Australia won the First Test by nine wickets, but in the next two England were victorious.

The 1894 – 95 series began in sensational fashion when England won the First Test at Sydney by just 10 runs having followed on.

In the First Test ( the first played at Edgbaston ), after scoring 376 England bowled out Australia for 36 ( Wilfred Rhodes 7 / 17 ) and reduced them to 46 – 2 when they followed on.

Australia promptly seized the initiative, won the First Test convincingly and inaugurated a dominant post-war era.

After winning the First Test by an innings after being controversially sent in by Hutton, Australia lost its way and England took a hat-trick of victories to win the series 3 – 1.

Only a single England victory had come in a match in which the Ashes were still at stake, namely the First Test of the 1997 series.

The First Test at Lord's was convincingly won by Australia, but in the remaining four matches the teams were evenly matched and England fought back to win the Second Test by 2 runs, the smallest victory by a runs margin in Ashes history, and the second-closest such victory in all Tests.

The 2009 series began with a tense draw in the First Test at SWALEC Stadium in Cardiff, with final pair James Anderson and Monty Panesar surviving 69 balls.

The First Test at Brisbane ended in a draw, but England won the Second Test, at Adelaide, by an innings and 71 runs.

Sophia Gardens in Cardiff held the First Test in the 2009 Ashes series, the first time England had played a home Test in Wales.

* Saturday 22 June 2013, Australia – First Test, Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane

Later that season, under his captaincy, West Indies won the two match Test series against Sri Lanka 1 – 0 with Lara making a double century in the First Test.

The first day cover involving Muralitharan bears an official seal captioned as " The highest wicket taker in Test cricket, MUTHIAH MURALIDARAN, First Day of Issue 03. 12. 2007, Camp Post Office, Asgiriya International Cricket Stadium, Kandy ".

Benaud was given a chance against the tourists when New South Wales played them in Sydney after the First Test.

However, this was not enough to ensure his selection in the First Test, where he was made 12th man.

Benaud contributed 46 and match figures of 2 / 73 in a First Test victory at Kingston.

He claimed his Test innings best of 7 / 72 in the first innings of the First Test in Madras, allowing Australia to build a large lead and win by an innings.

The first of these came in the First Test at Johannesburg, where after conceding 1 / 115, Benaud struck 122, his highest Test score, to see Australia reach a draw.

He led from the front with his bowling, taking match figures of 7 / 112 in his debut as captain as Australia claimed the First Test in Brisbane.

The First Test in Brisbane ended in the first tie in Test history, which came about after Benaud and Alan Davidson, rather than settle for a draw, decided to risk defeat and play an attacking partnership, which took Australia to the brink of victory.

Benaud started the series with seven wickets and a half century as the First Test in Brisbane was drawn.

Beginning the 1994 – 95 season with 150 for NSW in a tour match against the England, Taylor followed up with 59 in an opening stand of 97 as Australia made 426 in the first innings to take the initiative in the First Test in Brisbane.

Australia won the First Test in Brisbane by an innings in three and a half days, with Taylor contributing 69.

Taylor's swansong was the 1998 – 99 Ashes series against England, which began with his 100th Test in the First Test in Brisbane.

Controversy emerged on the first day of the First Test at Brisbane.

He bowled a long spell, taking 3 / 76, in the First Test against England at Brisbane in 1986 – 87, then scored 0 and 28 as Australia slumped to defeat.

In the First Test at Brisbane, Bill Lawry won the toss and decided to bat on a good wicket, but became Snow's 100th Test victim, caught by Alan Knott for 4.

He scored a celebrated 132 on the first day of the First Test at Brisbane Cricket Ground, the match which resulted in the first Tied Test.

Despite Border's unbeaten 152 in the second innings, Australia fell to a heavy defeat in the First Test at Brisbane.

Ponting scored 119 runs at 39. 66 in the three-Test home series against New Zealand in 1997 – 98, including a breezy 73 not out from 85 balls in the second innings of the First Test in Brisbane to help Australia set a winning target.

England toured for the 2002 – 03 Australian season, and Ponting struck 123 in the First Test in Brisbane.

After making 54 and 50 in the rain-drawn First Test in Brisbane, Ponting scored double-centuries in back-to-back Tests against India, in the Second Test at Adelaide ( 242 ) and at Melbourne ( 257, his career high ).

In the series against the West Indies, Ponting scored a century in each innings of the First Test in Brisbane, 149 and 104 not out.

The First Test in Brisbane was drawn after both sides posted large batting totals.

In the First Test at Brisbane he badly cut his hand when he hit a billboard while fielding and batted at the bottom of the order.

* First Grade: Brisbane Broncos

He was educated at Brisbane Grammar School and then studied classics at the University of Queensland, before joining the military when the First World War broke out.

Lawry made his Test debut on Australian soil in the First Test of the 1962 – 63 Ashes series at Brisbane.

Lawry began well with 43 and 87 * in a drawn First Test at Brisbane overshadowed by the no-balling of Ian Meckiff.

His 166 in the First Test in Brisbane helped Australia, in the absence of the incapacitated and unavailable Simpson, to set a total of 6 / 443 declared and force England to follow on, but they managed to hold on for a draw.

In the First Test defeat at Kandy, Ponting scored 96 and 51, almost half of Australia's match total of 328 runs.

Australia won the series 3 – 0 and Ponting proceeded to score 125 in the First Test against India at the Adelaide Oval.

Ponting missed the victory in the First Test in Darwin due to a family bereavement, and scored 22 and 45 as the Second Test in Cairns was drawn.

In the First Test against Pakistan in Perth, Ponting made 98 in the second innings.

After scoring 71 and 53 in the drawn First Test in Perth, Ponting scored 117 on Boxing Day in the Second Test at the MCG.

After winning the toss and electing to bat in the First Test in Kingston, Jamaica, Ponting recorded his 35th Test century and was eventually dismissed for 158 from 224 balls.

In the First Test on a turning pitch in Bangalore, Ponting brought up his first Test century in India, 123 on the first day, although he eventually fell leg before wicket to Harbhajan.

Fined in India for a slow over rate, Ponting failed to redress the matter during the subsequent home series against New Zealand, when match referee Chris Broad dealt a second successive fine for being three overs behind in the First Test: Ponting was stripped of thirty per cent of his A $ 12, 750 match fee, twice the punishment of his team-mates in accordance with International Cricket Council rules for captains.

Ponting fielding during First Test in Cardiff