The Changing Face of the Ashes

Cricket is in a massive time of change and while much of this is down to the shift towards the shorter Twenty20 version of the game, the ripples are affecting all types of the game. The quick run rate of the shorter version of the game has been absorbed by batsmen who now take a more attacking mindset into five and four day games.

While it's true that this trend has been evident for a while - the average run rate in Test matches has steadily been increasing - the emergence of batsmen like Phil Hughes, following on from Michael Slater and his ilk, has dramatically increased this inclination and quite often batsmen coming in as a team will look to play in one-day mode, the sort of roles played by Andrew Flintoff and Geraint Jones in the 2005 Ashes, which pushes things further from the old style game.

The oldest and most prominent test series - The Ashes - nowadays is a far cry from the games played in the 19th century and some would argue that they have changed dramatically even since the last series played in England.

Originally just a three match series, the first official Ashes series was played in Australia in 1882/83 as Ivo Bligh led an English squad to the other side of the globe to regain the 'ashes of English cricket'. England won that series 2-1. England kept the Ashes in their control until 1891/92 through a variety of one, two, three and five match series.

From the turn of the 20th century, five Tests has been customary although from the 70s through to the late 90s six matches were often played, with seven taking place on the 1970/71 tour of Australia. Since 1998/99 all series have had five matches.

On a competitive level, while recent series have seen Australia able to call on some of the superstars of the modern era - the likes of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Adam Gilchrist - to get them out of a sticky situation, Ricky Ponting no longer has any obvious match winners in his midst to turn to.

While the Ashes 2005 showed a very tight series where every session of play seemingly changed the balance of the series, the opening games of the Ashes 2009 have so far been wholly in favour of one team or the other.
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Adam Singleton writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.