title: AB de Villiers

text: De Villiers is a right-handed batter who accumulated over 8,000 runs in Tests including 22 centuries and 46 fifties. He holds the record for most Test innings without registering a duck (78), before being dismissed for nought against Bangladesh in November 2008. He also holds the second-highest individual score by a South African batsman, with 278*. Until 2012 he was an occasional wicket-keeper for South Africa, although after the retirement of regular Test keeper Mark Boucher and under his own captaincy he has started to regularly keep wicket for the national side in Tests, ODIs and T20Is. He gave up wicket-keeping in 2015 and handed the gloves to debutant Quinton de Kock.


title: AB de Villiers

text: He holds the records for the fastest 50 (16 balls), 100 (31 balls) and 150 (64 balls) of all time in One Day Internationals by any batsmen, and also holds the fastest hundred by a South African in Tests and the fastest 50 by South African in T20Is. He is a three-time ICC ODI player of the year, winning the award in 2010, 2014 and 2015.


title: AB de Villiers

text: After the 2011 Cricket World Cup he succeeded Graeme Smith as captain of the national ODI side, and became Test captain after the second Test of the home series against England in 2015/16. He stepped down from Test captaincy in December 2016 due to an elbow injury which kept him out of the team for a long period.


title: AB de Villiers

text: He made his Test debut as a 20-year-old on 16 December 2004 against England at Port Elizabeth. He made a strong impression opening the batting, but was dropped down the order for the second Test and also handed the wicket-keeping gloves. In this match, he made a match-saving half-century from number seven. However, he found himself at the top of the order again for the final Test of the series.


title: AB de Villiers

text: Despite a good tour of the Caribbean where he scored 178 to help South Africa seal a Test series win, his rapid progress was slowed on the tour of Australia in 2005. Despite playing Shane Warne well and becoming the second-youngest and second-fastest South African to reach 1,000 Test runs after Graeme Pollock, he struggled and made just 152 runs in 6 innings.


title: AB de Villiers

text: He has been used in a similar fashion to Jonty Rhodes in ODIs, opening the innings, although he currently bats in the middle order. De Villiers gave the selectors a sign by producing his then highest one-day score of 92 not out, which included 12 fours and one six, from 98 balls against India in the 2006 winter series.


title: AB de Villiers

text: De Villiers had a reputation as an outstanding fielder, typified by a diving run-out of Simon Katich of Australia in 2006, when he dived to stop the ball, and while still lying on his stomach facing away from the stumps, he tossed the ball backwards over his shoulder and effected a direct hit. This has also led people to make further comparisons of him to Jonty Rhodes, who was also one of the finest fielders of his generation. His fielding positions other than wicket-keeper are 1st and 2nd slip and cover.


title: AB de Villiers

text: Competing in the 2007 Cricket World Cup, AB was in good form in ODIs, having scored four 50s during the South Africa vs India/Pakistan (2007) matches.


title: AB de Villiers

text: In the early stages of the tournament AB's form was poor with three failures including a duck against the Netherlands in a match where his team broke various records for batting, although he scored a 92 in the first round against Australia.


title: AB de Villiers

text: He made his maiden ODI hundred, 146 from just 130 balls including 5 sixes and 12 fours, in the Super 8 game against West Indies on 10 April 2007. He had to bat with a runner for the latter stages of his innings and found every shot painful due to a combination of cramps, heat exhaustion and dehydration. His innings consisted of a second wicket partnership of 170 with Jacques Kallis and a third wicket partnership of 70 with Herschelle Gibbs. De Villiers' innings helped set up a total of 356/4 from 50 overs.


title: AB de Villiers

text: His batting during the World Cup was inconsistent as he failed to score on 4 occasions, in itself being a record.


title: AB de Villiers

text: On 4 April 2008, De Villiers became the first South African to score a double century against India with his top score of 217.


title: AB de Villiers

text: De Villiers scored an obdurate 174 that helped set up a ten-wicket win for South Africa in the second Test against England at Headingley Carnegie in Leeds in July 2008. This was followed by a 97 at The Oval before he came down the wicket trying to smash Monty Panesar for a boundary and was caught on the fence.


title: AB de Villiers

text: In the first Test in Perth, De Villiers scored a match-winning century to help South Africa chase down the second-highest-ever fourth innings target of 414 with six wickets in hand. This was South Africa's first Test victory in Australia in 15 years and appeared to go a long way towards tilting world cricket's balance of power after over a decade of Australian dominance. De Villiers also took four diving catches in the course of the match, including one to dismiss Jason Krejza, a stunner at backward point.


title: AB de Villiers

text: De Villiers only scored 11 runs in the second Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and made another low score in the first innings of the final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground. In the second innings of that Test though, De Villiers scored a patient half-century as South Africa almost held on for an against-the-odds draw.


title: AB de Villiers

text: During ODI series, in the 4th ODI in Adelaide, he played as wicket-keeper after Boucher was ruled out. He then scored 82 not out from 85 balls with 6 fours and a six to win the series and was named the man of the match.


title: AB de Villiers

text: In the first Test of the return series at the Wanderers Stadium, De Villiers provided lone resistance in the first innings against a bowling attack led by pace bowler, Mitchell Johnson, scoring 104* off 185 balls with 9 fours and 1 six, while his teammates all fell for under 50. But in the second innings he made only 3 off 7.


title: AB de Villiers

text: In the third Test, after centuries from Ashwell Prince and Jacques Kallis, De Villiers was the third centurion of the innings with a score of 163 off 196 balls with 12 fours and 7 sixes. This knock also tied the record for most sixes in an over as De Villiers, off the bowling of McDonald, hit four consecutive sixes.


title: AB de Villiers

text: In the following 5-game ODI series, De Villiers played consistently, although starting badly in the first game, scoring only 2 runs. However, he went on to make 36*, 80, 84 and 38 and was named Player of the Series at the conclusion of game 5.


title: AB de Villiers

text: He was rested for the two-match Twenty20 series against Zimbabwe and because Mark Boucher was injured as well Heino Kuhn donned the keeping gloves. De Villiers returned for the ODI series and also took over the gloves while Boucher was recovering. He did well against Zimbabwe scoring two centuries out of the three ODIs as South Africa comfortably won the three match series 3–0.


title: AB de Villiers

text: His major challenge came against Pakistan for the two Twenty20 matches, where he kept wicket. In the first match, he was out for a second-ball duck off a superb delivery by Shoaib Akhtar. In the second T20I he scored 11 runs. He then participated in the five-match ODI series where South Africa were chasing 203 to win and he scored 51 before he was caught and bowled by Saeed Ajmal. In the second ODI he scored 29 as he was bowled by Shahid Afridi; in the same match, a flamboyant Abdul Razzaq played the greatest innings of his life to lift Pakistan to an unbelievable victory. During the third match, he scored 19 before he was stumped by Zulqarnain Haider. It turned out to be a mistake by the umpire as he had pressed the wrong button. In the fourth match, he missed out on a half-century while on 49 when he gave his wicket to the fielder at point. His good form in the series continued when he scored 61 in the final ODI as South Africa won by 57 runs and the series 3–2.


title: AB de Villiers

text: For his performances in 2009 and 2010, he was named in the World Test XI by the ICC, and was also named in the World ODI XI in 2010.


title: AB de Villiers

text: AB de Villiers scored two successive centuries in the 2011 World Cup. He became the first South African to score two centuries in a single World Cup and the fifth batsman after Mark Waugh, Saeed Anwar, Rahul Dravid and Matthew Hayden to score two consecutive centuries in a single World Cup tournament. He also became the 16th batsman to score two or more centuries in one World Cup tournament. AB de Villiers' strike rate of 136.73 is the highest among South African batsmen who have scored centuries in World Cup matches. With his third player of the match award in World Cups, De Villiers is joint second with Jacques Kallis on the list of South African players with most match awards in World Cups. Lance Klusener heads the list with five awards.


title: AB de Villiers

text: On 6 June 2011, then South Africa coach Gary Kirsten announced that AB de Villiers would be South Africa's new limited-overs captain. "I'm very excited but I'm also inexperienced. But I've learnt a lot the last seven years from an unbelievable captain," said De Villiers, who had never captained a team at first-class level. "It's a big responsibility, but there'll be a fresh look in the side, which is good."


title: AB de Villiers

text: In the 2011–12 South African summer, De Villiers featured in the home series against Australia and against Sri Lanka. In the latter, he scored a century (160 not out) in South Africa's win in the third and deciding Test of the series. He was named the Player of the Series, having scored 353 runs at an average of 117.66. He then led South Africa for his first series since being appointed captain of the One Day International team. In his first match as captain, South Africa inflicted the heaviest defeat in Sri Lanka's history, with a 258-run win in Paarl on 11 January 2012. It was also the largest margin of victory (by runs) in an ODI match between two Test-playing teams. South Africa went on to win the ODI series, and De Villiers was named player of the series, having scored 329 runs at an average of 109.66, including a century (125 not out) in the fifth and final match in Johannesburg. On 10 July, De Villiers was handed full-time wicket-keeping duties after Mark Boucher announced retirement from cricket after suffering eye injuries from a hit from a bail the day before.


title: AB de Villiers

text: On 4 February 2013, De Villiers equalled Jack Russell's record of 11 dismissals in a match. He also scored an unbeaten 103 off 117 balls in South Africa's second innings of the same match. In the process, he became the first wicket-keeper to score a century and claim 10 dismissals in a Test.


title: AB de Villiers

text: On 18 March, during the third ODI match of Pakistan's tour of South Africa at Johannesburg, De Villiers and Hashim Amla shared the record for the highest third-wicket partnership in an ODI when they scored 238. De Villiers scored 12 fours and 3 sixes, and a total of 128.


title: AB de Villiers

text: On 18 January 2015, De Villiers scored both the fastest fifty and the fastest century by a batsman in One Day International cricket, off 16 balls and 31 balls respectively and eventually scoring 149 runs off 44 balls in 59.5 minutes against West Indies.


title: AB de Villiers

text: De Villiers was one of the top performers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup scoring 482 runs at an average of 96.0 and strike rate of 144.0 during the tournament.


title: AB de Villiers

text: On 27 February 2015, De Villiers scored 162 runs off 66 balls in a match against the West Indies in Pool B, leading South Africa to their second-highest total in World Cup history (408), at Sydney Cricket Ground. With this feat, he became the record holder for the fastest 50, 100 and 150 in One-Day International history.


