The Birth of the Ashes. The Amazing Story of the First Ashes Test.

What is the reality behind the mythology of The Ashes? The amazing and unexpected answers are revealed in this deeply researched book which will fascinate every cricket lover round the world. A timeless look at the birth of cricket.

Here, for the first time, the Oval Test match of 1882 – every bit as dramatic as anything in the 2005 season – is recreated ball by ball all the way to the agonising climax when Australia won by 7 runs.

Here, too, is the social context of that match, from the founding of Australia, spiced with a host of insights into how cricket was born and how it grew in a vast, rugged land.

The story of The Ashes is more, much more. When the Hon. Ivo Bligh took an England team to Australia in 1882–83 he said he was going to reclaim the Ashes of English cricket, lost at the Oval.

That led to a meeting with a property baron near Melbourne, an invitation for the team to stay at his mansion for Christmas … a knock-about match against the staff … and the baron’s wife, who had a little urn on her mantelpiece. We know what went in it!

About the Author

Christopher Hilton is a leading authority and writer on contemporary and historic motorsport and has written more than 30 books on it. He also writes on cricket, one of his other great passions.

He also wrote about Cricket's 300 Men, all of the innings where the international batsman scored the ultimate - 300 in one innings. Oh, and Brian Lara's 400!