If you have been wondering how the infamous test match series was started, then this is definitley the video for you.

The history of one of the greatest clashes of the long form of the game has to do with the history of the urn itself. The story starts all the way back in August 1882, when England lost against Australia for the first time at the Oval in London.

The English team, led by Ivo Bligh who was later known as the eighth Earl of Darnley, went to Australia to regain England’s honour. When Bligh and his team won the series, Bligh was awarded a small terracotta urn, a symbol of the ashes the team travelled to reclaim.

Cobham Hall, a now all-girls school has an important role to play in the telling of the story. The Hall was the home of the Darnley family, where the urn was in fact kept, and the video above is narrated by the headmaster of this school.

After watching the video above and gaining the necessary information you need on the test of “rivalry between the two nations,” you can tune into the first of the 10 test matches at Trent Bridge, this afternoon.

[Source: TheTelegraph]