title: AB de Villiers

text: Under the captaincy of De Villiers, South Africa qualified for the semi-finals of the World Cup but lost to New Zealand in the match. De Villiers finished the tournament as the third-highest run-scorer with 482 runs, behind Martin Guptill and Kumar Sangakkara.


title: AB de Villiers

text: At the end of the tournament, he was ranked number 1 in the ICC batsmen rating in One day International cricket and number 3 in the ICC batsmen rating in Test cricket. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2015 World Cup by the ICC.


title: AB de Villiers

text: On 6 January 2016, the second Test match between England and South Africa ended in a draw. After the end of the match, Hashim Amla resigned from the captaincy and de Villiers was chosen to captain South Africa for the last two matches.


title: AB de Villiers

text: On 21 February 2016, de Villiers scored the fastest T20I fifty by a South African, in just 21 balls. He completed the innings with 79 runs in 29 balls and led South Africa to a clean sweep in the T20I series.


title: AB de Villiers

text: On 18 January 2017, de Villiers ruled himself out from most of the Test matches and ultimately played in December 2017. However, a day before the Test match, Faf du Plessis picked up a viral infection, putting him in doubt for the match. On the morning of the Test, he was ruled out of the fixture, with AB de Villiers replacing him as captain. He also kept wicket during the match, as South Africa's wicket-keeper Quinton de Kock suffered a hamstring injury while batting on day one. He took eight catches in the match and the Test match finished inside two days, with South Africa winning by an innings and 120 runs.


title: AB de Villiers

text: De Villiers returned for the Indian tour to South Africa in 2018. He stated he had given up wicket-keeping as his back could no longer handle the demand, and Faf du Plessis resumed his role as captain in all forms of the game.


title: AB de Villiers

text: In the second Test match against Australia, he scored his 22nd Test century with a score of 126 not out off 146 balls in the first innings. His performance helped the team win the match by 6 wickets.


title: AB de Villiers

text: On 23 May 2018, De Villiers announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket through a video uploaded to Twitter, in which he explained his decision. One of the statements in his monologue was "I have had my turn, and to be honest, I am tired." A few weeks after his announcement about retiring from international cricket, he clarified and said that he will continue playing T20 leagues for a few more years. During the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup, and following South Africa losing their first three matches in the tournament, details emerged of De Villiers making himself available for selection for the national team squad on the day the squad was to be announced. He was not selected as he had not played any international cricket for his country leading up to the tournament, despite having been prompted to do so by South Africa's coach Ottis Gibson earlier in the year.


title: AB de Villiers

text: In January 2020, it was rumoured that de Villiers was in talks to make a comeback to the South African T20I side for the 2020 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. De Villiers, as well as South African director of cricket Graeme Smith and head coach Mark Boucher, confirmed these rumours.


title: AB de Villiers

text: In November 2020, de Villiers was nominated for the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade, and the award for ODI cricketer of the decade.


title: AB de Villiers

text: De Villiers has scored 22 Test and 25 ODI centuries. He scored his first Test century against England in 2005 and his first ODI century against West Indies in 2007.


title: AB de Villiers

text: Domestically de Villiers first played for Northerns, making his debut for the team in the 2003/04 Supersport Series. The team merged with Easterns to form the Titans side which de Villiers then played for in the 2004/05 season. His international duties mean that he has played only occasionally for the side since 2005, making a total of only nine first-class, 20 List A and 24 Twenty20 appearances for the side.


title: AB de Villiers

text: Since joining the league in its inaugural season, de Villiers has become one of the most successful batsmen in the Indian Premier League (IPL). After originally playing for Delhi Daredevils, he moved to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for US$1.5 million in the league's fourth season. Three of his four Twenty20 centuries have come in the IPL and he has played in over 150 matches in the league. Following his retirement from international cricket, his future in T20 franchise leagues was uncertain until he announced in July 2018 that he intended to continue to play in the IPL for "a few years". Ab De Villiers announced his retirement in on 19 November 2021 From Indian Premier League ( after14th edition of Indian Premier League) He said that he would rejoin RCB for the 2023 season, but not as a player.


title: AB de Villiers

text: On 17 May 2022, de Villiers was inducted into the RCB Hall of Fame for his incredible contribution to the team from 2011 to 2021.


title: AB de Villiers

text: Other than the IPL, de Villiers has played franchise T20 cricket for Barbados Tridents, Tshwane Spartans, Rangpur Riders, Middlesex, Brisbane Heat and Lahore Qalandars in leagues across the world. He has been criticised for his decision to play in franchise leagues rather than for his country.


title: AB de Villiers

text: He is sometimes referred to as "Mr. 360" due to his ability to play shots all around the wicket, and as "Superman" due to his acrobatic fielding. In T20 cricket he is seen as an attacking batsman who plays a range of unconventional shots.


title: AB de Villiers

text: De Villiers proposed to his girlfriend, Danielle Swart, at the Taj Mahal in 2012, after five years of dating. The couple got married on 30 March 2013, in Bela-Bela, South Africa. They have two sons and one daughter.


title: AB de Villiers

text: He is a devout Christian and has stated that his faith is crucial to his approach to life. He is also an accomplished guitar player and a singer. In 2010, he released a bilingual pop album entitled "Maak Jou Drome Waar" with his friend and South African singer Ampie du Preez. His autobiography, "AB de Villiers – the Autobiography", was released in September 2016. He is the most-followed South African on Instagram.


title: Madurai

text: Madurai ( , , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in Tamil Nadu after Chennai and Coimbatore and the 44th most populated city in India. Located on the banks of River Vaigai, Madurai has been a major settlement for two millennia and has a documented history of more than 2500 years. It is often referred to as "Thoonga Nagaram", meaning "the city that never sleeps".


title: Madurai

text: Madurai is closely associated with the Tamil language. The third Tamil Sangam, a major congregation of Tamil scholars said to have been held in the city. The recorded history of the city goes back to the 3rd century BCE, being mentioned by Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador to the Maurya empire, and Kautilya, a minister of the Mauryan emperor Chandragupta Maurya. Signs of human settlements and Roman trade links dating back to 300 BCE are evident from excavations by Archeological Survey of India in Manalur. The city is believed to be of significant antiquity and has been ruled, at different times, by the Pandyas, Cholas, Madurai Sultanate, Vijayanagar Empire, Madurai Nayaks, Carnatic kingdom, and the British East India Company British Raj.


title: Madurai

text: The city has a number of historical monuments, with the Meenakshi Temple and the Thirumalai Nayak Palace being the most prominent. Madurai is an important industrial and educational hub in South Tamil Nadu. The city is home to various automobile, rubber, chemical and granite manufacturing industries.


title: Madurai

text: Madurai has important government educational institutes such as the Madurai Medical College, Homeopathic Medical College, Madurai Law College, Agricultural College and Research Institute. Madurai city is administered by a municipal corporation established in 1971 as per the Municipal Corporation Act. The city covers an area of and had a population of 1,470,755 in 2011. The city is also the seat of a bench of the Madras High Court. The Madurai Bench has been functioning since 2004.


title: Madurai

text: According to Iravatham Mahadevan, a 2nd-century BCE Tamil-Brahmi inscription refers to the city as "matiray", an Old Tamil word meaning a "walled city".


title: Madurai

text: Madurai is one of the many temple towns in the state which is named after the groves, clusters or forests dominated by a particular variety of a tree or shrub and the same variety of tree or shrub sheltering the presiding deity. The region is believed to have been covered with Kadamba forest and hence called Kadambavanam. The city is referred by various names including "Madurai", "Koodal", "Malligai Maanagar", "Naanmadakoodal" and "Thirualavai". The word "Madurai" may be derived from Madhura (sweetness) arising out of the divine nectar showered on the city by the Hindu god Siva from his matted hair. Another theory is that "Madurai" is the derivative of the word "Marutham", which refers to the type of landscape of the Sangam age. A town in the neighbouring Dindigul district is called Vada Madurai ("North Madurai") and another in Sivagangai district is called Manamadurai. The different names by which the city has been referred to historically are listed in the 7th-century poem "Thiruvilayaadal Puraanam" written by Paranjothi Munivar. Vaishnava texts refer to Madurai as the "southern Mathura", probably similar to Tenkasi ("southern Kashi").


title: Madurai

text: "Koodal" means an assembly or congregation of scholarly people, referring to the three Tamil Sangams held at Madurai. Naanmadakoodal, meaning the junction of four towers, refers to the four major temples for which Madurai was known for. "Tevaram", the 7th- or 8th-century Tamil compositions on Shiva by the three prominent Nayanars ("Saivites"), namely Appar, Sundarar and Thirugnanasambandar, address the city as "Thirualavai".


title: Madurai

text: Madurai is mentioned in the great book Mahavamsa, that in the 6th century BCE, Prince Vijaya(BCE 543–505) married the daughter of King Pandu of Madurai and 700 men of prince Vijaya married 700 maidens from Madurai as their wives. The princess and maidens were sent to Sri Lanka with valuable items by ships and they landed in MahaTittha, present-day Mannar.


title: Madurai

text: Madurai has been inhabited since at least the 3rd century BCE. Megasthenes may have visited Madurai during the 3rd century BCE, with the city referred as "Methora" in his accounts. The view is contested by some scholars who believe "Methora" refers to the north Indian city of Mathura, as it was a large and established city in the Mauryan Empire. Madurai is also mentioned in Kautilya's (370–283 BCE) "Arthashastra". Sangam literature like "Maturaikkāñci" records the importance of Madurai as a capital city of the Pandyan dynasty. Madurai is mentioned in the works of Roman historians Pliny the Younger (61 – c. 112 CE), Ptolemy (c. 90 – c. CE 168), those of the Greek geographer Strabo (64/63 BCE – c. 24 CE), and also in Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.


title: Madurai

text: After the Sangam age, most of present-day Tamil Nadu, including Madurai, came under the rule of the Kalabhra dynasty, which was ousted by the Pandyas around 590 CE. The Pandyas were ousted from Madurai by the Chola dynasty during the early 9th century. The city was fought over between the Cholas and the Pandyas during the 12th century, changing hands several times, until the early 13th century, when the second Pandyan empire was established with Madurai as its capital. After the death of Kulasekara Pandian (1268–1308 CE), Madurai came under the rule of the Delhi Sultanate. The Madurai Sultanate then seceded from Delhi and functioned as an independent kingdom until its gradual annexation by the Vijayanagar Empire in 1378 CE. Madurai became independent from Vijayanagar in 1559 CE under the Nayaks. Nayak rule ended in 1736 CE and Madurai was repeatedly captured several times by Chanda Sahib (1740 – 1754 CE), Arcot Nawab and Muhammed Yusuf Khan (1725 – 1764 CE) in the middle of the 18th century.


