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About our news on The Ashes
Latest news on The Ashes, a Test cricket series played between England and Australia's men's and women's national teams, including team news updates.
The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, The Sporting Times, immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first Test win on English soil. The obituary stated that English cricket had died, and "the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia". The mythical ashes immediately became associated with the 1882/83 series played in Australia, before which the English captain Ivo Bligh had vowed to "regain those ashes". The English media therefore dubbed the tour the quest to regain the Ashes.
The urn has never been the official trophy of the Ashes series, having been a personal gift to Bligh. However, replicas of the urn are often held aloft by victorious teams as a symbol of their victory in an Ashes series.
A men's Ashes series traditionally consists of five Tests, hosted in turn by England and Australia at least once every two years. The latest men's Ashes series was played in Australia and won by the home team. Winning the first three Tests Australia retained the Ashes with Mitchell Starc and Travis Head leading the way for wickets and runs. In the fourth Test England were able to secure a win, giving them their first Test victory in Australia since 2011. The final score for the 2025-26 Ashes series was 4-1, the next men's series is set to be played in England in 2027.
Since the Australian tour of England in 2013, the women's competition is decided on a points system, taking account the results of One-Day Internationals and Twenty20 International matches as well as Tests.