Cricket and the Ashes
Cricket: five days and still a draw
Cricket started in England, and today people play it in many countries. A single match can go on for up to five days and still end in a draw. The game's quirky character and complicated rules are thought to show the British at their best, with their strong sense of fair play.
Lots of cricket phrases have become everyday English, and if you live in the UK you're sure to hear them:
| rain stopped play | Literally, the game was stopped by rain. Used when something is interrupted by an unexpected problem. |
|---|---|
| batting on a sticky wicket | Batting on a wet, sticky pitch where the ball bounces in strange ways. Used when you are in a difficult situation. |
| playing a straight bat | Blocking the ball carefully and correctly. Used for dealing with something in a careful, safe way, without taking risks. |
| bowled a googly | Bowled a spinning ball that turns the opposite way to what the batsman expects. Used when someone gives you a tricky problem you weren't ready for. |
| it's just not cricket | Literally, "this isn't cricket". Used when something is unfair or dishonest. |
The best-known cricket competition is the Ashes, a series of Test matches between England and Australia.
The name began as a joke. In 1882 Australia beat England in a Test match on English soil for the first time, and a London paper, The Sporting Times, printed a mock death notice saying that English cricket had died, its body would be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia. The next England captain to tour Australia promised to "win back the ashes", and after the series he was given a small urn said to hold a burnt bail (one of the small pieces of wood on top of the stumps). The urn is still kept in the museum at Lord's cricket ground in London.
Quiz
The Ashes is a famous series of Test cricket matches between England and which country?
The Ashes is England against Australia. Memory hook: the joke death notice of 1882 said the "ashes" of English cricket had been taken to Australia.