title: Madurai

text: In 1801, Madurai came under the direct control of the British East India Company and was annexed to the Madras Presidency. The British government made donations to the Meenakshi temple and participated in the Hindu festivals during the early part of their rule. The city evolved as a political and industrial complex through the 19th and 20th centuries to become a district headquarters of a larger Madurai district. In 1837, the fortifications around the temple were demolished by the British. The moat was drained and the debris was used to construct new streets – Veli, Marat and Perumaal Mesthiri streets. The city was constituted as a municipality in 1866 under the Town Improvement Act of 1865. The British government faced initial hiccups during the earlier period of the establishment of municipality in land ceiling and tax collection in Madurai and Dindigul districts under the direct administration of the officers of the government. The city, along with the district, was resurveyed between 1880 and 1885 CE and subsequently, five municipalities were constituted in the two districts and six taluk boards were set up for local administration. Police stations were established in Madurai city, housing the headquarters of the District Superintendent.


title: Madurai

text: It was in Madurai, in 1921, that Mahatma Gandhi, pre-eminent leader of Indian nationalism in British-ruled India, first adopted the loin cloth as his mode of dress after seeing agricultural labourers wearing it. Leaders of the independence movement in Madurai included N.M.R. Subbaraman, Karumuttu Thiagarajan Chettiar and Mohammad Ismail Sahib. The Temple Entry Authorization and Indemnity Act passed by the government of Madras Presidency under C. Rajagopalachari in 1939 removed restrictions prohibiting Shanars and Dalits from entering Hindu temples. The temple entry movement was first led in Madurai Meenakshi temple by independence activist A. Vaidyanatha Iyer in 1939.


title: Madurai

text: In 1971, the municipality of Madurai was upgraded to a Municipal Corporation. In 2011 the Madurai Corporation expanded the area of its jurisdiction from seventy-two wards to one hundred wards, an increase in area from to .


title: Madurai

text: Madurai is built around the Meenakshi Amman Temple, which acted as the geographic and ritual centre of the ancient city of Madurai. The city is divided into a number of concentric quadrangular streets around the temple. Vishwanatha Nayak (1529–64 CE), the first Madurai Nayak king, redesigned the city in accordance with the principles laid out by "Shilpa Shastras" (Sanskrit: "", also anglicised as "silpa sastra" meaning rules of architecture) related to urban planning. These squares retain their traditional names of Aadi, Chittirai, Avani-moola and Masi streets, corresponding to the Tamil month names and also to the festivals associated. The temple "prakarams" (outer precincts of a temple) and streets accommodate an elaborate festival calendar in which dramatic processions circumambulate the shrines at varying distances from the centre. The temple chariots used in processions are progressively larger in size based on the size of the concentric streets. Ancient Tamil classics record the temple as the centre of the city and the surrounding streets appearing liken a lotus and its petals. The city's axes were aligned with the four-quarters of the compass, and the four gateways of the temple provided access to it. The wealthy and higher echelons of the society were placed in streets close to the temple, while the poorest were placed in the fringe streets. With the advent of British rule during the 19th century, Madurai became the headquarters of a large colonial political complex and an industrial town; with urbanisation, the social hierarchical classes became unified.


title: Madurai

text: Madurai is located at . It has an average elevation of 134 metres. The city of Madurai lies on the flat and fertile plain of the river Vaigai, which runs in the northwest–southeast direction through the city, dividing it into two almost equal halves. The Sirumalai and Nagamalai hills lie to the north and west of Madurai. The land in and around Madurai is utilised largely for agricultural activity, which is fostered by the Periyar Dam. Madurai lies southeast of the western ghats, and the surrounding region occupies the plains of South India and contains several mountain spurs. The soil type in central Madurai is predominantly clay loam, while red loam and black cotton types are widely prevalent in the outer fringes of the city. Paddy is the major crop, followed by pulses, millet, oil seed, cotton and sugarcane.


title: Madurai

text: As is typical for Tamil Nadu, Madurai has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen "Aw/As"), although it borders closely upon a hot semi-arid climate ("BSh").


title: Madurai

text: Madurai is hot and dry for eight months of the year. Cold winds are experienced during February and March as in the neighbouring Dindigul. The hottest months are from March to July. The city experiences a moderate climate from August to October, tempered by heavy rain and thundershowers, and a slightly cooler climate from November to February. Fog and dew are rare, occurring only during the winter season. Being equidistant from mountains and the sea, it experiences similar monsoon pattern with Northeast monsoon and Southwest monsoon, with the former providing more rain during October to December. The average annual rainfall for the Madurai district is about 85.76 cm.


title: Madurai

text: Temperatures during summer generally reach a maximum of and a minimum of , although temperatures up to are not uncommon. Winter temperatures range between and . A study based on the data available with the Indian Meteorological Department on Madurai over a period of 62 years indicate rising trend in atmospheric temperature over Madurai city, attributed to urbanisation, growth of vehicles and industrial activity. The maximum temperature of for the decade of 2001 to 2010 was recorded in 2004 and in 2010.


title: Madurai

text: According to 2011 census based on pre-expansion limits, the area covered under the Madurai Municipal Corporation had a population of 1,017,865 with a sex-ratio of 999 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929. A total of 100,324 were under the age of six, constituting 51,485 males and 48,839 females. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes accounted for 6.27% and .31% of the population respectively. The average literacy of the city was 81.95%, compared to the national average of 72.99%. The urban agglomeration of Madurai had a population of 1,465,625, and is the third largest in Tamil Nadu and the 31st in India.


title: Madurai

text: According to the religious census of 2011, Madurai had 85.83% Hindus, 8.54% Muslims, 5.18% Christians and 0.47% others. Tamil is the main language, and the standard dialect is the Madurai Tamil dialect, and is spoken by 89.0% of the population. Saurashtra, a language related to Gujarati, is the largest minority language which is spoken by 5.4% of the population. Other significant minority languages include Telugu (2.7%) and Urdu (1.5%). Roman Catholics in Madurai are affiliated with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Madurai, while Protestants are affiliated with the Madurai-Ramnad Diocese of the Church of South India.


title: Madurai

text: In 2001, Slum-dwellers comprise 32.6 per cent of the total population, much higher than the national average of 15.05 per cent. The increase in growth rate to 50 per cent from 1971 to 1981 is due to the city's upgrade to a municipal corporation in 1974 and the subsequent inclusion of 13 Panchayats into the corporation limits. The decline in the population growth rate between 1981 and 2001 is due to the bifurcation of Madurai district into two, Madurai and Dindigul in 1984, and the subsequently of part of the city into the Theni district in 1997. The compounded annual growth rate dropped from 4.10 per cent during 1971–81 to 1.27 per cent during 1991–2004.


title: Madurai

text: The municipality of Madurai was constituted on 1 November 1866 as per the Town Improvement Act of 1865. The municipality was headed by a chairperson and elections were regularly conducted for the post except during the period 1891 to 1896, when no elections were held due to violent factionalism. During the early years of independent India, the Madurai municipality was dominated by reformists of the Indian National Congress. Madurai was upgraded to a municipal corporation on 1 May 1971 as per the Madurai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1971. It is the second oldest municipal corporation in Tamil Nadu, after Chennai. The functions of the municipality are devolved into six departments: General, Engineering, Revenue, Public Health, Town planning and the Computer Wing. All these departments are under the control of a Municipal Commissioner, who is the supreme executive head. The legislative powers are vested in a body of 100 members, one each from the 100 wards. The legislative body is headed by an elected Mayor assisted by a Deputy Mayor. The corporation received several awards in 2008 for implementing development works.


title: Madurai

text: The city of Madurai is represented in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly by six elected members, one each for the Madurai East, Madurai West, Madurai North, Madurai Central, Madurai South and Thirupparankundram constituencies. Most of Madurai city comes under the Madurai Lok Sabha constituency and elects a member to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India, once every five years. From 1957, the Madurai parliament seat was held by the Indian National Congress seven times in the 1962–67, 1971–77, 1977–80, 1980–84, 1984–89, 1989–91 and 1991 elections. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) won the seat three times during 1967–71, 1999–2004 and 2004–09 general elections. The Communist Party of India (1957–61), Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) (1996–98), Janata Party (1998), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (2009–2014) and All India Anna Dravida Munnertra Kazhagam (2014–2020) have each won once. Part of the city which falls under Thirupparankundram assembly constituency comes under the Virudhunagar Lok Sabha constituency.


title: Madurai

text: Law and order is enforced by the Tamil Nadu Police, which, for administrative purposes, has constituted Madurai city as a separate district. The district is divided into four sub-divisions, namely Thallakulam, Anna Nagar, Thilagar Thidal and Town, with a total of 27 police stations. The Madurai city police force is headed by a Commissioner of police, assisted by Deputy Commissioners. Enforcement of law and order in the suburban areas are handled by the Madurai district police. In 2008, the crime rate in the city was 283.2 per 100,000 people, accounting for 1.1 per cent of all crimes reported in major cities in India, and it was ranked 19th among 35 major cities in India. As of 2008, Madurai recorded the second highest SLL (Special and Local Laws) crimes, at 22,728, among cities in Tamil Nadu. However, Madurai had the second lowest crime rate at 169.1 of all the cities in Tamil Nadu. The city is also the seat of a bench of the Madras High Court, one of only a few outside the state capitals of India. It started functioning in July 2004.


title: Madurai

text: The National Highways NH-44, NH-38 and NH-85 pass through Madurai. The state highways passing through the city are SH-33, SH-72, SH-72A, SH-73 and SH-73A which connect various parts of Madurai district. Madurai is one of the seven circles of the Tamil Nadu State Highway network. Madurai is the headquarters of the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (Madurai) and provides local and inter-city bus transport across the districts of Madurai, Dindigul, Sivagangai, Theni, Virudhunagar. Madurai has three bus terminals, namely, M.G.R. Bus Stand aka Mattuthavani bus stand is the second largest bus terminus in Tamilnadu after Chennai Mofussil Bus terminus.


title: Madurai

text: Periyar Bus Stand (for intra city buses). There are 12,754 registered three-wheeled vehicles called auto rickshaws, which are commercially available for renting within the city. In addition to the government operated city buses, there are 236 registered private mini-buses that support local transportation.


