Has the right decision been reached, or is it a fuss over nothing?

Casting matters of Australia's economy, security, and international policy aside, the Premier spoke out on England's stubborn refusal to hand over the relic.

John Howard claimed that his country's 'sustained supremacy' in the series merits the removal of the urn from Lord's in London.

Now, after restoration work is carried out, the urn will go on a tour of duty in Australia for the 2003-2004 season, before being sent back to England.

But while John Howard may still push for Australia to keep the urn permanently, many feel that its location is irrelevant.

Should the Ashes urn be moved? Could you care less?

This debate is now closed, a selection of your e-mails appears below.

Let the Aussies have them, but only on one condition. Mr Howard sends someone over to fetch them. If one of our lot takes them they will only drop them on the floor.
Andy, England

I'm sure most English people don't want to view the Ashes anyway, much too painful. Ask a thousand ordinary Englishmen and they would expect the Ashes to be awarded to the present champions; I expect most would think the Aussies had the Ashes anyway.
Mal Walker, Australia

Shouldn't the country who has won the series get to have the urn?? It is steeped in English heritage but why does that mean they get to keep it!

The only problem is that England wouldn't see the Ashes back home for a long time. Not that it really matters...when I'm watching the cricket I don't think about which country the urn is in. It's not even important anyway. I just want to see some good cricket!
Hannah, NZ

Come on, that's the only sporting trophy England can keep, they lose everything else. It's like winning a car, the car yard keeps it, but you're quite welcome to look at it once in a while.
Cameron, Australia

The urn is not a trophy to be won. It was a mocking gift given to the MCC and therefore stays in it's possession until otherwise intended. We may have bowed and submitted to the Aussies on the field of play but we shouldn't let them take our heritage too.
Paul McCloskey, USA

What do the Aussies want the Ashes for? To dance over the remains of English cricket perhaps. The Ashes are symbolic of the death of English cricket and as such should stay in England.

The current tour is a complete waste of everyone's time. Germany don't play the likes of Saudi Arabia at football five times to show that they are better than them. In fact they wouldn't have played them at all had they not been thrown together in the World Cup. At the very least the Ashes tour should be reduced to three matches, which has always been the tradition in cricket when teams of lower stature have met the big boys.
Kevin, England

Now it's not often you hear Kiwis siding with the Australians on the matter of cricket after our past battles, but on this one we agree. It's the Ashes series, the Ashes are the trophy, hand them over or if England win the Rugby World Cup next year be prepared to leave it in Australia!
Chris, NZ

Send them over there for good, merge the English team into the Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani league and rewrite the rules in Urdu.
Alan Rogers, Venezuela

It's of course ridiculous that the English don't send the Ashes, but since they don't seem to have the maturity to relinquish the goods, let them keep them as a permanent reminder that English cricket (and sportsmanship) is well and truly dead. Retain them and remember your shame!
Andy, Australia

I think Lord's are definitely guilty of double standards here. If they are so worried about sending something fragile and delicate, why did they send Gough, Silverwood and Flintoff?
John, Netherlands

No, as a country they are far too arrogant. Anyway we keep beating Australia in rugby now - perhaps we should have the Cook Cup for keeps? Can you see them agreeing to that?
Pip, England

As a Tyke, I say we should give the Ashes to the Australians because they richly deserve them. Britain complained bitterly when America held the "America's Cup" awarded for yachting and the 'Ashes urn" is identical. So what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

Anyway, having simply thrashed England yet again, I find it petty to keep the winnings. But then again that's likely the only way England may see them if they do hand them to Australia.
David G, USA

If it makes such a difference to the MCC maybe they would not have to use such antiquated methods to keep the Ashes Urn here. England should concentrate on producing a cricket team to rival the world's best. We have the talent but the selectors are not looking. It's time for English cricket to stop procrastinating and start doing. The best answer to any critic will be to do well in the World Cup and forget about the Ashes Urn!
Aamir, England

Yes of course they should go on display in Australia. The Aussies have well and truly earned them. Why not burn the urn and the old Ashes thus creating a new urn of all the ashes which can then easily travel between England and Australia.
Michael Henderson-Begg, England

The Ashes are ours, even if the Aussies dominate the game. They should be kept at Lords, the home of cricket, where they belong!
Chris, Leicester, England

Let the Aussies have them. It wouldn't be the first thing that left these shores 'fragile & delicate' concerning English cricket! Maybe the insurers and antique specialists should replace the board of selectors?
Mark, UK

As the Ashes are meant to symbolise the remains of English cricket I think it is only appropriate that they should remain in this country at this time of national grieving for the death of the English cricket team.
Robert Baughan, UK

I feel that Australia should have it. Not just due to this victory, but because of the victories of past years as well.
Ibraheem Khan, England

Australia should keep the Ashes. They've won them, they keep winning them, and maybe the motivation to regain them would elicit better performances from England.

