Research; Pakistan Sports Industry

Research; Major Tournaments - History of Ashes Tournament

A short history of the Ashes 

The Ashes Tournament stands to attest cricket's deep reaching roots in the firm soil of history. Named after test matches between England and Australia, the history of Ashes smacks of pungent English pride and it pervasion into cricket.

In 1882, England played a test match against Australia at the Oval. Much to the shock of the English crowd, the visitors won the match by 7 runs. Such a shameful debacle aroused great embarrassment and sent shockwaves that clearly threatened to dislodge England's hegemony in cricket. An English magazine 'Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game' tried to infuse levity into the solemn affair by writing a mock obituary to English cricket in following words- "English Supremacy in the Cricket Field which expired on the 29th day of August at the Oval". The gravity of the situation was such that a single obituary would have never really been enough to capture the mass despair, consequently, two days later, another was published in The Sporting Times, it ran as follows-

"In Affectionate Remembrance of ENGLISH CRICKET, which died at the Oval on 29th AUGUST, 1882, Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances R.I.P. N.B. - The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.”

When England was preparing to tour Australia the following year, the enthusiastic English newspapers added drama to the forthcoming series by naming it as thequest to regain The Ashes of English Cricket.

Even after suffering from much overuse, the term 'the Ashes' did not gain official currency for a long time. In 1925, the following verse appeared in The Cricketers Annual-

So here's to Chapman, Hendren and Hobbs,  

Gilligan, Woolley and Hearne:
May they bring back to the Motherland,
The ashes which have no urn!

As a part of the endeavor to impart a physical form to The Ashes, several urns, each one vouching it sigmificane, changed hands; but the one which received the most attention and credence was the urn presented to Lord Danley during the 1881-83 tour. The fragility of the urn in modern times has neccessiated a replica of it to made. The replica is made from Waterford Crystal and is little larger than the original.

The Ashes has now come to mean a series between England and Australia. It is held in every two years and the venue alternates between the two countries. The team which wins the test series retains the Ashes Urn, and incase of a drawn series, the winner of the previous series keeps it till the next series.

Nothing stands close to the prestige that the Ashes holds for both the countries and the cricketing world has witnessed several battles-some well contested, some hopelessly one-sided- being fought on the cricket pitch. England dominated the first eight Ashes series, but post-1934 the Ashes has almost made home in Australia, while travelling back to England as a rarely as a tourist.

Out of the 63 Ashes series so far, Australia has won 30, five series have been drawn and the remaining have gone in favour of England. In the recent Ashes series in 2005, England beat Australia and thus brought home the Ashes after 16 years.

Research; Major Tournaments - T20 World Cup

Rules and regulations

During the group stage and Super Eight, points are awarded to the teams as follows:

Results	Points
Win	2 points
No result	1-point
Loss	0 points

In case of a tie (that is, both teams scoring the same number of runs at the end of their respective innings), a Super Over would decide the winner. In the case of a tie occurring again in the Super Over, the match is won by the team that has scored the most sixes in their innings. This is applicable in all stages of the tournament, having been implemented during the 2009 tournament. During the 2007 tournament, a bowl-out was used to decide the loser of tied matches.

Within each group (both group stage & Super Eight stage), teams are ranked against each other based on the following criteria:
1. Higher number of points
2. If equal, higher number of wins
3. If still equal, higher net run rate
4. If still equal, lower bowling strike rate
5. If still equal, result of head to head meeting.
6. If still equal, each team gets a point.
Qualification

All Test-playing nations achieve automatic qualification to the tournament, with the remaining places filled by other ICC members through a qualification tournament. Qualification for the 2007 ICC World Twenty20came from the results of the first cycle of the World Cricket League, a 50-over league for non-Test playing nations. The two finalists of the Division One tournament (Kenya and Scotland) qualified for the inaugural tournament alongside the Test-playing nations. For subsequent tournaments, qualification has been achieved through the World Twenty20 Qualifier, with Afghanistan (2010 and 2012), Ireland (2009, 2010, and 2012), Netherlands (2009), and Scotland (2009) each having qualified through this process.

ORIGIN of Twenty20 Cricket 

The period lasting from the year 1998 to 2001 was can be traced back as the time of origin of Twenty20 cricket. However, it was in the year 2001 that the idea of a shortened form of cricket, earlier discussed by England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), began to take a concrete shape. The concept of 40-over game, with 20 overs per innings, was presented to the county chairman in the same year and later, passed with a voting of 11-7, 11 in favor and 7 against. Soon, the new form of cricket was given the name of Twenty20, more popularly T20.

T20 Cricket was formally introduced to the world in 2003, when ECB launched the Twenty20 Cup, along with slogan “I don’t like cricket, I love it”. The same year, the first Twenty20 cricket tournament was organized in England, with various county cricket teams. The tournament proved to be a success, with thousands of spectators filling the England’s cricket stadiums, a first in many decades. Soon, other cricket playing nations of the world also started to take notice of Twenty20 cricket.

Soon after the first Twenty20 cricket tournament was played and became overnight success, South Africa, Australia and the West Indies also organized similar tournaments, which again attracted huge cricket audience. In the year 2005, history was created, when Twenty20 cricket made its international debut, with the first T20 International being played, between Australia and New Zealand at Eden Park. As the popularity of the new form of cricket started rising, surpassing that of even ODIs and Tests, the game was taken more seriously.

By 2007, the popularity of Twenty20 had gained such heights that ICC organized the first international Twenty20 tournament, rather the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup, creating another history of sorts. With South Africa as the host, the tournament included 10 Test playing nations, apart from ICC associate nations - Kenya and Scotland. India won the first ICC T20 World Cup, beating Pakistan in the finals.

ICC World Twenty20 Details (Since 2007)

Year	Host	Winner	Runner-Up
2007	South Africa	India	Pakistan
2009	England	Pakistan	Sri Lanka
2010	West Indies	England	Australia
2012	Sri Lanka	West Indies	Sri Lanka
2014	Bangladesh	Sri Lanka	India
2016	India	TBD	TBD

Research; Major Tournaments - World Cup and T20 World Cup

Presentation Made on Tiki-Toki

http://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/445952/A-Brief-History-of-World-Cup/