title: Madurai

text: Madurai Junction is the major railway station serving the city. It is an important railway junction in southern Tamil Nadu and is one of the top 100 booking stations in Indian Railways.


title: Madurai

text: It is the headquarters of the Madurai division of the Southern Railway. There are direct trains from connecting Madurai with major cities and towns across India. The state government announced a monorail project for Madurai called as Madurai Monorail in 2011, which is in planning stages.


title: Madurai

text: Madurai airfield was first used by the Royal Air Force in World War II in 1942. The first passenger flight, a Fokker Friendship aircraft was from Madras in 1956. Madurai Airport established in 1957, is located at Avaniyapuram, about from the city. The airport was declared a customs airport in 2012 allowing limited number of international flights. It offers domestic flights to some cities in India and international services to Colombo, Dubai and for Singapore on a daily basis started by Air India Express since February 2018. The carriers operating from the airport are Air India, Air India Express, SpiceJet, IndiGo and Srilankan Airlines. The airport handled 842,300 passengers between April 2015 and March 2016. The airport identified as one of 35 non-metro airports for modernisation had a new integrated terminal building, which was inaugurated on 12 September 2010.


title: Madurai

text: In 2021,The Tamil Nadu Government under Chief Minister M.K. Stalin proposed a metro for the city of Madurai.


title: Madurai

text: The nearest major port is V. O. Chidambaranar Port Trust in Thoothukudi located nearly away from Madurai connecting with NH38 National Highway and from Madurai Airport which acts several industrial sectors to operate. There are several import and exporting activities in Thoothukudi harbour to various countries like Singapore and Colombo. An initiative process by the Tamil Nadu government has announced to develop Madurai-Thoothukudi Industrial Corridor in the year of 2014 by the finance minister at the estimated cost of 1,83,819 Crore and it covers 13 districts and fund released by Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Fund Management Company Ltd


title: Madurai

text: Madurai has been an academic centre of learning for Tamil culture, literature, art, music and dance for centuries. All three assemblies of the Tamil language, the Tamil Sangam (about the 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE), were said to have been held at Madurai. Tamil poets of different epochs participated in these assemblies, and their compositions are referred to as Sangam literature. During the third Tamil "sangam", the comparative merit of the poets was decided by letting the works float in the lotus tank of the temple. It was believed that a divine force would cause the work of superior merit to float on the surface, while the inferior ones would sink.


title: Madurai

text: The American College is the oldest college in Madurai, and was established in 1881 by American Christian missionaries. The Lady Doak college, established in 1948, is the oldest women's college in Madurai. Thiagarajar College (established in 1949), Madura College (established in 1889), Fatima College (established in 1953), Sourashtra College (established in 1967) and M.S.S. Wakf Board College (established in 1964), Tamil Nadu Polytechnic College ( established in 1946), are the oldest educational institutions of the city. Madurai Kamaraj University (originally called Madurai University), established in 1966, is a state-run university which has 109 affiliated arts and science colleges in Madurai and neighbouring districts. There are 47 approved institutions of the university in and around the city, consisting of autonomous colleges, aided colleges, self-financing colleges, constituent colleges, evening colleges and other approved institutions. There are seven polytechnical schools and five Industrial training institutes (ITIs) in Madurai, with the Government ITI and the Government Polytechnic for Women being the most prominent of them all. There are two government medical institutes in Madurai, Madurai Medical College and Homoeopathic Medical College, Thirumangalam and 11 paramedical institutes. There are fifteen engineering colleges in Madurai affiliated to Anna University, with the Thiagarajar College of Engineering being the oldest. The Madurai Law College, established in 1979, is one of the seven government law colleges in the state. It is administered by the Tamil Nadu Government Department of Legal Studies, and affiliated with the Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University. There are three teacher training institutes, two music colleges, three management institutes and 30 arts and sciences colleges in Madurai. The agricultural college and research institute in Madurai, started in 1965 by the state government, provides agricultural education to aspirants in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu. There are a total of 369 primary, secondary and higher secondary schools in the city. AIIMS, a premier medical institution, is also under construction in Madurai and will cover 224 acres of land, at an estimated cost of 1,264crore, and additionally allotted 736 crore total around 2,000 crore in the sub-urban Thoppur Madurai district.


title: Madurai

text: Madurai was traditionally an agrarian society, with rice paddies as the main crop. Cotton crop cultivation in the regions with black soil in Madurai district was introduced during the Nayaka rule during the 16th century to increase the revenue from agriculture. The paddy fields cultivated in the Vaigai delta across Madurai North, Melur, Nilakottai and Uthamapalayam are known as "double-crop paddy belts". Farmers in the district supplement their income with subsidiary occupations like dairy farming, poultry-farming, pottery, brick making, mat-weaving and carpentry. Madurai is famed for its jasmine plantations, called "Madurai Malli", primarily carried out at the foothills of Kodaikanal hills and traded at the Madurai morning flower market. An average of 2,000 farmers sell flowers daily at the flower market.


title: Madurai

text: With the advent of Small Scale Industries (SSI) after 1991, the industrialisation of Madurai increased employment in the sector across the district from 63,271 in 1992–93 to 166,121 persons in 2001–02. Madurai is one of the few rubber growing areas in South India, and there are rubber-based industries in Madurai. Gloves, sporting goods, mats, other utility products and automobile rubber components are the most produced items by these industries. Automobile manufacturers are the major consumers of rubber components produced in the city. There are numerous textile, granite and chemical industries operating in Madurai.


title: Madurai

text: Madurai is promoted as a tier II city for IT and Industry. kappalur which is sub-urban of Madurai is business hub for automotive industries such as KUN BMW, Isuzu, Volkswagen, Toyota, Mahindra, Tata, Maruti Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Ashok Leyland, Jeep, Fiat India (FCA). The government has created Utchapatti-Thoppur satellite Township in Kappalur. Small Industries Development Corporation Kappalur has many polymer and houseware manufacturing units.some software companies have opened their offices in Madurai. Software Technology Parks of India, an agency of the Government of India, has authorised several such companies to receive benefits under its national information technology development program. The state government proposed two IT-based Special Economic Zones (SEZ) in Madurai, and these have been fully occupied by various IT companies, HCL Technologies and Honeywell have their own campuses in ELCOT IT Park in Madurai.


title: Madurai

text: Meenakshi Amman Temple is a historic Hindu temple located on the south side of the Vaigai River in Madurai and is one of the most prominent landmarks of the city. It is dedicated to Meenakshi and her consort, Sundareswarar. The complex houses 14 "gopuram"s (gateway towers) ranging from in height, the tallest being the southern tower, high. There are also two golden sculptured "vimana" (shrines) over the sanctum of the main deities. The temple is a significant symbol for Tamils and has been mentioned since antiquity in Tamil literature, though the present structure was built between 1623 and 1655 CE. As of 2016, the temple attracts on average 15,000 visitors a day, which grows to around 25,000 on Fridays. There are an estimated 33,000 sculptures in the temple, and it was in the list of top 30 nominees for the "New7Wonders of the World".


title: Madurai

text: Koodal Azhagar Temple is a Vishnu temple located in the city. It has idols of the Navagraha (nine planet deities), which are otherwise found only in Shiva temples.


title: Madurai

text: Alagar Koyil is a celebrated Vishnu temple northeast of Madurai situated on the foothills of Solaimalai. The deity, Kallazhagar, is believed to be the brother of Meenakshi, the presiding deity at the Meenakshi temple. The festival calendars of these two temples overlap during the Meenakshi Thirukalyanam festival.


title: Madurai

text: Tirupparankunram is a hill away from Madurai where the Hindu god Murugan is said to have married Deivanai. The temple is the first among the Six Abodes of Murugan and is one of the most visited tourist spots in Madurai, next only to the Meenakshi Amman Temple. The temple has a wide range of Hindu gods carved on the walls.


title: Madurai

text: Kazimar Big Mosque is the oldest Islamic place of worship in the city. It was constructed under the supervision of Kazi Syed Tajuddin, who was a descendant of Islamic Prophet Muhammad. Madurai Maqbara the grave of Meer Ahmad Ibrahim Periya Hazrat, Meer Amjad Ibrahim Chinna Hazrat and Syed Abdus Salam Ibrahim Saalim Hazrat is located inside the mosque. Kazi Syed Tajuddin came from Oman and received the piece of land as a gift from the Pandyan ruler Kulasekara Pandyan I, during the 13th century for the construction of the mosque. Since its inception until today the mosque has been managed by descendants of Kazi Syed Tajuddin and traditionally the Kazis of Madurai city to the Govt. of Tamil Nadu are appointed from the descendants family. Goripalayam Mosque is located in Gorippalayam, the name of which is derived from the Persian word "gor" ("grave") and the graves of erstwhile Sultanate rulers Alauddin, Shamsuddeen and Habibuddin are found here. Tirupparankunram Dargah is located at the top of the Thiruparankundram hill where the cemetery of Sultan Sikandhar Badushah the then ruler of Jeddah and Madurai who travelled to India along with Sulthan Syed Ibrahim Shaheed of Ervadi during the 12th century is located. St. Mary's Cathedral is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Madurai. Samanar Malai and Panchapandavar Malai are important Jain centres.


title: Madurai

text: Madurai is popularly called "Thoonga Nagaram" meaning the city that never sleeps, on account of the active night life. The city attracts a large number of tourists from within the country and abroad. About 9,100,000 tourists visited Madurai in 2010, including 524,000 foreigners. Madurai is now attracting medical tourism also. The palace complex of Thirumalai Nayak Palace was constructed in the Indo-Saracenic style by Thirumalai Nayakar in 1636 CE. It is a national monument maintained by the Tamil Nadu Archaeological Department. The daily sound and light show organised by the department explains the virtues of King Thirumalai and the features of the palace. The palace of Rani Mangamma has been renovated to house one of the five Gandhi Sangrahalayas (Gandhi Memorial Museum, Madurai) in the country. It includes a part of the blood-stained garment worn by Mahatma Gandhi when he was assassinated by Nathuram Godse. A visit by Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. to the museum inspired him to lead peaceful protests against discrimination. The Eco park, situated in Tallakulam, features fountains and lighting in trees using optical fibres. Rajaji children's park, maintained by the Madurai Municipal Corporation, is situated between the Gandhi museum and the Tamukkam grounds. It has a visitor average of 5000 per day during holidays and 2000–3000 on working days. Madurai also has Theme Park, Athisayam which is situated in Paravai, Madurai – Dindugal main road. MGR Race Course Stadium is an athletic stadium which has a synthetic track and a swimming pool. Several national meets are held here. It also hosts several international and national level kabbadi championships.


