The Ashes

In honor of the ongoing Ashes, the semi-annual series of test matches pitting Australia against England (I compare it to Springbok-All Black rugby clashes -- in any given year there might be bigger or more important matches, but rarely, and the intensity and history is incomparable) the Times Literary Supplement looks back at a 1951 review of four books on the 1950-1951 Ashes series, which Australia won 4-1.

This year England is up 1-0 (the first test in Cardiff ended in a draw, a result that would be perplexing to most Americans, but that simply ratchets up the tension in a test series) heading into the third test at Edgbaston in Birmingham. I was in England in 2005 for the bulk of the historic Ashes in which England ultimately prevailed. An England win in the Ashes is pretty rare, yet it looks as if the hosts might be in position to pull off a second one in the quadrennium.