For the discerning cricket followers this is an absolute champagne and caviar stuff. With ’09 Ashes series a few days away, we at Cricketnirvana are bringing you actual match reports (edited version) of some of the historic Ashes matches of all times.
What makes it special is that it comes straight from the archives of the leading British newspaper The Daily Telegraph. Starting from the very Test at Oval (1882), which inspired the iconic mock obituary of English cricket that led to the ‘Ashes’, to the fantastic win of Mike Gatting’s team in the ’86-87 series, it’s all here. So, as umpires say, play!
 One of the most compelling and influential Ashes performances of all times was produced by Ian Botham in the 1981 series. He finished the series with 399 runs and 34 wickets to script England’s one of the finest Ashes series victory ever. |
- The Oval Test in 1882, which led to Ashes.
- The Sydney Test in 1883, which England won and brought home the Ashes.
- The first Test (1894) in which a team (England) won after following on.
- The 1896 Manchester Test where KS Ranjitsinhji made his debut for England and scored 154 not out against Australia.
- The Bodyline series.
- The Bodyline series of 1932-33, which England had won 4-1.
- Bradman-Ponsford world record stand of 451 runs (The 5th Test of '34 series).
- The Oval Test of ’38 series where Len Hutton scored 364, then a world record.
- The Old Trafford Test of ’56 series where Jim Laker took 19 wickets for 90 runs.
- The Sydney Test of ’71-72 series, which England won and regained Ashes.
- The Lord’s Test of ’72 series where debutant Bob Massie took 16 for 137, then a world record.
- The Headingley Test of ’75 series, which had to be abandoned, as the pitch was vandalized by a certain Peter Chappell.
- The centenary Test at Melbourne in 1977; Australia again won the match with the identical margin of 45 runs as they had in 1877.
- The Headingley Test of ’1981 (often referred as ‘Botham Test’).
- The Edgbaston Test of 1981 series where Botham took last five wickets for just one run.
- David Gower’s team regained Ashes in the 1985 series.
- The 4th Test at Melbourne; Mike Gatting led England’s last Ashes victory in Australia in ’86-87 series.
- The 5th Test at Sydney of the ’86-87 series, where debutant Peter Taylor took 8 wickets and helped Australia to win the Test.