title: Madurai

text: The people of Madurai celebrate numerous festivals, including Meenakshi Tirukkalyanam, the Chittirai Festival and the Car Festival. The annual 10-day Meenakshi Tirukalyanam festival, also called Chittirai festival, is celebrated during April–May every year and attracts one million visitors. Legend has it that the Hindu god Vishnu, as Alagar, rode on a golden horse to Madurai to attend the celestial wedding of Meenakshi (Parvati) and Sundareswarar (Shiva).Before Alagar reaches the wedding, the marriage will be completed and he does not cross the vaigai river. During this day there will be huge crowd will be present near the river too see Lord Alagar in the river. During the Cradle festival, the festive idols of Meenakshi and Sundareswarar are taken in procession to a mirror chamber and set on a rocking swing for nine days. Avanimoolam festival is celebrated during September when the 64 sacred games of Shiva, "thiruvilayadal", are recited. The Thepporchavam festival, or float festival, is celebrated on the full moon day of the Tamil month "Thai", which falls around January – February, to celebrate the birth anniversary of King Thirumalai Nayak. The decorated icons of Meenakshi and her consort are taken out in a procession from the Meenakshi Temple to the Mariamman Teppakulam. The icons are floated in the tank on a raft decked with flowers and flickering lamps. Jallikattu is one of the most popular historical sport in Tamil Nadu, and is a part of the Pongal festival (harvest festival) Mattu Pongal celebrated during January. The bull taming event is held in the villages surrounding Madurai, and people from the neighbouring villages throng to the open grounds to watch man and bull pitting their strength against each other. The event was banned in the years 2014, 2015 and 2016 following an order by the Supreme Court of India. Santhanakoodu festivals in Madurai are celebrated on various days during the Islamic calendar year to commemorate Islamic saints.


title: Madurai

text: Entertainment included shopping malls such as Milan'em Mall and Vishaal de Mal is being the South Tamil Nadu's biggest large format shopping mall, is located in Chokkikulam, Madurai. theaters such as INOX Leisure Limited, Big Cinemas, Thangaregal, and more than ten are playing the vital role in entertainment industry in Madurai. Courtyard by Marriott, Taj Gateway Hotel Pasumalai, GRT Regency, The Heritage hotels, Germanus Hotel, Astoria, Kadambavanam Resort, Poppy's Hotel, Lake View Hotel and Madurai Residency are such a popular hotels. National Cricket Ground NPR College Ground is an artificial turf ground with a seating capacity of 5000 and flood lights. The ground has hosted 10 first class cricket matches and it is also a venue for Tamil Nadu Premier League located away from Madurai.


title: Madurai

text: Nearest Popular Hill station are Kodaikanal , Sirumalai , Munnar , Kumily from Madurai. Rameswaram is historical Hindu temple tourism center which is from Madurai well connected with Rail and road connectivity.


title: Madurai

text: The city hosts several radio stations, including the state-owned All India Radio and private channels like Hello FM, Radio Mirchi, Suryan FM and Radio City. "The Hindu", "The New Indian Express" and "The Times of India" are the three principal English-language daily newspapers which have Madurai editions. "Deccan Chronicle", though not printed in the city, is another English-language daily newspaper available in the city. The most read Tamil-language daily morning newspapers include "Dina Malar", "Dina Thanthi", "Dina Mani" and "Dinakaran" – all these newspapers have editions from Madurai. There are also daily Tamil evening newspapers like "Tamil Murasu", "Malai Murasu" and "Malai Malar" published in Madurai. Television broadcasting from Chennai for whole of Tamil Nadu was started on 15 August 1975. Direct-to-home cable television services are provided by DD Direct Plus and other private service providers.


title: Madurai

text: Electricity supply to the city is regulated and distributed by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB). The city is the headquarters of the Madurai region of TNEB and along with its suburbs, forms the Madurai Metro Electricity Distribution Circle, which is further divided into six divisions. Water supply is provided by the Madurai City Corporation with overhead tanks and power pumps. In the period 2010–2011, a total of 950.6 lakh litres of water was supplied to 87,091 connections for households in Madurai.


title: Madurai

text: About 400 metric tonnes of solid waste are collected from the city every day by door-to-door collection, and the subsequent source segregation and dumping is carried out by the sanitary department of the Madurai Municipal corporation All the major channels in Madurai are linked by the corporation to receive the flood water from primary, secondary and tertiary drains constructed along the roadsides to dispose of rain water. The sewer system was first established by the British in Madurai in 1924 to cover the core city area, which covers 30 per cent of the present city area. It was further expanded in 1959 and 1983 by a corporation plan. The 2011 Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission covered 90 per cent of households with underground drainage system.


title: Madurai

text: Madurai comes under the Madurai telecom district of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), India's state-owned telecom and internet services provider. Both Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and Code division multiple access (CDMA) mobile services are available. Apart from telecom, BSNL also provides broadband internet service and Caller Line Identification (CLI) based internet service Netone. Madurai will launch 4G networks in 138 places in Madurai district , said general manager Venugopal Riyali. He presided over the advisory committee meeting attended by Madurai MP Su Venkatesan.


title: Madurai

text: A regional passport office was opened on 17 December 2007 and caters to the needs of nine districts. The city is served by the Government Rajaji Hospital. A branch of All India Institutes of Medical Sciences in Thoppur, in the outskirts of the city, is set to be completed by 2022 as per Central government press release. Eye donations on the rise at Government Rajaji Hospital. Voluntary eye donations are witnessing an increase at the Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH), thanks to better awareness among the public over the past few year. Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) has started receiving piped drinking water supply following the inauguration of the 1,200m-long pipeline from Rajaji Children’s Park to the hospital by mayor V Indirani Ponvasanth .


title: Nadine Velazquez

text: Nadine E. Velázquez (born November 20, 1978) is an American actress and model known for her roles as Catalina Aruca on "My Name Is Earl" and Sofia Ruxin on "The League". She has also appeared in films such as "War" (2007), "Flight" (2012) and "Snitch" (2013), and was a cast member on the TV series "Major Crimes".


title: Nadine Velazquez

text: Velázquez was born in Chicago, Illinois. She is of Puerto Rican descent. After graduating from Notre Dame High School for Girls, she earned a Bachelor of Arts in marketing from Columbia College Chicago in 2001. She has a brother named Nelson.


title: Nadine Velazquez

text: Velázquez has appeared in print ads, television, and film. Her first acting role was a McDonald's commercial as a drive-through lady.


title: Nadine Velazquez

text: She was originally cast as Fernando Sucre's girlfriend, Maricruz Delgado, in the Fox television series "Prison Break" but took the role of Catalina Aruca in the NBC series "My Name Is Earl" instead. Her first film roles were in the movie "War" with Jet Li and Jason Statham, and in the Oxygen Network original television film "Husband for Hire". She was one of the actors in the 2006 monologue show "Skirts & Flirts". In 2006, she was named #39 in the annual "Maxim" Hot 100 list. Velazquez was one of the judges in the Miss Universe 2008 beauty pageant and the host for the Miss USA 2009 pageant.


title: Nadine Velazquez

text: In 2011 Velazquez appeared in the pilot of ABC's "Charlie's Angels" as Gloria Martinez, one of Charlie's hired "Angels". Her character was killed off after a few minutes of screen time and was replaced by Minka Kelly. She appeared in a recurring role in FX's fantasy football sitcom "The League" and on The CW's comedy-drama "Hart of Dixie".


title: Nadine Velazquez

text: In 2012, Velazquez appeared in the movie "Flight", playing flight attendant Katerina Marquez, a supporting role opposite the main protagonist character played by Denzel Washington. In 2013, Velazquez reunited with her former "My Name Is Earl" cast members for a guest appearance in "Raising Hope". Velazquez joined the main cast of the TNT series "Major Crimes", beginning with season two. She plays Emma Rios, a DA, who is a romantic interest of Raymond Cruz's Julio Sanchez. Cruz played Paco, her boyfriend, on "My Name Is Earl".


title: Nadine Velazquez

text: On March 8, 2021, it was announced that Velazquez was to join the cast of ABC's music series "Queens", alongside Brandy, Eve and Naturi Naughton. In May 2021, it was announced the show was being picked up for a full series. On October 1, 2021, the first promo single from "Queens" (“Nasty Girl")


title: Nadine Velazquez

text: was released featuring Velasquez alongside the cast: Brandy, Eve, Naughton and Velazquez. A music video, directed by Tim Story, was released on the same day. This was followed on October 18, 2021 by another rap song from the "Queens " soundtrack: “The Introduction”, which was co-written by Nas. "Queens" debuted on October 19, 2021 and reviews were largely positive; Caroline Framke for Variety praised the quartet’s musical offering, calling their raps “sharp and distinct […] making clear their talent as both individuals and a swaggering collective”. Angie Han for The Hollywood Reporter called the show “Impressive […] lavish […] magic”.


title: The Ashes

text: The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, "The Sporting Times", immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first Test win on English soil. The obituary stated that English cricket had died, and "the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia". The mythical ashes immediately became associated with the 1882–83 series played in Australia, before which the English captain Ivo Bligh had vowed to "regain those ashes". The English media therefore dubbed the tour "the quest to regain the Ashes".


title: The Ashes

text: After England had won two of the three Tests on the tour, a small urn was presented to Bligh by a group of Melbourne women including Florence Morphy, whom Bligh married within a year. The contents of the urn are reputed to be the ashes of a wooden bail, and were humorously described as "the ashes of Australian cricket". It is not clear whether that "tiny silver urn" is the same as the small terracotta urn given to the MCC by Bligh's widow after his death in 1927.


title: The Ashes

text: The urn has never been the official trophy of the Ashes series, having been a personal gift to Bligh. However, replicas of the urn are often held aloft by victorious teams as a symbol of their victory in an Ashes series. Since the 1998–99 Ashes series, a Waterford Crystal representation of the Ashes urn (called the Ashes Trophy) has been presented to the winners of an Ashes series as the official trophy of that series. Irrespective of which side holds the tournament, the original urn remains in the MCC Museum at Lord's; it has, however, been taken to Australia to be put on touring display on two occasions: as part of the Australian Bicentenary celebrations in 1988 and to accompany the Ashes series in 2006–07.


