All eyes on the Ashes

The body will be cremated and the ashes returned to Australia.' So ran a mock obituary for English cricket in the Sporting Times after England lost to Australia on home soil for the first time, on 29 August 1882, at the Oval. One of the oldest international sporting rivalries, begun in 1877, now had a name: The Ashes. As England, the current holders, do battle this winter to retain the urn, we look at some of the figures in Ashes history who have particular optical connections.

Bob Woolmer, former Ashes player for England and respected international coach, wrote a monumental distillation of current scientific and practical cricket knowledge which was published just after his untimely death during the 2007 World Cup. In The Art and Science of Cricket (New Holland, 2008) he discusses at length the visual problems that batsmen must overcome when facing different types of bowling.