All you need to know about the Ashes

Cricket's most traditional battle Kicks off at Sophia Gardens In Cardiff today when England and Australia begin their Ashes campaign. Mid Day helps you to follow the series better

Cricket'su00a0mostu00a0traditional battleu00a0Kicks offu00a0at Sophia Gardens In Cardiffu00a0today when England and Australia begin their Ashes campaign. Mid Day helps you to follow the series better

The start
The first Test of this year's Ashes will be held at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff. It's a virgin Test match venue, but Australia will not have happy memories of their ODI defeat to Bangladesh in 2005, the very year they surrendered the Ashes to England.

ON TOP DOWN UNDER: Ricky Pontingu00a0 with the Ashes urn after winning the series in Australia, 2006-07. PIC/AFP

The rest...
The rest of the Tests will be held at Lord's (July 16-20), Birmingham (July 30-Aug 3), Leeds (Aug 7-11) and The Oval (Aug 20-24)

Same old story
As usual, England have a new captain with Andrew Strauss leading the current side. Michael Vaughan led them to victory in the 2005 Ashes but missed out through injury in 2006-07 when Andrew Flintoff led the side in Australia.

Impressive record
Australia have allowed England to beat them in an Ashes series only once in the last 22 years. After England under Mike Gatting clinched the 1986-87 series, they lost seven Ashes contests till Vaughan's team did the incredible in 2005.

Poor Lee
Injured Brett Lee will miss his first Ashes Test after playing 13 on the trot. He did not miss an Ashes Test ever since the third Test of the 2002-03 in Australia. Injuries have been a huge hurdle for Lee.

No Benaud
Viewers in England will not hear the famous voice of Richie Benaud in the commentary box for this Ashes. Benaud's last commentary stint in England came during the last contest in England in 2005.

No Warne too
Since he mesmerised Mike Gatting with the ball of the century in 1993, Warne has missed only one Ashes series in 1998-98 through injury. For the first time since that season, the retired Warne will not be part of England vs Australia Test action.

Ricky, the run glut
Australia skipper Ricky Ponting is not one of the most accomplished batsmen in the history of the game for nothing. In 26 Ashes Tests, he has accumulated 1978 runs with seven hundreds.

Ten in a row
England captain Andrew Strauss has played ten consecutive Tests against the Australians against whom he has scored two hundreds.

Inexperience
The Australian bowling attack is spearheaded by Mitchell Johnson, who is short on Ashes experience. Johnson was 12th man for all five Tests of the 2006-07 series. In 2005, Australia's bowling arsenal had Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie, Lee, Shane Warne and Michael Kasprowicz.