title: The Ashes

text: An Ashes series traditionally consists of five Tests, hosted in turn by England and Australia at least once every two years. The Ashes are regarded as being held by the team that most recently won the series. If the series is drawn, the team that currently holds the Ashes retains the trophy.


title: The Ashes

text: There have been 72 Ashes series: Australia have won 34, England have won 32, and six series have been drawn.


title: The Ashes

text: The first Test match between England and Australia was played in Melbourne, Australia, in 1877, though the Ashes legend started later, after the ninth Test, played in 1882. On their tour of England that year the Australians played just one Test, at the Oval in London. It was a low-scoring affair on a difficult wicket. Australia made a mere 63 runs in their first innings, and England, led by A. N. Hornby, took a 38-run lead with a total of 101. In their second innings, Australia, boosted by a spectacular 55 runs off 60 deliveries from Hugh Massie, managed 122, which left England only 85 runs to win. The Australians were greatly demoralised by the manner of their second-innings collapse, but fast bowler Fred Spofforth, spurred on by the gamesmanship of his opponents, in particular W. G. Grace, refused to give in. "This thing can be done," he declared. Spofforth went on to devastate the English batting, taking his final four wickets for only two runs to leave England just eight runs short of victory.


title: The Ashes

text: When Ted Peate, England's last batsman, came to the crease, his side needed just ten runs to win, but Peate managed only two before he was bowled by Harry Boyle. An astonished Oval crowd fell silent, struggling to believe that England could possibly have lost on home soil. When it finally sank in, the crowd swarmed onto the field, cheering loudly and chairing Boyle and Spofforth to the pavilion.


title: The Ashes

text: When Peate returned to the pavilion he was reprimanded by his captain for not allowing his partner, Charles Studd (one of the best batsmen in England, having already hit two centuries that season against the colonists), to get the runs. Peate humorously replied, "I had no confidence in Mr Studd, sir, so thought I had better do my best."


title: The Ashes

text: The momentous defeat was widely recorded in the British press, which praised the Australians for their plentiful "pluck" and berated the Englishmen for their lack thereof. A celebrated poem appeared in "Punch" on Saturday, 9 September. The first verse, quoted most frequently, reads:


title: The Ashes

text: On 31 August, in the Charles Alcock-edited magazine "Cricket: A Weekly Record of The Game", there appeared a mock obituary:


title: The Ashes

text: On 2 September a more celebrated mock obituary, written by Reginald Shirley Brooks, appeared in "The Sporting Times". It read:


title: The Ashes

text: Ivo Bligh promised that on 1882–83 tour of Australia, he would, as England's captain, "recover those Ashes". He spoke of them several times over the course of the tour, and the Australian media quickly caught on. The three-match series resulted in a two-one win to England, notwithstanding a fourth match, won by the Australians, whose status remains a matter of ardent dispute.


title: The Ashes

text: In the 20 years following Bligh's campaign the term "the Ashes" largely disappeared from public use. There is no indication that this was the accepted name for the series, at least not in England. The term became popular again in Australia first, when George Giffen, in his memoirs ("With Bat and Ball", 1899), used the term as if it were well known.


title: The Ashes

text: The true and global revitalisation of interest in the concept dates from 1903, when Pelham Warner took a team to Australia with the promise that he would regain "the ashes". As had been the case on Bligh's tour 20 years before, the Australian media latched fervently onto the term and, this time, it stuck. Having fulfilled his promise, Warner published a book entitled "How We Recovered the Ashes". Although the origins of the term are not referred to in the text, the title served (along with the general hype created in Australia) to revive public interest in the legend. The first mention of "the Ashes" in "Wisden Cricketers' Almanack" occurs in 1905, while "Wisden"'s first account of the legend is in the 1922 edition.


title: The Ashes

text: It took many years before the contests between England and Australia were consistently called "The Ashes", and so there was no concept of either a trophy or a physical representation of the ashes. As late as 1925, the following verse appeared in "The Cricketers Annual":


title: The Ashes

text: Nevertheless, several attempts had been made to embody the Ashes in a physical memorial. Examples include one presented to Warner in 1904, another to Australian captain M. A. Noble in 1909, and another to Australian captain W. M. Woodfull in 1934.


title: The Ashes

text: The oldest, and the one to enjoy enduring fame, was the one presented to Bligh, later Lord Darnley, during the 1882–83 tour. The precise nature of the origin of this urn is matter of dispute. Based on a statement by Darnley in 1894, it was believed that a group of Victorian ladies, including Darnley's later wife Florence Morphy, made the presentation after the victory in the Third Test in 1883. More recent researchers, in particular Ronald Willis and Joy Munns have studied the tour in detail and concluded that the presentation was made after a private cricket match played over Christmas 1882 when the English team were guests of Sir William Clarke, at his property "Rupertswood", in Sunbury, Victoria. This was before the matches had started. The prime evidence for this theory was provided by a descendant of Clarke.


title: The Ashes

text: In August 1926 Ivo Bligh (now Lord Darnley) displayed the Ashes urn at the "Morning Post" Decorative Art Exhibition held in the Central Hall, Westminster. He made the following statement about how he was given the urn:


title: The Ashes

text: A more detailed account of how the Ashes were given to Ivo Bligh was outlined by his wife, the Countess of Darnley, in 1930 during a speech at a cricket luncheon. Her speech was reported by the "Times" as follows:


title: The Ashes

text: There is another statement which is not totally clear made by Lord Darnley in 1921 about the timing of the presentation of the urn. He was interviewed in his home at Cobham Hall by Montague Grover and the report of this interview was as follows:


title: The Ashes

text: He made a similar statement in 1926. The report of this statement in the "Brisbane Courier" was as follows:


title: The Ashes

text: The contents of the urn are also problematic; they were variously reported to be the remains of a stump, bail or the outer casing of a ball, but in 1998 Darnley's 82-year-old daughter-in-law said they were the remains of her mother-in-law's veil, casting a further layer of doubt on the matter. However, during the tour of Australia in 2006/7, the MCC official accompanying the urn said the veil legend had been discounted, and it was now "95% certain" that the urn contains the ashes of a cricket bail. Speaking on Channel Nine TV on 25 November 2006, he said x-rays of the urn had shown the pedestal and handles were cracked, and repair work had to be carried out. The urn is made of terracotta and is about tall and may originally have been a perfume jar.


title: The Ashes

text: A label containing a six-line verse is pasted on the urn. This is the fourth verse of a song-lyric published in the "Melbourne Punch" on 1 February 1883:


title: The Ashes

text: In February 1883, just before the disputed Fourth Test, a velvet bag made by Mrs Ann Fletcher, the daughter of Joseph Hines Clarke and Marion Wright, both of Dublin, was given to Bligh to contain the urn. During Darnley's lifetime there was little public knowledge of the urn, and no record of a published photograph exists before 1921. "The Illustrated London News" published this photo in January 1921 (shown above). When Darnley died in 1927 his widow presented the urn to the Marylebone Cricket Club and that was the key event in establishing the urn as the physical embodiment of the legendary ashes. MCC first displayed the urn in the Long Room at Lord's and since 1953 in the MCC Cricket Museum at the ground. MCC's wish for it to be seen by as wide a range of cricket enthusiasts as possible has led to its being mistaken for an official trophy. It is in fact a private memento, and for this reason it is never awarded to either England or Australia, but is kept permanently in the MCC Cricket Museum where it can be seen together with the specially made red and gold velvet bag and the scorecard of the 1882 match.


title: The Ashes

text: Because the urn itself is so delicate, it has been allowed to travel to Australia only twice. The first occasion was in 1988 for a museum tour as part of the Australian Bicentenary celebrations; the second was for the 2006/7 Ashes series. The urn arrived on 17 October 2006, going on display at the Museum of Sydney. It then toured to other states, with the final appearance at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery on 21 January 2007.


title: The Ashes

text: In the 1990s, given Australia's long dominance of the Ashes and the popular acceptance of the Darnley urn as "the Ashes", the idea was mooted that the victorious team should be awarded the urn as a trophy and allowed to retain it until the next series. As its condition is fragile and it is a prized exhibit at the MCC Cricket Museum, the MCC would not agree. Furthermore, in 2002, Bligh's great-great-grandson Lord Clifton, the heir-apparent to the Earldom of Darnley, argued that the Ashes urn should not be returned to Australia because it belonged to his family and was given to the MCC only for safe keeping.


title: The Ashes

text: As a compromise, the MCC commissioned a larger replica of the urn in Waterford Crystal, known as the Ashes Trophy, to award to the winning team of each series starting with the 1998–99 Ashes. This did little to diminish the status of the Darnley urn as the most important icon in cricket, the symbol of this old and keenly fought contest.


title: The Ashes

text: Later in 1882, following the famous Australian victory at The Oval, Bligh led an England team to Australia, as he said, to "recover those ashes". Publicity surrounding the series was intense, and it was at some time during this series that the Ashes urn was crafted. Australia won the First Test by nine wickets, but in the next two England were victorious. At the end of the Third Test, England were generally considered to have "won back the Ashes" 2–1. A fourth match was played, against a "United Australian XI", which was arguably stronger than the Australian sides that had competed in the previous three matches; this game, however, is not generally considered part of the 1882–83 series. It "is" counted as a Test, but as a standalone. This match ended in a victory for Australia.


title: The Ashes

text: After Bligh's victory, there was an extended period of English dominance. The tours generally had fewer Tests in the 1880s and 1890s than people have grown accustomed to in more recent years, the first five-Test series taking place only in 1894–95. England lost only four Ashes Tests in the 1880s out of 23 played, and they won all the seven series contested.


title: The Ashes

text: There was more chopping and changing in the teams, given that there was no official board of selectors for each country (in 1887–88, two separate English teams were on tour in Australia) and popularity with the fans varied. The 1890s games were more closely fought, Australia taking its first series win since 1882 with a 2–1 victory in 1891–92. But England dominated, winning the next three series to 1896 despite continuing player disputes.


title: The Ashes

text: The 1894–95 series began in sensational fashion when England won the First Test at Sydney by just 10 runs having followed on. Australia had scored a massive 586 (Syd Gregory 201, George Giffen 161) and then dismissed England for 325. But England responded with 437 and then dramatically dismissed Australia for 166 with Bobby Peel taking 6 for 67. At the close of the second last day's play, Australia were 113–2, needing only 64 more runs. But heavy rain fell overnight and next morning the two slow left-arm bowlers, Peel and Johnny Briggs, were all but unplayable. England went on to win the series 3–2 after it had been all square before the Final Test, which England won by 6 wickets. The English heroes were Peel, with 27 wickets in the series at an average of 26.70, and Tom Richardson, with 32 at 26.53.


