The Ashes began as a joke obituary
In 1882 Australia beat England in a TEST match at the Oval in London for the first time on English soil. The next day, the Sporting Times printed a mock death notice for English cricket, saying the body would be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia. When England toured Australia that winter, the captain vowed to bring the ashes back.
A small urn, said to contain the ashes of a burnt bail or ball, was presented to the England captain during that tour. The urn itself is kept at Lord's cricket ground in London, and the series between England and Australia has been called the Ashes ever since.
The Test that ran out of time
Test matches last up to five days, and they can end in a draw even after all that time if neither side has bowled the other out twice. In 1939 South Africa and England played a timeless Test in Durban with no time limit at all. After ten days of play spread over twelve, England needed only 42 more runs to win — but their ship home was about to leave, and the match was abandoned as a draw.
A Test side bats in two INNINGS, and a batter who scores a hundred makes a CENTURY. An OVER is six balls bowled by one BOWLER from one end, and an over in which no runs are scored is a MAIDEN.
A ball that spins the wrong way
A SPINNER makes the ball turn sideways off the PITCH by twisting it with the wrist or fingers. Around 1900 an English bowler, Bernard Bosanquet, worked out how to bowl a ball that looked as though it would spin one way but actually spun the other. Batters were baffled. It became known as the GOOGLY, and in Australia it is still sometimes called a bosie after him.
A YORKER is a fast ball aimed at the batter's feet, hard to hit and often knocking the STUMPS over. When the ball hits the WICKET, the BAILS fall. Fielders and the bowler shout HOWZAT — how's that — as an APPEAL to the umpire.
A bat made from one kind of tree
A cricket BAT is made from willow, and the best come from a particular white willow grown in England, light and springy enough to send the ball flying. Each tree is grown for about fifteen years before it is cut and split into clefts. Our trees page covers the willow and its relatives.
The first women's Cricket World Cup was played in England in 1973, two years before the first men's. The rest of the grid holds the field placings: SLIP, standing next to the wicketkeeper, COVER, out on the off side, and every FIELDER trying to stop the ball reaching the BOUNDARY. Test players still wear white, but coloured clothing arrived with one-day cricket in the late 1970s, and the short Twenty20 format, with each side facing just twenty overs, began in 2003. An ALLROUNDER is good at both batting and bowling, and WIDES are balls bowled too far from the batter, giving the other side an extra run.