1882 England v Australia Ashes Challenge

Profile managers: Michael Christmas [send private message], I. Speed [send private message], and Jo Fitz-Henry [send private message]

Welcome to the England v Australia Ashes Challenge!

The Ashes cricket series began with a single test match between England and Australia in August 1882 at Kennington Oval in Surrey, England. The hosts went into the match as hot favourites, having never lost to Australia on home soil. But after two days of fiercely contested cricket, Australia astonished the crowd of 20,000 spectators to narrowly defeat England by 7 runs.

A mock obituary in The Sporting Times mourned the loss of "English Cricket, which died at the Oval on 29 August 1882" and jested "The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia." When England toured Australia later that year, its captain Ivo Bligh promised to "recover those Ashes", giving birth to the Ashes cricket tradition. You can read more about the history of the Ashes on Wikipedia.

The England v Australia Ashes Challenge aims to create, source and connect WikiTree profiles for the 22 cricketers and two umpires who walked onto the field in the historic 1882 test match. Some of them already have profiles, but several don't and not all of them are complete or connected to the global family tree.

To join the fun, simply follow the steps below.

How it works

1. Choose a player

• In true Ashes tradition, the Challenge is England Project vs Australia Project. Each team's players are listed below. If you are a member of both projects, you will need to decide which team to join.
• Add your name next to the player(s) you plan to work on. To add your name, click the "edit" tab of this page and insert your name in the following format:
  [[WikiID-123|Your Name]]
• Up to 3 people can work on each player, so get in quick before you miss out!
• You can work on as many players as you like.

2. Create, source and connect the player's WikiTree profile

• Check if the player has got a WikiTree profile. If not, create one! If a profile already exists, the profile managers have all been contacted and all have given their blessing to this contest.
• Source the profile with reliable sources. All of the players are on Cricinfo and Wikipedia, so that might be a good place to start!
• Connect the player to the global tree. You will know he's connected if you link him to a profile that's got "... is 27 degrees from Raymond Lemieux, 26 degrees from Tara Wildes and 17 degrees from Henry VIII of England on our single family tree ..." at the bottom.
• Don't feel you need to do everything yourself. It's all about teamwork!

3. When you finish the player

• Once you've sourced, written at least a basic biography, and connected the player's profile to the global tree, update this page to show it's done.
  Do this by clicking the "edit" tab of this page and adding the following at the end of the player's status column: ~~~~ 🏏
  Click "save changes" and it will automatically add your name, the date and time.

4. Winning team

• The winner will be the team that finishes all their players first. The England Project must complete the two umpires (who were both English) in addition to their 11 players.
• All participants will receive an Ashes urn sticker to add to their own profile!
  

5. Other competition rules

The Project Leaders have agreed on a few rules to make the Challenge more evenly balanced. A handicap will apply to the England Project in recognition that it has more members. The handicap will be as follows:

1. When the Challenge begins on Friday 19 June, the start times will be:
   (a) for the Australia Project — 9:00am Sydney time (AEST); and
   (b) for the England Project — 9:00am London time (BST).
   This will give the Australia Project a head start of 9 hours.
2. No England Project member who has a Connectors badge is allowed to work on connecting English players until 9am London time on Saturday 20 June. The England Project's connectors are allowed to work on sourcing and biobuilding for their players on Friday.
3. England Project must complete both umpires in addition to its 11 players.

6. Questions and updates

• We will be using a joint G2G chat post for both teams. Please feel free to post any questions, give updates and encourage each other on the Challenge's G2G chat here.
• You are also welcome to ask questions in the Comments section at the bottom of this page.

The match

The Australian tour of England in 1882 included only one test match against the England team. It was played on 28 and 29 August at the Kennington Oval, Surrey. (The same venue as the inaugural FA Cup Final in 1872.)

The Australian team in England, 1882

The Australians had a busy tour before the start of this one test match, having played a total of 30 first class and exhibition matches since their arrival in England on 3 May.^[1] Their travels had taken them all over the country and also over the border for two matches in Scotland.

The test match began badly for Australia. After winning the toss and electing to bat, the tourists were bowled out for a dismal 63 runs in just over two hours. England soon overtook this target and led by 38 at stumps on day one. A syndicated news report of the first day's play smacked of hubris on the part of the English:^[2]

Cricket is lord today. The match of England against Australia is proceeding at the Oval and the town is more interested in the result than in any other match I can remember ... Better weather for a trial of strength could not have been. There has been no sun to dazzle the eyes of the fielders. There has been no rain to spoil the running of the batsman. Nor can the Australians complain this time of their luck as they have lately been disposed to do. They, and not the fine English team brought against them, won the toss. It soon became clear, however, that they were overmatched. The bowling of the English was magnificent; the fielding was superb. Six of the Australians were out for 30 runs - about five apiece - and all were out for the insignificant total of 63. It was like slaughter to see them fall. England has again proved herself equal to her own colonies.

English opening batsman WG Grace

Day two brought a reversal of fortunes. Batting in the second innings, Australia scored a total of 122 runs, giving them a lead of 84. England began the run-chase confidently, but soon succumbed to the "demoniacal" bowling of Fred Spofford, to be bowled out for 77—just 7 runs short of victory.^[3] In the words of one of the Australian players, it was "a conspicuous triumph for Australia—a victory of which we and all Australians are justly proud."^[4]

The full scorecard is available on Cricinfo.

You can read here for a detailed (and entertaining!) article about the tour, the tensions which preceded it, and also the part that the campaign to legalise human cremation in England had on the designation of the subsequent test matches as "The Ashes".^[5]

The teams

You can find information about all of the players and umpires on Cricinfo and Wikipedia.

Australia

The Australian squad consisted of 13 players. Batsman Percy McDonnell and medium-pace bowler Joey Palmer were not included in the final team for the test match.

England

JM Read and CT Studd made their test debuts at this match.

Umpires

Sources

1. ↑ Australian Tour Schedule in Test Cricket Tours Australia in England 1882 Accessed 10 May 2020 link
2. ↑ Report of the first day's play, England v Australia 28 August 1882 in Liverpool Mercury 29 August 1882 page 5. Accessed 10 May 2020 in the British Newspaper Archive online at FindMyPast.co.uk image, requires subscription
3. ↑ 'Australia v, England. The Australian Victory', The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), 20 Oct 1882, page 9. Trove (accessed 21 May 2020)
4. ↑ 'Particulars of the Play, (By one of the team.)', The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), 20 Oct 1882, page 9. Trove (accessed 21 May 2020)
5. ↑ Kennington Oval:Part 3, part of "The Ashes 1882/83 (England in Australia)" series by Pradip Dhole link