BIRMINGHAM, Sept 11: The Ashes urn is to form the centrepiece of a 94-day Ashes Exhibition tour around Australia, it was announced on Monday. It will be only the third time in history that the urn, owned by the Marylebone Cricket Club, has left the MCC Museum at London's Lord's Cricket Ground and the first time it has toured Australia.

The Ashes Exhibition in association with Travelex has been designed to coincide with the England cricket team's tour of Australia as they bid to retain the Ashes for the first time since 1986-87.

Cricket fans in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne will all get the chance to see the urn, which will be in the personal care of MCC curator Adam Chadwick.

Mike Gatting, the last England captain to retain the Ashes in Australia, said: “The Ashes Exhibition is a fantastic idea. There is no greater contest in sport than the Ashes and to be able to see the actual Ashes Urn and so many other priceless artefacts up this close is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

“I hope that it will inspire the England team to repeat the feat of our team 20 years ago by retaining the Ashes 'down under'.”

Meanwhile current Australia wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist added: “I hope thousands of Australians take up the chance to see the Ashes Exhibition whilst it is here.

“To me, this is the history of cricket and to be able to see it this close is a very special moment indeed.”

The urn has been displayed in Australia on only one previous occasion – in 1988 to help celebrate the bicentenary of European settlement.

An exhibition that had been planned for 2002-03 had to be cancelled when X-rays revealed serious cracks in the urn's shoulders and stem.

But restoration work has since taken place and MCC now believe the urn, although still fragile, can be flown from England to Australia.

Last year England regained the Ashes with a thrilling 2-1 home series win.

The term ‘Ashes’ was coined after England lost a Test to Australia for the first time on home soil at The Oval on Aug 29, 1882.

A day later, The Sporting Times carried a mock obituary of English cricket which concluded: “The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.”

The Ashes urn was subsequently presented to Ivo Bligh (later Lord Darnley), who captained the next English team to tour Australia.

He subsequently took the urn back to England, where it was kept at his family home in the south-east county of Kent. On his death, in 1927, his widow bequeathed the urn to MCC.

Ashes Exhibition itinerary: