A look back at the Ashes

1882: Concept of Ashes accidentally born when, after England suffer their first home loss to Australia at The Oval, the Sporting Times publishes a mock obituary which says the body of English cricket ‘will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia’.

1911/12: Jack Hobbs leads England’s batting with 662 runs at 82.75 as they win 4-1 in Australia

1920/21: Australia record the first Ashes whitewash, winning 5-0 as fast bowler Jack Gregory runs through England’s batting

1930: Australia’s Don Bradman, scores 974 runs -- still a world record with a best of 334 at Leeds as the tourists win the Ashes campaign 2-1

1932/33: England’s ‘Bodyline’ tour of Australia sees skipper Douglas Jardine instruct fast bowlers to bowl at the batsmen’s bodies. They win 4-1

1948: Bradman leads his ‘Invincibles’ on an unbeaten tour of England but, in his final innings and needing just four for a career Test average of 100, he

was bowled for a second-ball duck by England leg-spinner Eric Hollies.

1956: Off-spinner Jim Laker carves himself a place in cricket history by taking 19 out of a possible 20 Australian wickets during England’s victory at Old Trafford. Laker’s 19 for 90 remains a world record Test haul

1972: Bob Massie enjoys the most stunning Ashes debut of any bowler when, in his very first Test match, the Western Australia swing specialist takes 16 for 137 at Lord’s

1974/75: Australia’s Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson herald a new age of aggressive fast bowling -- that culminates in the West Indies’ four-man pace attack -- by spearheading a 4-1 Ashes series win over England.

1981: England win under Ian Botham’s captaincy in a series where he steeped down as the leader

1989: Australia regain the Ashes 4-0, the first of eight successive series wins over England

1993: Shane Warne marks his entrance into Ashes cricket with the “ball of the century”

2005: England regain the Ashes in a thrilling series that sees them win by just two runs at Edgbaston and KP’s brilliance of 158 at the Oval

2006/07: Warne and fellow Australia great Glenn McGrath bow out in style as Australia thrash England 5-0 for only the second whitewash

2010/11: England win an Ashes series in Australia for the first time in 24 years, triumphing 3-1 as opening batsman Alastair Cook scores 766 runs at an an average of 127.6