After losing the first Test at Edgbaston, England will be looking to level the Ashes when the second Test starts at Lord’s on Wednesday.
The Home of Cricket has staged 37 Ashes Test matches since 1884 with Australia holding a fine track record at the ground.
Here, the PA news agency takes a look at some of the main moments of Ashes history at Lord’s.
Home of the urnThe top prize up for grabs, England and Australia are vying to lift the small urn at the conclusion of the series.
The name “Ashes” was coined when England lost to Australia for the first time on home soil in 1882 and the Sporting Times published an obituary of English cricket, stating: “the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia”.
England captain Hon Ivo Bligh vowed to “return the ashes” while on tour to Australia and was gifted a terracotta urn while away.
Although its contents are debated, the urn is said to contain the ashes of a bail and Bligh kept it until his death in 1927 when it was subsequently donated to the MCC.
The original urn can be seen at the MCC Museum at Lord’s and the winner of the Ashes will lift a replica along with the urn-shaped Waterford Crystal trophy introduced in the 1998-99 series.
Early historyThe first Ashes Test at Lord’s took place in 1884 when Allan Steele’s 148 put England in the driving seat along with George Ulyett’s seven wickets to earn victory by an innings and five runs.
Another win followed in 1886, but Australia picked up their first success in 1888 after a low-scoring affair saw Charlie Turner shine with the ball and take 10 wickets across the match.
England then earned a six-wicket win in 1896, but it would be their last at Lord’s until 1934.
Clem Hill and Victor Gregory’s contribution of 135 each set Australia up for a 10-wicket win in 1899 and victories swiftly followed in 1909 and 1921.
Australian great Don Bradman then made his mark on English soil in 1930 with an incredible double century of 254, which led to the touring party declaring on 729 for six and easing to a six-wicket win.
Advantage Australia?Centuries from Les Ames and Maurice Leyland gave England an innings victory in 1934, but Lord’s has certainly since been advantage Australia with the visitors exerting a 75-year period of dominance.
After drawing in 1938, Australia won by 409 runs in 1948 and went on to pick up another eight victories until 2009 when England finally broke their losing run.
Their last win at the ground came in 2015 when a huge double century from Steve Smith in the first innings allowed Australia to set England a target of 509 in the second innings, but they crumbled to 103 all out.
Australia’s overall Test record at the Home of Cricket makes for far better reading with the tourists winning 16 matches compared to England’s six, while 15 draws have taken place between both sides.
Lord’s HeroesAlongside Bradman’s mammoth knock in 1930, Lord’s has thrown up plenty of memorable Ashes moments with most being in Australia’s favour.
Allan Border put on an impressive batting display with a first innings 196 to guide his team to victory in 1985.
Working with Greg Ritchie (94), the pair dragged their side back into the game from 101 for four to 398 for seven by the time the Australian captain was dismissed, setting them on track for a four-wicket win.
Their bowling has also showcased some fine moments and in 1972 Bob Massie produced one of the finest Test match debuts, taking eight for 84 in the first innings and eight for 53 in the second.
His ability to get the ball swinging like no one else saw him finish with match figures of 16 for 137, a record for a Test debutant until bettered by India’s Narendra Hirwani in 1988.
Lord’s is no stranger to impressive bowling spells and Glenn McGrath etched his name into the history books in 1997 with a first innings eight-wicket haul.
On his first tour of England, the seamer ripped through the England batting line-up, reducing them to 77 all out and taking eight for 38.
Although Australia ultimately hold the happier memories at Lord’s, Andrew Strauss’ 161 and Andrew Flintoff’s second innings five-for earned England a first victory at the ground in 75 years in 2009.
Last time outLord’s hosted the second Test of the last Ashes series in 2019, when an intriguing five days boiled down to a draw.
With day one washed out, Rory Burns and Jonny Bairstow made half-centuries on day two, but England were bowled out for 258 with Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon taking three wickets each.
There was plenty of buzz in the build-up to the game with fast bowler Jofra Archer making his Test debut and his sheer speed became one of the talking points when his 92mph bouncer caught Steve Smith on the neck.
The Australian batter fell to the floor and was taken off the field, but returned after passing concussion protocols before being bowled lbw by Chris Woakes with Australia all out for 250.
Smith was subsequently ruled out of the fifth day of the Test with concussion and would go on to miss the Headingley Test, with Marnus Labuschagne brought into the team as the first concussion substitute.
Ben Stokes then smashed an unbeaten 115 as England declared on 258 for five, but despite three wickets each from Archer and Jack Leach, Australia managed to hold on for the draw.
