Test match series - the Ashes are the oldest test series on the planet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ashes
The Ashes is a 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".[1] The mythical ashes immediately became associated with the 188283 series played in Australia, before which the English captain the Hon. Ivo Bligh had vowed to "regain those ashes". The English media therefore dubbed the tour the Quest to regain the Ashes.
After England won two of the three Tests on the tour, a small urn was presented to Bligh at Melbourne.[2] The contents of the urn are reputed to be the ashes of a wooden bail.[3] It is not clear whether that "tiny silver urn" is the same as the small terracotta urn given to Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) by Bligh's widow after his death in 1927.