It's time England and the MCC faced up to the fact that Australia is centre of dominance in world cricket, so give them the Ashes until we have 'urned' them back.
Al, England

Keeping the ashes is just another example of English sporting arrogance. Australia have won the series ... they should get the trophy.
Brian Robson, Scotland

Even though you Poms can't play the sport, you could at least be sportsman- like by handing over the trophy graciously.

At the moment you're behaving like the kid in backyard cricket who storms off with the bat when he gets out.

The Ashes should be held by the country that wins them (in other words, they should be permanently housed in Australia!)
Darren, Australia

I think the Ashes should be given to Australia and put on display. It might motivate the England players to try harder and win them back!!
neil, australia

Give the winners the trophy. The MCC's comments about the Ashes being "too fragile to travel" is nonsense! Come on! Give them their trophy that they have well and truly earned and let's plan to win it back asap.

We have no right to the Ashes at present, we don't even deserve to be on the same field as Australia.
Russell Trezise, USA

The Ashes are not a 'trophy' to be shipped around. They were never intended as a trophy and were given to the MCC with the intention that they remain their property.

For England, they represent the poor quality of English cricket, and the need to strive to achieve more. Perhaps even to exorcise the many ghosts of the past.

They represent nothing for Australia, other than another source of arrogance.

They should stay here for these reasons.
Jay C, UK

I think the Aussies have a point. They have demonstrated total domination in the game for a number of years now.

Perhaps the best resolution to this would be for the Aussies to burn a set of bails from the current tour Put them in an urn and only agree to play against England in Ashes 2002 tours from now on.
J Davies, UK

Of course they should go to Australia. It might act as incentive for the British team to win them back. It's incredible how arrogant and petty my fellow countrymen can be - if you win something you get the prize - plain and simple!
Charlie, England

Of course they should reside in the country that has won the right to hold them. The practice of the urn always staying at Lord's in an anachronism. If the Ashes went to Australia, perhaps we try a bit harder to win them back.
Allen, England

Let the Aussies have the Ashes for good. That way we can draw a line under a disastrous sequence of losses and start to build a cricket team that truly rivals them.

Frankly, the Aussie Prime Minister's involvement says something a little sad about the Australian nation's obsession with sport. People used to admire their relentless desire to win, but these days they've gone past sporting.

It would be nice if Howard could turn his hand to sorting out some other little issues, like Australia's attitude to asylum seekers, the neglect of Aborigine children etc.
Will, UK

The Ashes were won fair and square, why worry about a little urn that is falling apart! Obviously it's unlucky, just look at England and they are the owners of it!
Chris, UK

Hand 'em over and let 'em gloat. And if the urn breaks, they can repay the UK (who gave them the game they're now so good at) by offering free cricket schooling to talented UK sportsmen and women.
Ali Redford, Plumstead, UK

No way! The Ashes stay in Blighty! We invented the game, we keep its memorabilia. Aussies ought to be happy that we taught them the sport in the first place!
Matthew Bailey, England

The original Ashes should remain in England. However, each series should produce a new urn and those Ashes should be retained by the winning side.

Each side can display their urns and it becomes obvious who has won the series on the most occasions.
Jeff Beaumont, UK

Antiques are transported around the world all the time without damage. Send the Ashes to Australia!!
Alan Bell, UK

I must say I'm embarrassed by this elitist attitude that we seem to have. Why do we presume that we are the only people who can take care of a trophy.