Record-breaking Root edges England closer to Sri Lanka victory
Joe Root hit a record-breaking century as England edged closer to sealing their series victory over Sri Lanka at Lord's.
Root, who equalled Alastair Cook's record during the first innings of the second Test, made 103 from 111 balls for his 34th Test ton.
England resumed on 25-1 at the start of day three, with Root leading the way for the hosts and the crowd rose as one when a sweeping four completed his landmark century.
He helped his nation set their opponents a target of 483 after they were 251 all out.
As the light faded over Lord's, so too did Sri Lanka's momentum in their record-attempting chase, with Gus Atkinson and Olly Stone claiming Nishan Madushka and Pathum Nissanka respectively.
Play was eventually halted due to bad light, and called off to be resumed on Sunday with the tourists at 53-2 with Dimuth Karunaratne (23) and Prabath Jayasuriya (three) at the crease.
Data Debrief: Root revels on record-breaking day
Day three of the second Test belonged to Root, whose century was also his quickest in Test cricket.
Adding to his 143 in England's first innings, he registered two tons in a match for the first time, while becoming only the fourth player to achieve that feat in a Test at Lord's.
Root also joins Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar in scoring 5,000 Test runs in two different decades, while closing the gap on Cook's all-time England tally (12,472) to just 95.
If that was not enough for him, he also took the catches for both of Sri Lanka's wickets, making him the first England player to reach 200 in Test cricket.
Last Hurrah: Dwayne Bravo to call time on CPL career after this year's edition
Former West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo says this year’s edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) will be his last hurrah as he announced his retirement from the tournament on Saturday.
Bravo, who represents the Trinbago Knight Riders, made the revelation on his Instagram account hours ahead of the franchise’s opening contest against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in Basseterre, scheduled for 7:00pm.
“It's been a great journey, and I'm looking forward to playing my final professional tournament in front of my Caribbean people," Bravo said in his post.
“TKR is the place where everything started for me and will end with my team,” he added.
The 40-year-old’s post all but indicates the end of a decorated professional career, as he retired from international cricket in 2021 after the T20 World Cup and also announced his retirement from the Indian Premier League (IPL) a year later after being part of four title-winning Chennai Super Kings campaigns.
Bravo, known for his flair and skillful batting and bowling, is currently the CPL’s highest wicket-taker with 128 scalps in 103 games at an average of 22.40 and economy rate of 8.69.
In fact, Bravo is the leading wicket-taker in all T20s, with 630 scalps in 578 matches. He has also scored 6,970 runs with the bat.
No doubt the electrifying Trinidad and Tobago stalwart will go down as one of T20's early legends, having played seven World Cups in the format, winning two titles, as well as over 15 franchise league titles. He is the first bowler to get to 500 T20 wickets.
CWI targets domestic T20 competition in 2025 to identify Caribbean representative(s) for 2028 Olympic Games
Cricket West Indies (CWI) president Dr. Kishore Shallow says plans are already afoot to host a domestic T20 competition next year to determine the Caribbean representative(s) for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Shallow, once again welcoming cricket’s return to the Olympic Games, pointed out that his administration is already in dialogue with the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) hierarchy to stage the domestic competition in 2025.
Cricket, which last featured at an Olympic Games in 1900, was always set for a long-awaited return to the global multi-sport showpiece, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last year confirmed it and four other sports—baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse, and squash—for the LA Games.
“To add cricket to the agenda in the next Olympics is certainly going to be something tremendous, as we did in the Commonwealth Games a couple years ago when we had one of our teams representing the females. We at the time chose our original women’s tournament, and the winner at the time was Barbados, so they represented the region,” Shallow said.
“We anticipate something similar will be done unless they tell us all the teams can come and participate, which would be ideal, but it is unlikely for that to happen,” he added.
Shallow also explained that the CPL champions cannot represent the region at the Olympic Games given that the tournament is franchise-based and involves players from other parts of the world.
As such, he revealed that he has engaged CARICOM leaders regarding plans for a domestic T20 competition from which the winner or top finishers would secure the coveted Olympic Games spot(s).
“We have been in discussion with CPL for them to fund a domestic T20 tournament starting next year. I think Miles Bascombe and his team have already scheduled a window for that next year in 2025. Once we are able to have that tournament, then we can use that to determine which team or teams will participate in the Olympics on behalf of CWI,” Shallow shared.
“We can’t use the CPL as it is now because it’s franchises. But in the domestic tournament that we’re having, which will still have a commercial model to it but not to the extent of CPL, but that will more than likely be territories instead of franchises, so we will be able to identify teams,” he noted.
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