The battle for a small urn of ashes is the most famous and keenly followed competition in the world of cricket. It’s a game of patience and wit but it can also court controversy.

The Ashes themselves are controversial, with several competing stories about their origin. In 1882, an Australian victory over the English home side prompted a mock obituary from an English sports writer: 'The body [of English cricket] will be cremated and the Ashes taken to Australia.’ Since then, the Ashes have symbolised Australian-English rivalry on the pitch.

According to one version of history, the Ashes first materialised the following year when the English side came here and defeated Australia. The Australians, the story goes, burnt a cricket ball or some bails, put the ashes in an urn and gave it to the English team to take back to England.

The 1932–33 'Bodyline’ Ashes series shook up the traditional ties between Australia and England and changed the nature of the game forever. A 1984 mini-series starring Hugo Weaving lays bare what was behind the bodyline theory of bowling, in which the bowler targeted the man rather than the wickets.

Bodyline was devised mainly to counter the brilliance of Donald Bradman, who features in a home movie on the 1930 Ashes tour.

Another cricket controversy was courted by entrepreneur Kerry Packer when he started World Series Cricket in 1977. Exploiting player salary dissatisfaction, Packer turned the gentleman’s sport into a multi-million dollar TV spectacular that revolutionised the sport and upset the establishment. Bradman himself strongly opposed the new regime.

When Hanse Cronje was caught throwing matches to enhance his bank account, a surprisingly wide network of corruption in the sport was revealed, described in ABC’s Four Corners (1961–current) back in 2000.

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