An English cricket team toured Australia and Ceylon in 1882–83. Captained by Ivo Bligh, the team was on a quest "to recover those Ashes", a reference to the famous RIP notice that was published in the aftermath of England's defeat by Australia at The Oval in the previous English season.
Originally, three matches were arranged between Bligh's XI and a Combined Australia XI. Bligh's XI won two of these after losing the first. Although the actual sequence of events has never been completely confirmed, it was after winning the third match that Bligh was somehow presented with a small urn which is believed to contain the ashes of a burnt bail. He brought this back to England and it is now the most famous exhibit in the museum at Lord's Cricket Ground. England and Australia have been contesting these mythical Ashes ever since. A. fourth match was arranged ad hoc after the original series had been completed, and was won by the Australians. Following publication of Clarence P. Moody's proposed Test cricket list in 1894, all four matches were retrospectively recognised as Test matches.
Test matches
These matches were not called Tests at the time but they were retrospectively recognised after they were included in Australian Cricket and Cricketers, 1856 to 1893–94 (1894) by Clarence P. Moody. The original title of each match was Combined Australia XI v I. F. W. Bligh's XI.
This match saw the creation of the Ashes urn; with England having won the series, some Australian ladies burnt a bail and put the ashes in an urn, which remains in the Memorial Gallery at Lord's.
The team used Colombo as a stopover during its long sea voyage and played two matches against local sides in October 1882 that were not first-class. This was the first time that an overseas team visited Ceylon.
Besides the four against Combined Australia, Bligh's XI played in fourteen matches against colonial and club teams. Some of these were scheduled for two days' play, others for three days.
