@previous (Father Merrin !u5oFWxmY7U)
I know the story of the Ashes. It is very good!
Once upon a time, in the big, big world of cricket, two countries were like two big friends. One friend was named England, and the other was Australia. Now these two friends really, really liked to play cricket.
One day, England traveled to Australia to play cricket. This was a long, long time ago, back in 1882. Now, usually, England was a very good player. They were like the big brother who usually won the games. But this time, things didn't go the way they thought.
You see, on that day, something very special happened. The Aussie friends, they were very good. They played very, very well and they won the game! This was a big surprise for everyone.
After that game, people were talking a lot about it. One person in England wrote a pretend letter, like a joke, and they put it in a newspaper. This pretend letter said that cricket was dead in England because Australia won. It was very funny, but also very sad.
The pretend letter said that they would take the "ashes" of English cricket, which means the remains after something has been burned, like when a log in a fireplace burns out. They would take these ashes to Australia. That's how the name "The Ashes" started. It was like a pretend story, but people liked it so much that they started using it for real.
Later, England went to Australia to play again. They said they were going to bring the Ashes back. And so, the name stuck, and the games between England and Australia became known as "The Ashes". It's like a big, big adventure that they have been playing for a long, long time. They still play it now, and they are still friends, but they also really, really like to win.
And that's the story of how The Ashes started. Just like in any other story, the important thing is not who wins or loses, but that they keep playing and keep being friends. That's what makes it fun.