Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that can help answer the question.
Query: When was the Ashes series first played?
The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The Ashes are regarded as being held by the team that most recently won the Test series. If the test series is drawn, the team that currently holds the Ashes retains the trophy. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, "The Sporting Times", immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first Test win on English soil. The obituary stated that English cricket had died, and "the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia". The mythical ashes immediately became associated with the 1882–83 series played in Australia, before which the English captain Ivo Bligh had vowed to "regain those ashes". The English media therefore dubbed the tour "the quest to regain the Ashes".
The first recorded game took place in Hobart on 10 May 1879 when the Cricketers Football Club played a scratch match. The first recorded inter-club match took place a month later when the Cricketers took on New Town FC on 7 June (Hobart Mercury), described as English Association Rules. The first recorded reference to British Football (as it was known at the time of its introduction) being played in Tasmania was in 1898 when a team of merchant and navy seamen played an army team on the Domain in Hobart. The first recorded competition was established in 1900 when an organised league was set up comprising three teams - Trinity, Gunners and Sandy Bay. Due to the Boer War organised British Football did not last long but in 1910 it returned and not long after North vs South matches were started.
Cricket has been played in Australia for over 210 years. The first recorded cricket match in Australia took place in Sydney in December 1803 and a report in the Sydney Gazette on 8 January 1804 suggested that cricket was already well established in the infant colony. Intercolonial cricket in Australia started with a visit by cricketers from Victoria to Tasmania in February 1851. The match was played in Launceston on 11–12 February with Tasmania winning by 3 wickets.
Cricket has been played in Hadspen, at Entally and grounds nearer the town's centre, since at least the 1860s. The cricket oval at Entally was one of the first in Australia and was hosting matches before Melbourne's foundation. During his side's 1874 tour of Australia the great English cricketer W. G. Grace played on the ground. Aside from cricket Entally's grounds were often open for picnics and grand annual events. The Hadspen "Chieftains" cricket club was formed in the 1987–88 season and plays as part of the Northern Tasmania Cricket Association. They won the association's A grade premiership in the 1991–92 and 1993–94 seasons, and the Charltons Cup Premiership—a combined competition with the North East Cricket Association—in the 1993–94 and 1994–95 seasons.
The Australia national cricket team represents Australia in international cricket and is a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Test and One Day International (ODI) status. Australia is the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, having played in the first ever Test match in 1877. The team also plays One Day International cricket and Twenty20 International, participating in both the first ODI, against England in the 1970–71 season and the first Twenty20 International, against New Zealand in the 2004–05 season, winning both games.
William Morris "Bill" Lawry, AM (born 11 February 1937) is a former cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia. He captained Australia in 25 Tests, winning nine, losing eight and drawing eight, and led Australia in the inaugural One Day International match, played in 1971. An opening batsman with a reputation for resolute defence, he had the ability to spend long periods of time at the crease. As his career progressed, he wound back his strokeplay to the point where he was described by an English journalist as "the corpse with pads on". Lawry was unceremoniously dumped as captain and player for the final Test of the 1970–71 Ashes series in Australia. Lawry's sacking is regarded as one of the more distasteful incidents in Australian cricket history—he was not informed personally of the selectors' decision before the decision was first broadcast on radio and he only became aware of his fate when confronted by reporters. Lawry was part of the Nine Network cricket commentary team and until 2018, had been in the role for 45 years.
Cricket in England is one of the most popular sports in the country and is known to have been played in England since the 16th century. The Marylebone Cricket Club, based at Lords, developed the modern rules of play and conduct.There are eighteen professional county clubs, seventeen of them in England and one in Wales. All eighteen counties are named after, and were originally representative of, historic counties. These clubs are heavily dependent on subsidies from the England and Wales Cricket Board, which makes its money from television and endorsement contracts and attendances at international matches. The English cricket season traditionally starts at the beginning of April and runs though to the second half of September although in recent years counties have played pre season friendly matches at the very end of March.
The first cricket Test match was played in 1877 between Australia and England. Cricket was contested at the 1900 Summer Olympics where Great Britain defeated France by 158 runs. However, the International Olympic Committee cancelled cricket as an Olympic sport afterwards.
The 1735 English cricket season was the 39th cricket season since the earliest recorded eleven-aside match was played. Details have survived of 10 top-class matches, nine played eleven-a-side and one single wicket match.
Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, (24 December 19324 December 2000) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Oxford University (1952–1954), Kent County Cricket Club (1950–1976) and England (1954–1975). Universally known as Colin Cowdrey, he "delighted crowds throughout the world with his style and elegance", and was the first cricketer to play 100 Test matches, celebrating the occasion with 104 against Australia in 1968. In all he played 114 Tests, making 7,624 runs at an average of 44.06, overtaking Wally Hammond as the most prolific Test batsman, and taking 120 catches as a fielder, breaking another Hammond record. Cowdrey made 22 Test centuries (an England record until 2013) and was the first batsman to make centuries against the six other Test playing countries of his era; Australia, South Africa, the West Indies, New Zealand, India and Pakistan, making hundreds against them all both home and away. He toured Australia six times in 1954–55, 1958–59, 1962–63, 1965–66, 1970–71 and 1974–75, equalling Colin Blythe's record, and in his last Test fans hung out a banner 'M.C.G. FANS THANK COLIN – 6 TOURS'.
The 1736 English cricket season was the 40th cricket season since the earliest recorded eleven-aside match was played. Details have survived of 17 top-class matches and two notable single wicket matches.
Opening batsman and former captain Alastair Cook holds several England Test cricket records. Playing between 2006 and 2018, he scored 12,472 runs, making him the only England player to score 10,000 Test runs. He scored a record 57 half-centuries and 33 centuries. As a slip fielder, Cook has also taken the most catches for England with 175 and holds the England record for the most catches taken in Test series with 13. Captaining his side from 2010 until he stood down in 2016, Cook holds the record for the most matches played as English skipper with 59, the Test record for the most consecutive matches played with 159 and the record for the most matches played for England with 161.
Lawry started the 1967–68 home series against India well. After compiling 42 and a duck in the First Test win, he made an even 100 in the Second Test in Adelaide to help secure an innings victory. After the Test, Lawry became Australian captain when Simpson stood aside having announced that he would retire from international cricket at the end of the series. His form remained consistent, scoring 64, 45, 66 and 52 in the two remaining Tests as Australia completed a 4–0 clean sweep. He had a productive summer with 369 runs at 52.71. In all first-class matches, Lawry made 805 runs at 47.35, adding a second century for the season in a vain attempt to prevent a Victorian defeat at the hands of Western Australia. Throughout the summer, Lawry made many start without converting them into large scores. In 17 innings, he made six half-centuries, all less than 70, and four scores in the forties. Under his leadership, Victoria won three and lost two of their seven Shield matches for the season.
The 1738 English cricket season was the 42nd cricket season since the earliest recorded eleven-aside match was played. Details have survived of seven matches.
Shane Warne, regarded as one of the best bowlers in the history of the game, holds several Test records. He held the record for the most Test wickets with 708 until December 2007 when Sri Lankan bowler Muttiah Muralitharan passed Warne's milestone. Warne is second only to Muralitharan in taking the most five-wicket hauls in an innings and the most ten-wicket hauls in a Test match. Glenn McGrath, who took 563 wickets in his career, is second only to England's James Anderson for the most wickets taken by a fast bowler in Test cricket. Adam Gilchrist is Australia's most successful wicket-keeper having taken 416 dismissals. He is second only to South Africa's Mark Boucher with 555 to his name. Allan Border, who made his Test debut in 1978 and captained Australia from 1984 until his retirement in 1994, holds the Australian record for the most consecutive matches played with 153 and the record for the most matches played as skipper for Australia with 93.
The top five records are listed for each category, except for the team wins, losses, draws and ties and the partnership records. Tied records for fifth place are also included. Explanations of the general symbols and cricketing terms used in the list are given below. Specific details are provided in each category where appropriate. 
, Australia has played 818 Test matches resulting in 384 victories, 222 defeats, 210 draws and 2 ties for an overall winning percentage of 46.94, the highest winning percentage of Test playing teams. Australia has played the second-highest number of Test matches, behind England who have competed in 1,007. Australia has never lost or drawn a match against Zimbabwe, the only team to do so. Australia is also the only team to win their debut Test match with every other team losing their first Test except Zimbabwe who drew against India.
The earliest known mention of the concept occurs in a report by the "London Evening Post" of 7 to 9 September 1734 which states that the London Cricket Club, being "desirous of playing one more match before the season is expired, do challenge to play with any eleven men in England". The challenge excluded members of Croydon Cricket Club, with whom London were in dispute. It is possible that challenges of this sort had been issued previously but no records of them have been found. There had been matches involving, for example, a team representing one county against a team bearing a patron's name and it is possible that teams of the latter type included players from a wide geographical area. In the 1730s, "any eleven men in England" would in practice have come from the southeastern counties only: e.g., Berkshire, Essex, Hampshire, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey, Sussex.
