History of Ashes

It was at the Oval on 29th August, 1882 that England lost to Australia for the first time on English soil. The one-off Test at Oval was one of the most fascinating matches of all times, which ended with a seven-run defeat of England. The shocking defeat inspired a young journalist Reginald Shirley Brook to write a mock obituary of English cricket in a London newspaper The Sporting Times.
“In affectionate remembrance of English cricket which died at The Oval, 29th August, 1882. Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances, RIP. NB — The body will be cremated and the Ashes taken to Australia,”

Three weeks after the famous defeat Hon. Ivo Bligh, afterwards Lord Darnley, led the English team to Australia with a mission to reclaim the Ashes.He promised that he would regain “the ashes” on the tour to Australia in 1882–83.Though England lost the first Test by nine wickets, they went on to win the next two of the three-Test series.
It is generally believed that a group of Victorian ladies, including Florence Morphy (who later married Ivo Bligh), gave a small terracotta urn as a present to Ivo Bligh after a private cricket match was played over Christmas in 1882. The English team were guests of Sir William Clarke at his property “Rupertswood”, in Sunbury, Victoria. This was before the three Test matches were played.
During the tour of Australia in 2006/7, the MCC official accompanying the urn confirmed that the urn contains the ashes of a cricket bail. The terracotta urn is about six inches tall and originally could have been a perfume jar.
Florence, widow of Ivo Bligh, gave the urn to MCC after his death in 1927. The historic urn can be seen in the cricket museum at Lord’s along with the scorecard of the 1882 match at the Oval.
The text on the urn is as follows:-
When Ivo goes back with the urn, the urn;Studds, Steel, Read and Tylecote return, return;The welkin will ring loud,The great crowd will feel proud,Seeing Barlow and Bates with the urn, the urn;And the rest coming home with the urn.

(as appeared in http://full2cricket.com/?p=516)

The much awaited Ashes series 2009 is starting on july 8th, hope it will not be an white wash as last time when Australia won the series 5-0. This time the teams are evenly matched and with Brett Lee ruled out for the first two tests, we are in for a gripping contest.