The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia since 1882.

A series of " The Ashes " comprises five Test matches, two innings per match, under the regular rules for Test match cricket.

His successor Joe Darling won the next three series in 1899, 1901 – 02 and the classic 1902 series, which became one of the most famous in the history of Test cricket.

The 1948 series ended with one of the most poignant moments in cricket history, as Bradman played his final innings for Australia in the Fifth Test at The Oval, needing to score only four runs to end with a career batting average of exactly 100.

The West Indies would go on to record resounding Test series wins over Australia and England and dominated world cricket until the 1990s.

Brearley retired from Test cricket in 1979 and was succeeded by Ian Botham, who started the 1981 series as England captain, by which time the WSC split had ended.

Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Justin Langer retired from Test cricket after that series, while Damien Martyn retired during the series.

Andrew Flintoff retired from Test cricket soon afterwards.

* History of Test cricket from 1877 to 1883

* History of Test cricket from 1884 to 1889

* History of Test cricket from 1890 to 1900

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* Graeme Fowler, cricketer, former England batsman, cricket coach and occasional pundit on BBC Radio's Test Match Special

He topped the Test batting rankings on several occasions and holds several cricketing records, including the record for the highest individual score in first-class cricket, with 501 not out for Warwickshire against Durham at Edgbaston in 1994, which is the only quintuple hundred in first-class cricket history.

Lara's match-winning performance of 153 not out against Australia in Bridgetown, Barbados in 1999 has been rated by Wisden as the second best batting performance in the history of Test cricket, next only to the 270 runs scored by Sir Donald Bradman in The Ashes Test match of 1937.

Muttiah Muralitharan, rated as the greatest Test match bowler ever by Wisden Cricketers ' Almanack, and the highest wicket-taker in both Test cricket and in One Day Internationals ( ODIs ), has hailed Lara as his toughest opponent among all batsmen in the world.

He has the highest individual score in both first-class cricket ( 501 not out for Warwickshire against Durham in 1994 ) and Test cricket ( 400 not out for the West Indies against England in 2004 ).

He has scored nine double centuries in Test cricket, second only to Bradman's twelve.

* He was the all-time leading run scorer in Test cricket, a record he attained on 26 November 2005 until surpassed by Sachin Tendulkar on 17 October 2008.

* He also scored a century and a double century in the third Test in that same Sri Lanka tour, a feat repeated only five other times in Test cricket history.

Test matches resumed there on December 18, 2007.

Hutton remained in the middle order for the second Test, which England lost by 28 runs, but resumed his role as opener for the rest of the tour and scored a century in the following state game.

The West Indies toured England and Yardley resumed the England captaincy ; he also captained MCC against the tourists and England against The Rest in a Test trial.

Rhodes resumed his opening partnership with Hobbs in the third Test, sharing a stand of 100, followed by opening partnerships of 92 and 133 in the fourth Test, the only drawn match of the series.

Cricket resumed in 1945 – 46 and Brown, in Bradman's absence, captained an Australian eleven in a match that was retrospectively awarded Test status.

By the time Test cricket resumed in 1920, Bardsley was aged in his mid-thirties.

After the war Phillips resumed his law practice, first in New Orleans and finally in 1867, after the Supreme Court voided the Test Oath of 1862, in Washington, D. C ..

Macartney resumed Test cricket when Australia hosted England in 1920 – 21, and was one of only four players remaining from before the war.

Walter Reginald " Wally " Hammond ( 19 June 1903 – 1 July 1965 ) was an English Test cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951.

Don Bradman made his first visit to the ground in the 1920 – 21 season to watch the Fifth Test of the Australia and England series.

An all-rounder, he captained Australia in ten Test matches between 1920 and 1921 and was undefeated, winning eight Tests and drawing two.

Armstrong ( centre, middle row ) with his 1920 – 21 team, considered one of the great Test teams of all time.

The father succumbed in 1920 when Jack was twelve, and the funeral director was Australian Test wicket-keeper Sammy Carter.

Lindwall's innings lasted only 113 minutes and 90 balls, the second fastest in Australian Test history after Jack Gregory's 67-ball effort in 1920 – 21.

Test cricket returned from its hiatus in 1920 with the English touring Australia.