Playfair Cricket Annual is a compact annual about cricket that is published in the United Kingdom each April, just before the English cricket season is due to begin. It has been published every year since 1948. Its main purposes are to review the previous English season and to provide detailed career records and potted biographies of current players. It is produced in a "pocket-sized" format, being approximately 5×4 in (i.e., about 13×10 cm), so that it is a convenient size for carrying to cricket matches. The front cover of each edition has featured a photograph of a prominent current cricketer. There is a popular myth that this "honour" has a "hex" or "curse" associated with it, as the player featured then invariably has a poor season.
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) and concludes the MLB postseason. First played in 1903, the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and is a contest between the champions of baseball's National League (NL) and American League (AL). Often referred to as the "Fall Classic", the modern World Series has been played every year since 1903 with two exceptions: in 1904, when the NL champion New York Giants declined to play the AL champion Boston Americans; and in 1994, when the series was canceled due to the players' strike.
1883 was the 97th season of cricket in England since the foundation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). There was the first of four successive titles won by Notts, and the beginning of the "Great Revival" of Surrey, who had been among the weaker counties since 1866.An unofficial seasonal title sometimes proclaimed by consensus of media and historians prior to December 1889 when the official County Championship was constituted. Although there are ante-dated claims prior to 1873, when residence qualifications were introduced, it is only since that ruling that any quasi-official status can be ascribed.
When designating cricket seasons, the convention is to use a single year for a northern hemisphere summer season, and a dashed pair of years to indicate a southern hemisphere summer. Hence, 1948 for the English summer season and 1948–49 for the Australian summer that followed some months later. In the tropics, cricket can be played all year round.
In the United Kingdom, the cricket season starts mid-April and ends in September, whereas in Australia, the cricket season begins in October and ends in February or March.
The season will begin on 26 March with the first of three rounds of matches between first-class counties and the six Marylebone Cricket Club University teams. Each first-class county will play one first-class match against a university side before the start of the County Championship season in April.
The 1974–75 Ashes series consisted of six cricket Test matches, each match lasted five days with six hours of play each day and eight ball overs. It formed part of the MCC tour of Australia in 1974–75 and the matches outside the Tests were played in the name of the Marylebone Cricket Club. Ian Chappell's Australians won the series 4–1 and "brutally and unceremoniously wrenched the Ashes" from Mike Denness's England team. It was Australia's first series victory over England for ten years and the experience proved popular as 777,563 spectators came through the gates and paid nearly a million Australian dollars for the privilege. For the first time the first day of the Third Test at Melbourne was held on Boxing Day in an Ashes series, now a cricketing tradition.
In Europe, "Ashes to Ashes" is broadcast by BBC Entertainment.The first series, set in 1981, consists of eight episodes, written mainly by creators Ashley Pharoah (episodes 2 & 8) and Matthew Graham (episodes 1 & 7). Other writers for the series were Julie Rutterford (episode three) and Mark Greig (episodes 4 & 5), who worked on the parent series, "Life on Mars". The remaining episode (6) was written by freelance writer Mick Ford. In this series Alex tries to figure out what happened to her parents, whose lives are connected to the political unrest of the time, especially Margaret Thatcher's campaign and Lord Scarman's attacks on the police. Alex is haunted by a mysterious figure who seems to be the Clown from the music video of David Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes", reminiscent of the Test-Card Girl who bedevilled Sam Tyler in "Life on Mars". (The clown's identity is revealed in the last episode of the first series.)
Heralded in 1931, the first women's Test series between England and Australia—the first women's Test series anywhere—was played in 1934–35. At that time, according to the English captain, Betty Archdale, women played only "for love of the game" and did not wish to be associated with the male concepts of Tests and Ashes. The contest was not officially designated "the Women's Ashes" until the 1998 series, when an autographed bat was burned before the first Test at Lord's, some ashes then being placed inside a hollowed-out wooden cricket ball replica to manufacture a trophy. In 2013, a new Women's Ashes trophy was produced.
The 1954–55 Ashes series between Australia and England consisted of five Test cricket matches, each of six days duration with five hours play each day and eight ball overs. It formed part of the MCC tour of Australia in 1954–55 and the English team in matches outside the Tests were styled Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). England were captained by Len Hutton, the first professional cricketer to lead an MCC tour of Australia. The Australian team under Ian Johnson were confident of victory but, despite losing the first Test by an innings, England won the series 3–1 and retained the Ashes.