The Ashes is a men's Test cricket series played biennially 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 that "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.

Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at the international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings in which players have to play until they get all batsmen out; the match ends when all but one of the batsmen of the opposing team are out. It is scheduled to last for up to five days with 6 hours of play each day. A minimum of 90 overs are scheduled to be bowled per day making it the sport with the longest playing time. In the past, some Test matches had no time limit and were called Timeless Tests. The term "test match" was originally coined in 1861–62 but in a different context.