Know the story of Ashes, cricket's biggest carnival

New Delhi: The Ashes which is going on in England, is the biggest festival in the history of cricket. It dates back to 19th Century. The Ashes is a five Test-Match series between England and Australia being played since 1882. Both the teams play as rivals against each other and the spectators react in the same way. The Ashes series is a two innings per match, five test match series and played under the regular rules of cricket. The defending team holds the trophy if the series is drawn.The tournament is not a war. There is a story behind the name 'Ashes'.In 1882, when England lost a match in Oval against Australia, the British newspaper 'The Sporting Times' published an obituary which states that, "English cricket has died, and the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia". Thus the name Ashes gained currency.Soon after, the English media gave the title for the next English tour of Australia as 'The quest to regain the Ashes'.During that tour, Ivo Bligh, the then English Captain was gifted a small terracotta urn by a group of Melbourne women. That urn included ashes of a cricket bail.The team was led by Ivo Bligh and that team won the series by 2-1. The urn is believed to be the trophy for the Ashes, but it has never been officially announced. Ivo Bligh took it as a personal gift, but the replicas are given to the victorious teams as a symbol of their victory. After the demise of Ivo Bligh, his widow donated it to Marylebone Cricket Club Museum at Lord's. Australia dominates the overall wins in Ashes with 123 and England has won 100 matches so far since 1882-2011. 87 matches were drawn. Till date, 66 Ashes series have been played between both the countries in which Australia leads by 1 series.Australia have won 31 series and England 30. The remaining four were drawn. England are the current holders of the Ashes with wins in 2009 and 2010-11 series played in Australia and England respectively. This season, England are leading with 2-0 with 3rd match ended as a draw.