Warwick Armstrong’s Australian side of 1920-21 as the only Ashes teams to have made a clean sweep of the old enemy in a five-match series. Gotta Love It! Play Ball and please pass the Urn!