title: The Ashes

text: In 1896, England under the captaincy of W. G. Grace won the series 2–1, and this marked the end of England's longest period of Ashes dominance.


title: The Ashes

text: Australia resoundingly won the 1897–98 series by 4–1 under the captaincy of Harry Trott. His successor Joe Darling won the next three series in 1899, 1901–02, and the classic 1902 series, which became one of the most famous in the history of Test cricket.


title: The Ashes

text: Five matches were played in 1902 but the first two were drawn after being hit by bad weather. In the First Test (the first played at Edgbaston), after scoring 376 England bowled out Australia for 36 (Wilfred Rhodes 7/17) and reduced them to 46–2 when they followed on. Australia won the Third and Fourth Tests at Bramall Lane and Old Trafford respectively. At Old Trafford, Australia won by just 3 runs after Victor Trumper had scored 104 on a "bad wicket", reaching his hundred before lunch on the first day. England won the last Test at The Oval by one wicket. Chasing 263 to win, they slumped to 48–5 before Gilbert Jessop's 104 gave them a chance. He reached his hundred in just 75 minutes. The last-wicket pair of George Hirst and Rhodes were required to score 15 runs for victory. When Rhodes joined him, Hirst reportedly said: "We'll get them in singles, Wilfred." In fact, they scored thirteen singles and a two.


title: The Ashes

text: The period of Darling's captaincy saw the emergence of outstanding Australian players such as Trumper, Warwick Armstrong, James Kelly, Monty Noble, Clem Hill, Hugh Trumble and Ernie Jones.


title: The Ashes

text: After what the MCC saw as the problems of the earlier professional and amateur series they decided to take control of organising tours themselves, and this led to the first MCC tour of Australia in 1903–04. England won it against the odds, and Plum Warner, the England captain, wrote up his version of the tour in his book "How We Recovered The Ashes". The title of this book revived the Ashes legend and it was after this that England v Australia series were customarily referred to as "The Ashes".


title: The Ashes

text: England and Australia were evenly matched until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. Five more series took place between 1905 and 1912. In 1905, England's captain Stanley Jackson not only won the series 2–0, but also won the toss in all five matches and headed both the batting and the bowling averages. Monty Noble led Australia to victory in both 1907–08 and 1909. Then England won in 1911–12 by four matches to one. Jack Hobbs establishing himself as England's first-choice opening batsman with three centuries, while Frank Foster (32 wickets at 21.62) and Sydney Barnes (34 wickets at 22.88) formed a formidable bowling partnership.


title: The Ashes

text: England retained the Ashes when it won the 1912 Triangular Tournament, which also featured South Africa. The Australian touring party had been severely weakened by a dispute between the board and players that caused Clem Hill, Victor Trumper, Warwick Armstrong, Tibby Cotter, Sammy Carter and Vernon Ransford to be omitted.


title: The Ashes

text: After the war, Australia took firm control of both the Ashes and world cricket. For the first time, the tactic of using two express bowlers in tandem paid off as Jack Gregory and Ted McDonald crippled the English batting on a regular basis. Australia recorded overwhelming victories both in England and on home soil. It won the first eight matches in succession including a 5–0 whitewash in 1920–1921 at the hands of Warwick Armstrong's team.


title: The Ashes

text: The ruthless and belligerent Armstrong led his team back to England in 1921 where his men lost only two games late in the tour to narrowly miss out of being the first team to complete a tour of England without defeat.


title: The Ashes

text: In a rain-hit series in 1926, England managed to eke out a 1–0 victory with a win in the final Test at The Oval. Because the series was at stake, the match was to be "timeless", i.e., played to a finish. Australia had a narrow first innings lead of 22. Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe took the score to 49–0 at the end of the second day, a lead of 27. Heavy rain fell overnight, and next day the pitch soon developed into a traditional sticky wicket. England seemed doomed to be bowled out cheaply and to lose the match. In spite of the very difficult batting conditions, however, Hobbs and Sutcliffe took their partnership to 172 before Hobbs was out for exactly 100. Sutcliffe went on to make 161 and England won the game comfortably. Australian captain Herbie Collins was stripped of all captaincy positions down to club level, and some accused him of throwing the match.


title: The Ashes

text: Australia's ageing post-war team broke up after 1926, with Collins, Charlie Macartney and Warren Bardsley all departing, and Gregory breaking down at the start of the 1928–29 series.


title: The Ashes

text: Despite the debut of Donald Bradman, the inexperienced Australians, led by Jack Ryder, were heavily defeated, losing 4–1. England had a very strong batting side, with Wally Hammond contributing 905 runs at an average of 113.12, and Hobbs, Sutcliffe and Patsy Hendren all scoring heavily; the bowling was more than adequate, without being outstanding.


title: The Ashes

text: Bradman fulfilled his promise in the 1930 series when he scored 974 runs at 139.14, which remains a world record Test series aggregate. A modest Bradman can be heard in a 1930 recording saying "I have always endeavoured to do my best for the side, and the few centuries that have come my way have been achieved in the hope of winning matches. My one idea when going into bat was to make runs for Australia." In the Headingley Test, he made 334, reaching 309* at the end of the first day, including a century before lunch. Bradman himself thought that his 254 in the preceding match, at Lord's, was a better innings. England managed to stay in contention until the deciding final Test at The Oval, but yet another double hundred by Bradman, and 7/92 by Percy Hornibrook in England's second innings, enabled Australia to win by an innings and take the series 2–1. Clarrie Grimmett's 29 wickets at 31.89 for Australia in this high-scoring series were also important.


title: The Ashes

text: Australia had one of the strongest batting line-ups ever in the early 1930s, with Bradman, Archie Jackson, Stan McCabe, Bill Woodfull and Bill Ponsford. It was the prospect of bowling at this line-up that caused England's 1932–33 captain Douglas Jardine to adopt the tactic of fast leg theory, better known as Bodyline.


title: The Ashes

text: Jardine instructed his fast bowlers, most notably Harold Larwood and Bill Voce, to bowl at the bodies of the Australian batsmen, with the goal of forcing them to defend their bodies with their bats, thus providing easy catches to a stacked leg-side field. Jardine insisted that the tactic was legitimate and called it "leg theory" but it was widely disparaged by its opponents, who dubbed it "Bodyline" (from "on the line of the body"). Although England decisively won the Ashes 4–1, Bodyline caused such a furore in Australia that diplomats had to intervene to prevent serious harm to Anglo-Australian relations, and the MCC eventually changed the Laws of cricket to curtail the number of leg side fielders.


title: The Ashes

text: Some of the Australians wanted to use Bodyline in retaliation, but Woodfull flatly refused. He famously told England manager Pelham Warner, "There are two teams out there. One is playing cricket; the other is making no attempt to do so" after the latter had come into the Australian rooms to express sympathy after a Larwood bouncer had struck the Australian skipper in the heart and felled him.


title: The Ashes

text: On the batting-friendly wickets that prevailed in the late 1930s, most Tests up to the Second World War still gave results. It should be borne in mind that Tests in Australia prior to the war were all played to a finish, with many batting records set during this period.


title: The Ashes

text: The 1934 Ashes series began with the notable absence of Larwood, Voce and Jardine. The MCC had made it clear, in light of the revelations of the bodyline series, that these players would not face Australia. The MCC, although it had earlier condoned and encouraged bodyline tactics in the 1932–33 series, laid the blame on Larwood when relations turned sour. Larwood was forced by the MCC to either apologise or be removed from the Test side. He went for the latter.


title: The Ashes

text: Australia recovered the Ashes in 1934 and held them until 1953, though no Test cricket was played during the Second World War.


title: The Ashes

text: As in 1930, the 1934 series was decided in the final Test at The Oval. Australia, batting first, posted a massive 701 in the first innings. Bradman (244) and Ponsford (266) were in record-breaking form with a partnership of 451 for the second wicket. England eventually faced a massive 707-run target for victory and failed, Australia winning the series 2–1. This made Woodfull the only captain to regain the Ashes and he retired upon his return to Australia.


title: The Ashes

text: In 1936–37 Bradman succeeded Woodfull as Australian captain. He started badly, losing the first two Tests heavily after Australia were caught on sticky wickets. However, the Australians fought back and Bradman won his first series in charge 3–2.


title: The Ashes

text: The 1938 series was a high-scoring affair with two high-scoring draws, resulting in a 1–1 result, Australia retaining the Ashes. After the first two matches ended in stalemate and the Third Test at Old Trafford never started due to rain, Australia then scraped home by five wickets inside three days in a low-scoring match at Headingley to retain the urn. In the timeless Fifth Test at The Oval, the highlight was Len Hutton's then world-record score of 364 as England made 903-7 declared. Bradman and Jack Fingleton injured themselves during Hutton's marathon effort, and with only nine men, Australia fell to defeat by an innings and 579 runs, the heaviest in Test history.


title: The Ashes

text: The Ashes resumed after the war when England toured in 1946–47 and, as in 1920–21, found that Australia had made the better post-war recovery. Still captained by Bradman and now featuring the potent new-ball partnership of Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller, Australia were convincing 3–0 winners.


title: The Ashes

text: Aged 38 and having been unwell during the war, Bradman had been reluctant to play. He batted unconvincingly and reached 28 when he hit a ball to Jack Ikin; England believed it was a catch, but Bradman stood his ground, believing it to be a bump ball. The umpire ruled in the Australian captain's favour and he appeared to regain his fluency of yesteryear, scoring 187. Australia promptly seized the initiative, won the First Test convincingly and inaugurated a dominant post-war era. The controversy over the Ikin catch was one of the biggest disputes of the era.


title: The Ashes

text: In 1948, Australia set new standards, completely outplaying its hosts to win 4–0 with one draw. This Australian team, led by Bradman, who turned 40 during his final tour of England, has gone down in history as "The Invincibles". Playing 34 matches on tour—three of which were not first-class—and including the five Tests, they remained unbeaten, winning 27 and drawing 7.


title: The Ashes

text: Bradman's men were greeted by packed crowds across the country, and records for Test attendances in England were set in the Second and Fourth Tests at Lord's and Headingley respectively. Before a record attendance of spectators at Headingley, Australia set a world record by chasing down 404 on the last day for a seven-wicket victory.


