What is the BEST bit about the Ashes to date?

[Tooting Gull]

It's obviously difficult to know where to start - and it won't be the same if we don't finish the job off at The Oval.

But listening to Ponting losing the plot and whingeing on about sub fielders in this last Test - and he's been at it again today even after being fined - just shows how rattled they are, and how far they've fallen. It's superb.

He really is a prize clown, and is clearly lying awake at night worrying that he will be the first Aussie captain to have to go home from here for God knows how long without the Ashes. He'll get slaughtered if that happens.

I've actually got some sympathy with his point about England playing the system on sub fielders - but like a complete dickhead he picked the worst possible time to blow up about it, with Jones off to hospital.

It's a great example of how Test cricket can get to you - over months of intense pressure - in a way other sports don't always manage.

 

[mejonaNO12 aka riskit]

was on holiday(camping) at weekend so couldnt watch sundays play but just hearing the winning runs on a car radio crammed full of people with a cold beer and a bacon sandwich was SUPERB!

 

[B.M.F]

The best bit is yet to come when we lift the ashes trophy

 

[Basil Fawlty]

The best bit is yet to come when we lift the ashes trophy

The real thing aint going to ever leave Lords.

 

[mejonaNO12 aka riskit]

The real thing aint going to ever leave Lords.

and it looks crap

 

[Basil Fawlty]

and it looks crap

Well if someone picks it up right now it would just crumble, hopefully we can find away round this like having it in a box and Vaughan can hold the box with the real urn in it, That would be excellent.

 

[Scotty Mac]

Well if someone picks it up right now it would just crumble, hopefully we can find away round this like having it in a box and Vaughan can hold the box with the real urn in it, That would be excellent.

who cares, seeing a trophy in the england captains hands will be NOTHING to seeing the crushed looks of dejection on the convicts faces

 

[kalinski]

er having a chance at actually winning the series is surely the best bit

 

[Hungry Joe]

By far the best moment yet was seeing Ponting getting his ugly little whining face split open. Anything since then is a bonus.

 

[Beach Hut]

Difficult to say as there has been some impressive stuff on both sides.

As an Englishman the form of Flintoff - finally we have another magnificent all-rounder to match the previous great Botham.

If I were an Aussie my champagne moment so far would have to be the fantastic batting by Brett Lee at the end of their first innings in the last test. Finally proves the theory that all test teams have wised up to - you must have 11 decent batsman now.

That innings by Lee was awesome.

 

[El Presidente]

Personally it has been seeing the best spinner in the world ever try single handed to retain the Ashes for the Aussies. Warney is an absolute star, he gives it and he takes it and plays the game the way it should be played.

 

[Robot Chicken]

On 29th August 1882 England lost to Australia by seven wickets in a very tense match. So tense that one spectator is said to have bitten through the handle of his umbrella! This was the first time that England had lost on home soil. A spoof obituary to English Cricket was published in "The Sporting Times" which said :

("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. N.B. The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.")

The idea took off. The English team left for a tour of Australia shortly afterwards. After winning two out of three tests the visiting English team captain was presented with a small brown urn containing the ashes of a cricket bail by some Melbourne women. These "ashes" are supposed to represent English cricket and since then 'The Ashes' is the trophy that is at stake when England plays Australia at Test match cricket. The urn is on display at in the cricket museum at the Lords Cricket Ground. Since 1998 an Ashes-shaped Waterford crystal trophy has been presented to the winning captain at the end of each Test series between Australia and England.

The only time the urn left London was in 1988 when it was taken to Australia for the country's bicentennial celebrations. MCC had hoped the urn could return to Australia in 2003 but an x-ray taken at the time revealed several serious cracks, notably in the stem. Last year the trophy was repaired and it is now thought 'safe' to take it to Australia again.

 

[rospants]

the best so far - the very horny shane warne

 

[Crazy Cornish Gal]

Shane Warne mmmmmmmmm

 

[Crazy Cornish Gal]

Aw great minds!!!!

 

[Basil Fawlty]

who cares, seeing a trophy in the england captains hands will be NOTHING to seeing the crushed looks of dejection on the convicts faces

Ashes urn to return to Australia

The crystal Ashes urn alongside its more famous counterpart
Cricket's most famous trophy, the Ashes urn, will be sent to Australia in 2006, regardless of who wins this year.
The wooden urn, which dates back to Australia's victory in the 1882 series, has not been Down Under since 1988.

It was to have travelled with the England team on the last Ashes tour in 2002, but needed to undergo repairs.

"We will liaise with Cricket Australia about the best place for it to be displayed," said a spokesman for the MCC, guardians of the legendary urn.

The next tour will mark the 20th anniversary of England's last Ashes-winning campaign, when Mike Gatting's team featuring Ian Botham and David Gower won the five-Test series 2-1.

Following England's defeat by Australia at The Oval in 1882, The Times published an obituary lamenting the "death" of English cricket.

Folklore has it that England captain Ivo Bligh was presented with the ashes from a bail in when his team won the next series between the teams in Australia the following winter.

The Australian-born widow of Bligh presented the urn to the MCC following the death of her husband in 1927.

The winners of this year's Ashes series, one of the most intriguing in history, will be presented with a crystal replica of the original.

 

[Hungry Joe]

he gives it and he takes it

I've heard that too, what an 'all rounder'!

 

[ben andrews' girlfriend]

the best so far - the very horny shane warne

I am SO glad im not the only one that thinks that!!!!

 

[Brighton TID]

everytime warne has been hit for six has brought a warm glowy feeling all over

One things for sure, THE AUSSIES DO NOT LIKE IT UP 'EM

 

[Hungry Joe]

One things for sure, THE AUSSIES DO NOT LIKE IT UP 'EM

I think a fair few of them do, especially that fag-slag Warne.