Ashes ready to travel to Australia

The Ashes urn: restored © Getty Images

It's what many Australians have been demanding for years - the Ashes will be heading south. The MCC have confirmed that the urn can leave the sanctity of its museum and make the 12,000-mile journey to Australia.

There were some tetchy exchanges at the end of the 2002-03 series, won by Australia, when Steve Waugh, then Australian captain, and John Howard, Australia's prime minister, condemned the tradition which means that whoever holds the Ashes, they remain in London.

The MCC, who were given the urn in the ill of former England captain, Ivo Bligh, in 1927, explained that X-rays had revealed a crack in the urn which made it too fragile to travel until it was repaired.

"The urn is now in much better shape than before," MCC chief executive Roger Knight said on Thursday. "As a result, we hope it will be possible to reschedule its planned display in Australia; we have already been in touch with Cricket Australia with a view to bringing this about."

The urn has been restored to some of its former glory, after undergoing essential repairs by a leading conservation firm. Plowden & Smith Ltd were called in to tackle a serious crack which was discovered in the stem between the main body of the urn and its foot, along with other cracks nearer the shoulder areas.

An adhesive, used in an earlier restoration, had begun to degenerate, with the result that the urn was becoming increasingly fragile. The latest project - which included the analysis and subsequent removal of the paint and adhesive used in the previous restoration - has returned the urn to a stable but still delicate condition.

"I am delighted that these repairs have been completed safely," Knight continued. "I am very relieved, too. The project revealed that the urn was in an even more precarious condition than the X-rays had suggested."

Maryam Collins, the project conservator at Plowden & Smith Ltd, said: "Repairing the Ashes urn was both an enormous privilege and a very daunting experience. It is the perhaps the most famous sporting artefact in the world - and surely the most fragile one, too. We are proud to have played our part in extending its 122-year life."