How did The Ashes start?

A day after England’s first loss to Australia at The Oval on home soil on Aug. 29, 1882, the Sporting Times published a mock obituary for English cricket, which stated that "the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia." The term “ashes” caught on with the public.

The Ashes is a biennial cricket match between England and Australia. In Australia, a year after England’s first loss to Australia on home soil, an urn containing the ashes of a wicket ball was presented to the captain of the touring English team. In the 1990s, the Marylebone Cricket Club commissioned a Waterford Crystal trophy shaped like an urn for the two teams to compete for at the matches.