He was made a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1920 and was picked for the 1920 / 21 Ashes tour, making his Test debut at Sydney and making 58 in the second innings despite Australia's huge 377-run victory.

Long after he retired he was appointed as a Test selector ( for the triangular tournament held in 1912 ) and secretary of Surrey in 1919-a role which he did not hold for long as a stroke caused his sudden death in 1920.

His best bowling was 7 / 69 in an innings and 8 / 101 in a match at the 1920 / 21 Test against England at the MCG .< sup ></ sup >

His record of 15 catches in the 1920 – 21 Ashes series still stands as the record for the most catches by a fieldsman in a Test series .< ref >

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.

England managed to stay in contention until the deciding final Test at The Oval, but yet another double hundred by Bradman, and 7 / 92 by Percy Hornibrook in England's second innings, enabled Australia to win by an innings and take the series 2 – 1.

After the World Cup Cronje was part of the tour to the West Indies ; he featured in the three ODI's and in the Test match at Bridgetown that followed he made his Test debut, this was South Africa first Test since readmission and they came close to beating a strong West Indian side, going into the final day at 122 / 2 chasing 200 they collapsed to 148.

The first was won with Cronje scoring 49 and 74 ; in the second Test, he took 3 / 14, his best bowling in Tests, and smashed 82 off 63 balls, his fifty being brought up with three consecutive sixes off Muttiah Muralitharan, and was reached off just 31 balls ; at the time, it was the second fastest in Tests after Kapil Dev's.

When South Africa reached 248 / 8, Cronje declared ; both teams then forfeited an innings leaving England a target of 249 to win the Test, which they did with two wickets left and only five balls remaining.

He is the only man to have made a century and take 8 wickets in an innings in the same Test match, 108 and 8 / 34 against Pakistan at Lord's in 1978.

Botham did this in the Centenary Test in Bombay in 1979 – 80 ( 114, 6 / 58 and 7 / 48 ), the last match before he became England captain.

party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes ( Basel Convention ), Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection ( Montreal Protocol ), Ship Pollution ( MARPOL 73 / 78 ), Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands ( Ramsar Convention ), Whaling

* The Archive Comparison Test ( ACT ) by Jeff Gilchrist included 162 DOS / Windows and 8 Macintosh lossless compression programs, but it was last updated in 2002.

Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution ( MARPOL 73 / 78 ), Wetlands

* David Coulter, Multi-Instrumentalist and Producer / Music Supervisor ; ex-member of Test Dept and The Pogues, has played Musical Saw on numerous albums and live with a who's who of Contemporary Popular Music: Damon Albarn, Gorillaz, Tom Waits, Hal Willner, Richard Hawley, Jarvis Cocker, Marianne Faithfull, Tim Robbins, The Tiger Lillies.

* 1942 – Spaceflight: The first successful launch of a V-2 / A4-rocket from Test Stand VII at Peenemünde, Germany.

Musically, Test For Echo still retained much of the hard rock / alternative style already charted on the previous record with Lifeson and Lee's playing remaining more or less unchanged ; however, a distinct modification in technique became apparent in Peart's playing from his jazz and swing training under the tutelage of jazz instructor Freddie Gruber during the interim between Counterparts and Test For Echo.

After scoring 60 and 37 and taking 1 / 60 in an Australian XI against the South Africans following the Test, he forced his way into the team for the Second Test.

His leg spin yielded ten wickets at 30. 60, with a best of 4 / 118 in the Fourth Test in Adelaide when he was given a heavy workload, totalling 58 overs, when Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller broke down during the match.

He justified their decision prior to the team's departure, scoring 167 not out and taking match figures of 7 / 137 for the touring team against a Tasmania Combined XI, his victims including Test batsmen Miller, Ian Craig and Neil Harvey.

In eight first-class matches after his Test campaign was over, Benaud added a further half-century in addition to the century against Pearce's XI, and took 22 more wickets, including 4 / 20 against the Gentlemen of England.

Benaud scored 78 and 68 and took a total of 5 / 238, his victims being Davidson and frontline Test batsmen in a 121-run win.

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

After a draw in the Second Test, he took three wickets in four balls to end with 4 / 15 in the first innings at Georgetown, Guyana, before scoring 68 ( his first Test half century ) as Australia moved to a 2-0 series lead.