Australia–England sports rivalries between Australia and England but the three nations of England, Scotland and Wales competed under the English flag up until 1992 when the Scots began to compete independently. Welsh cricket players continue to compete for England with Simon Jones being a recent example of a Welsh player competing for England in the 2005 Ashes series. The first Ashes series was contested in 1884. Following England's home Test defeat in 1882, English journalist Reginald Shirley Brooks wrote a mock obituary for "The Sporting Times" that notified the public of English cricket's death and stated ""The body and contents will be cremated
United South of England Eleven series when the USEE played against the official North of England cricket team on 6 & 7 September 1880. The North's team in this match at Rotherham bore little resemblance to the UNEE but, nevertheless, the official North hammered another nail into the coffin of the unofficial USEE with a 53 run victory. The USEE had earlier played in two other first-class matches. These were in June 1874, when they played Yorkshire in Bradford; and May 1876 when they played the All-England Eleven (AEE) at Lord's. The USEE lost both these matches. Yorkshire beat them by 26 runs. They lost