The Ashes started out in Sunbury as part of a love story

AUSTRALIA has reclaimed The Ashes and you could argue the urn is back in its rightful home, having originated in Sunbury.

Dean Jones and Alan Border called for more recognition of Sunbury's role as the home of The Ashes during a recen...

THE Ashes cricket rivalry ­between Australia and ­England is among the fiercest in world sport.

It incites patriotism, mateship, camaraderie and above all else, a chance to beat the Poms.

But many in the wider community don't know the roots of the contest, including its beginnings in Sunbury.

And now a pair of Aussie cricket legends want that to change.

On a visit to Sunbury for a cricket clinic and dinner at Rupertswood Mansion for the MS Australia Ashes Trek, former Test greats Dean Jones and Allan ­Border said more needed to be done to ensure Sunbury's place in Ashes ­history was better known.

Jones, a nearby Romsey resident, said he became familiar with the role Sunbury played in the Ashes history when he helped organise a charity game called the Rebirth Ashes match at Rupertswood Cricket Oval in 1994.

"I don't think the story is well enough understood," Jones said.

"The Ashes is ­actually a love story and about people ­getting on and enjoying cricket."

The famous urn­ ­became the pint-sized symbol of the Ashes when ­captain of the 1892-93 touring English team, Ivo Bligh, was presented with it at Rupertswood during a visit to the mansion.

One of the ladies that organised the gesture, Florence Morphy (right), the music teacher of Lady Janet Clarke, went on to become the wife of Bligh in England.

Jones said while there were signs welcoming visitors to "the birthplace of the Ashes", more should be done around the town so the cricket community learned the link.

"Where the sport and the Ashes contest is an amazing history, here is where that­ tradition really starts," he said.

Jones, who is spearheading the MS Ashes Trek, said he was keen to ensure Sunbury was part of the tour which also takes in Bowral, the childhood home of Sir Donald Bradman.

Border said Sunbury should be better known ­because of what the sporting contest has become and the folklore surrounding the ­biennial contests.

"I hold my experiences in Ashes cricket pretty close to my heart, as do all players that get to experience playing in these matches," Border said.

"If Sunbury can claim to be the birthplace of the Ashes, it should be as well-known as Bowral."

Sunbury councillor Jack Ogilvie said he would like to see more statues in Sunbury to form an interpretative tour of the town. Four busts of famous Ashes players were completed on ­Evans St in 2011.

"We have to take better advantage of Sunbury being the birthplace of the Ashes," he said.

Sunbury's place in Ashes lore

DAVID Wells was like a kid in a candy store visiting Sunbury's Rupertswood Mansion this month.

The curator of Bowral's Bradman Museum and a keen cricket historian, Mr Wells was in town with the MS Ashes Trek to share the history of the most famous rivalry in Australian sport.

Sunbury is the site where a tiny terracotta urn, believed to be a perfume bottle bought by Lady Janet Clarke at an Egyptian bazaar, was presented to Ivo Bligh, the captain of the English touring team of 1882-83.

Although the date of the presentation is not confirmed, it is generally thought the urn was presented at Christmas in 1882 after a game at the mansion.

The urn, which still sits at the Marylebone Cricket Club, is thought to contain the ashes of burnt cricket bails.

Sunbury's contribution to the legend stemmed from an earlier incident in England, Mr Wells said.

"The Sporting Times in London wrote a death notice about the death of English cricket on August 29, 1882 after a touring Australian team beat the English at The Oval," he said.

"The journalist at the time was linking the English loss into a public debate being waged in London over allowing public cremation for the first time.

"Six days later the first cremation was held."

Mr Wells said the Ashes urn sat in the home of the Blighs until 1927 when Florence Bligh gave it to the Marylebone Cricket Club after her husband's death.

It has never been a trophy, rather a symbol, Mr Wells said.

Visits to Bowral and the Bradman Museum reach 30,000 a year and spike considerably during Ashes tours.

Having met thousands of enthusiastic cricket lovers, Sunbury could grow its profile thanks to the Ashes link, Mr Wells said.

"This is Sunbury's chance to jump up and down."

"Many things contributed to the Ashes legend, especially its share of controversies, heroes and villains, but it really all started here."

The 1882-83 series was the first recognised Test series between the two countries.