As England get set for battle with Australia, Alison Mitchell recounts the origins of the sport’s most storied ‘trophy’

Where it all began: The sign in Sunbury, Australia

If you jump in a car and drive north west out of Melbourne towards the Macedon ranges, you will pass a sign on the highway pointing you towards the ‘Birthplace of the Ashes’.
The town it directs you to is Sunbury, which, in 1989, used to have a population of some 15,000 and a motto of ‘City Living, Country Style’. The town has since seen vast expansion and the population i...