The Ashes is a Test cricket contest played between England and Australia - it is one of cricket's fiercest and most celebrated rivalries and the oldest in international cricket dating back to 1882

It is currently played at approximately two yearly intervals, alternately in England and Australia

The Ashes are "held" by the country which last won a series and to "regain" them the other country must win more Test matches in a series than the country that "holds" them
If a series is "drawn" then the country holding the Ashes retains them

The last Ashes series was played in England in 2005 when England regained The Ashes after a gap of sixteen years by winning the series 2-1

The next Ashes series will be in Australia in 2006-07 and the next series in England will be in 2009

The series is named after a satirical published in The Sporting Times in 1882 following the match at The Oval, in which Australia beat England in England for the first time
The obituary stated that English cricket had died, and 'the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia'

The English media dubbed the next English tour, to Australia (1882-83) as 'the quest to regain The Ashes'

A small terracotta urn was presented to the England captain Ivo Bligh by a group of Melbourne women at some point during the 1882-83 tour
The contents of the urn are reputed to be the ashes of an item of cricket equipment, possibly a bail, ball or stump

The urn is not used as a trophy for the Ashes series, and whichever side "holds" the Ashes, the urn remains in the MCC Museum at Lord's Cricket_Ground because of its age and frailty

Since the 1998-99 Ashes series, a Waterford crystal trophy has been presented to the winners