Images Dated 26th June 2015

Death Of Cricket, The Sporting Times mock obituary 1882

Australia and England first met in Test match cricket in Melbourne in 1877, but the legend of The Ashes, the symbolic trophy the two teams play for, only began in 1882 when at the Oval in London, Australia won its first test match on English soil, beating its hosts by seven runs in a match that spanned two days in late August.
Four days later a mock obituary, lamenting the home side's loss, appeared in a newspaper, The Sporting Times, written by Reginald Shirley Brooks.
?In Affectionate Remembrance of English cricket, which died at The Oval on 29 August 1882. Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances RIP. NB ? the body will be cremated and the ashes takes to Australia.?
The bales were burnt and the ashes placed in an urn to become The Ashes for which Australia and England compete. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)