title: The Ashes

text: The 1948 series ended with one of the most poignant moments in cricket history, as Bradman played his final innings for Australia in the Fifth Test at The Oval, needing to score only four runs to end with a career batting average of exactly 100. However, Bradman made a second-ball duck, bowled by an Eric Hollies googly that sent him into retirement with a career average of 99.94.


title: The Ashes

text: Bradman was succeeded as Australian captain by Lindsay Hassett, who led the team to a 4–1 series victory in 1950–51. The series was not as one-sided as the number of wins suggest, with several tight matches.


title: The Ashes

text: The tide finally turned in 1953 when England won the final Test at The Oval to take the series 1–0, having narrowly avoided defeat in the preceding Test at Headingley. This was the beginning of one of the greatest periods in English cricket history with players such as captain Len Hutton, batsmen Denis Compton, Peter May, Tom Graveney, Colin Cowdrey, bowlers Fred Trueman, Brian Statham, Alec Bedser, Jim Laker, Tony Lock, wicket-keeper Godfrey Evans and all-rounder Trevor Bailey.


title: The Ashes

text: In 1954–55, Australia's batsmen had no answer to the pace of Frank Tyson and Statham. After winning the First Test by an innings after being controversially sent in by Hutton, Australia lost its way and England took a hat-trick of victories to win the series 3–1.


title: The Ashes

text: A dramatic series in 1956 saw a record that will probably never be beaten: off-spinner Jim Laker's monumental effort at Old Trafford when he bowled 68 of 191 overs to take 19 out of 20 possible Australian wickets in the Fourth Test. It was Australia's second consecutive innings defeat in a wet summer, and the hosts were in strong positions in the two drawn Tests, in which half the playing time was washed out. Bradman rated the team that won the series 2–1 as England's best ever.


title: The Ashes

text: England's dominance was not to last. Australia won 4–0 in 1958–59, having found a high-quality spinner of their own in new skipper Richie Benaud, who took 31 wickets in the five-Test series, and paceman Alan Davidson, who took 24 wickets at 19.00. The series was overshadowed by the furore over various Australian bowlers, most notably Ian Meckiff, whom the English management and media accused of illegally throwing Australia to victory.


title: The Ashes

text: In 1961, Australia won a hard-fought series 2–1, their first Ashes series win in England for 13 years. After narrowly winning the Second Test at Lord's, dubbed "The Battle of the Ridge" because of a protrusion on the pitch that caused erratic bounce, Australia mounted a comeback on the final day of the Fourth Test at Old Trafford and sealed the series with Richie Benaud taking 6-70 during the English runchase.


title: The Ashes

text: The tempo of the play changed over the next four series in the 1960s, held in 1962–63, 1964, 1965–66 and 1968. The powerful array of bowlers that both countries boasted in the preceding decade moved into retirement, and their replacements were of lesser quality, making it more difficult to force a result. England failed to win any series during the 1960s, a period dominated by draws as teams found it more prudent to save face than risk losing. Of the 20 Tests played during the four series, Australia won four and England three. As they held the Ashes, Australia's captains Bob Simpson and Bill Lawry were happy to adopt safety-first tactics and their strategy of sedate batting saw many draws. During this period, spectator attendances dropped and media condemnation increased, but Simpson and Lawry flatly disregarded the public dissatisfaction.


title: The Ashes

text: It was in the 1960s that the bipolar dominance of England and Australia in world cricket was seriously challenged for the first time. West Indies defeated England twice in the mid-1960s and South Africa, in two series before they were banned for apartheid, completely outplayed Australia 3–1 and 4–0. Australia had lost 2–1 during a tour of the West Indies in 1964–65, the first time it had lost a series to any team other than England.


title: The Ashes

text: In 1970–71, Ray Illingworth led England to a 2–0 win in Australia, mainly due to John Snow's fast bowling, and the prolific batting of Geoffrey Boycott and John Edrich. It was not until the last session of what was the 7th Test (one match having been abandoned without a ball bowled) that England's success was secured. Lawry was sacked after the Sixth Test after the selectors finally lost patience with Australia's lack of success and dour strategy. Lawry was not informed of the decision privately and heard his fate over the radio.


title: The Ashes

text: In the 1974–75 series, with the England team breaking up and their best batsman Geoff Boycott refusing to play, Australian pace bowlers Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee wreaked havoc. A 4–1 result was a fair reflection as England were left shell shocked. England then lost the 1975 series 0–1, but at least restored some pride under new captain Tony Greig.


title: The Ashes

text: Australia won the 1977 Centenary Test which was not an Ashes contest, but then a storm broke as Kerry Packer announced his intention to form World Series Cricket. WSC affected all Test-playing nations but it weakened Australia especially as the bulk of its players had signed up with Packer; the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) would not select WSC-contracted players and an almost completely new Test team had to be formed. WSC came after an era during which the duopoly of Australian and English dominance dissipated; the Ashes had long been seen as a cricket world championship but the rise of the West Indies in the late 1970s challenged that view. The West Indies would go on to record resounding Test series wins over Australia and England and dominated world cricket until the 1990s.


title: The Ashes

text: With Greig having joined WSC, England appointed Mike Brearley as its captain and he enjoyed great success against Australia. Largely assisted by the return of Boycott, Brearley's men won the 1977 series 3–0 and then completed an overwhelming 5–1 series win against an Australian side missing its WSC players in 1978–79. Allan Border made his Test debut for Australia in 1978–79.


title: The Ashes

text: Brearley retired from Test cricket in 1980 and was succeeded by Ian Botham, who started the 1981 series as England captain, by which time the WSC split had ended. After Australia took a 1–0 lead in the first two Tests, Botham was forced to resign or was sacked (depending on the source). Brearley surprisingly agreed to be reappointed before the Third Test at Headingley. This was a remarkable match in which Australia looked certain to take a 2–0 series lead after it had forced England to follow-on 227 runs behind. England, despite being 135 for 7, produced a second innings total of 356, Botham scoring 149*. Chasing just 130, Australia were sensationally dismissed for 111, Bob Willis taking 8–43. It was the first time since 1894–95 that a team following on had won a Test match. Under Brearley's leadership, England went on to win the next two matches before a drawn final match at The Oval.


title: The Ashes

text: In 1982–83 Australia had Greg Chappell back from WSC as captain, while the England team was weakened by the enforced omission of their South African tour rebels, particularly Graham Gooch and John Emburey. Australia went 2–0 up after three Tests, but England won the Fourth Test by 3 runs (after a 70-run last wicket stand) to set up the final decider, which was drawn.


title: The Ashes

text: In 1985, David Gower's England team was strengthened by the return of Gooch and Emburey as well as the emergence at international level of Tim Robinson and Mike Gatting. Australia, now captained by Allan Border, had itself been weakened by a rebel South African tour, the loss of Terry Alderman being a particular factor. England won 3–1.


title: The Ashes

text: Despite suffering heavy defeats against the West Indies during the 1980s, England continued to do well in the Ashes. Mike Gatting was the captain in 1986–87 but his team started badly and attracted some criticism. Then Chris Broad scored three hundreds in successive Tests and bowling successes from Graham Dilley and Gladstone Small meant England won the series 2–1.


title: The Ashes

text: The Australian team of 1989 was comparable to the great Australian teams of the past, and resoundingly defeated England 4–0. Well led by Allan Border, the team included the young cricketers Mark Taylor, Merv Hughes, David Boon, Ian Healy and Steve Waugh, who were all to prove long-serving and successful Ashes competitors. England, now led once again by David Gower, suffered from injuries and poor form. During the Fourth Test news broke that prominent England players had agreed to take part in a "rebel tour" of South Africa the following winter; three of them (Tim Robinson, Neil Foster and John Emburey) were playing in the match, and were subsequently dropped from the England side.


title: The Ashes

text: Australia reached a cricketing peak in the 1990s and early 2000s, coupled with a general decline in England's fortunes. After re-establishing its credibility in 1989, Australia underlined its superiority with victories in the 1990–91, 1993, 1994–95, 1997, 1998–99, 2001 and 2002–03 series, all by convincing margins.


title: The Ashes

text: Great Australian players in the early years included batsmen Border, Boon, Taylor and Steve Waugh. The captaincy passed from Border to Taylor in the mid-1990s and then to Steve Waugh before the 2001 series. In the latter part of the 1990s Waugh himself, along with his twin brother Mark, scored heavily for Australia and fast bowlers Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie made a serious impact, especially the former. The wicketkeeper-batsman position was held by Ian Healy for most of the 1990s and by Adam Gilchrist from 2001 to 2006–07. In the 2000s, batsmen Justin Langer, Damien Martyn and Matthew Hayden became noted players for Australia. But the most dominant Australian player was leg-spinner Shane Warne, whose first delivery in Ashes cricket in 1993, to dismiss Mike Gatting, became known as the Ball of the Century.


title: The Ashes

text: Australia's record between 1989 and 2005 had a significant impact on the statistics between the two sides. Before the 1989 series began, the win–loss ratio was almost even, with 87 test wins for Australia to England's 86, 74 tests having been drawn. By the 2005 series Australia's test wins had increased to 115 whereas England's had increased to only 93 (with 82 draws). In the period between 1989 and the beginning of the 2005 series, the two sides had played 43 times; Australia winning 28 times, England 7 times, with 8 draws. Only a single England victory had come in a match in which the Ashes were still at stake, namely the First Test of the 1997 series. All others were consolation victories when the Ashes had been secured by Australia.


title: The Ashes

text: England were undefeated in Test matches through the 2004 calendar year. This elevated them to second in the ICC Test Championship. Hopes that the 2005 Ashes series would be closely fought proved well-founded, the series remaining undecided as the closing session of the final Test began. Experienced journalists including Richie Benaud rated the series as the most exciting in living memory. It has been compared with the great series of the distant past, such as 1894–95 and 1902.


title: The Ashes

text: The First Test at Lord's was convincingly won by Australia, but in the remaining four matches the teams were evenly matched and England fought back to win the Second Test by 2 runs, the smallest winning margin in Ashes history, and the second-smallest in all Tests. The rain-affected Third Test ended with the last two Australian batsmen holding out for a draw; and England won the Fourth Test by three wickets after forcing Australia to follow-on for the first time in 191 Tests. A draw in the final Test gave England victory in an Ashes series for the first time in 18 years and their first Ashes victory at home since 1985.


title: The Ashes

text: Australia regained the Ashes on its home turf in the 2006–07 series with a convincing 5–0 victory, only the second time an Ashes series had been won by that margin. Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Justin Langer retired from Test cricket after that series, while Damien Martyn retired during the series.