Surely the definition of a trophy is something that you can display to show your success in battle. They deserve the right to show off the spoils that they have won - also embarrassing! Stop being so stuck up you MCC bureaucrats!
Giles Palmer, UK

Assuming that the journey will not affect the urn then I see no reason why not. Hopefully it will be kept in a safe place. I guess the only concern is that it will never leave Australia. However, the Ashes at the MCC can maybe replaced by those of the current squad!
Anand Reddy, London

What other competition is there where the winners do not get the trophy? Give it to the deserved victors now. They have proved, yet again, that they are a world apart from our poor second division national team and very worthy holders of the title.
David Sheppard, UK

Give it back, its embarassing enough that we get ritually humiliated by Australia. By keeping it we are looking at the past when we should be looking forward.
Jason Braid, UK

If the Aussies want it so bad, they can make their own. All they need to do is put some charcoal from their countless "barbies" into an empty can of Fosters and stick some crudely made stickers on it. Now shut up and stop beating us!
John Berridge, Rotherham, England

The holder should have possession of the urn. Goes without saying!
Rgoedel, Netherlands

I worry that if the urn ever did go to Australia, it would never come back in my lifetime. It's nonsense to suggest the Ashes is the most fiercely contested competition in cricket, the Aussies always win it, and they are never allowed to win the actual prize!

However, I agree with the comments about politics - mind your own business, Mr Howard - Steve Waugh is quite capable of fighting his own battles.
Richard Leader, UK

They have won them, they should hold them until we win them back - on the assumption that one day we produce a team that is sufficiently capable.
Nick Roscoe, UK

I tend to think that the Aussies should retain the Ashes urn if it can be taken Down Under without risk of damage. Their standard of cricket over the last few years certainly warrants it.

However, in one respect Graham from the UK is absolutely right - John Howard should just butt out. This is a prime example of a politician trying to drum up cheap popularity by latching on to a sporting issue. Sometimes sport and politics inevitably mix, but this is not one of those occasions.
Roy Pinney, England

While it would seem appropriate for the Ashes to reside with the series winners, will the Aussies bother to play for them so frequently if they hold them?
Jim O'Connell, Dubai

Yes, let us take the Ashes home. We have won eight Ashes series against England and deserve to have them in Australia. I'm not even sure why England wants to keep them here? People there don't even seem to care about cricket. Every one is soccer focussed. We looked after the America's Cup after beating the USA, and they had it for 132 years!
Brad Richmond, Australia

They say that the Ashes are not fit to face the journey, but it would be a one-way trip. I cannot see them ever coming home! Let the Aussies have them, and let us get back to competitive games against Scotland, Holland and Kenya (no disrespect!)
Phil Lloyd, Lancashire

Let the Poms keep them. We own them as long as we win them each time, like the last eight times. That's how petty the Poms are in cricket and why they get flogged each time - no guts and full of toffs!!!
Tony Goodwin, In England - But Aussie Boy

Jason sums up the attitude of the English completely. The Aussies have won the Ashes fair and square the last eight times that they have been contested. Isn't it about time that the supporters of Australian cricket were given the chance to see what they have been winning with monotonous regularity?

Surely they can make one journey. And I wouldn't worry about them being moved on a regular basis once they get to Australia, as I can't see England beating the Aussies in the near future!!!!
Sanjiv, UK

Fuss over nothing - typical Australian arrogance.
Tony Wardle, UK

I think it is ludicrous that it is still at Lord's. It should be the holders who keep it. Just have a trusted English cricketer sit on Concorde with it, mind you knowing our fielding we would probably drop it.
Matthew Jaffa, England

Does anybody actually care where the Ashes are kept? It's a tiny boring little pot filled with some charcoal from 120 years ago. If Australia want it that badly then let them have it. Hopefully it'll fall to pieces during the trip Down Under and the England cricket team wont have to look stupid every two years any more!
Danny, England

I'm not actually an England supporter, as such, but prefer to follow the Indian national team. However, it seems ridiculous that the Ashes should be taken to Australia.

Howard seems to be turning this into a political point. Keep politics out of sport. Howard has always appeared to me as a jingoistic flag bearer and seems to be using the Ashes for political mileage. Keep the Ashes here!!
Graham, UK

When Brazil won the soccer World Cup earlier in the year, did they take the actual World Cup back to Brazil? No they did not. I understand what the Aussies are saying but this is too valuable to keep moving due to its age.
Jason, Manchester, England

Yes they should have the trophy they fully deserve. It may actually raise some passion in the English team to get it back.
Richard Philips, UK

I can definitely see the Aussies' point of view. If it was the other way around I would be asking for the Ashes to be in this country. As long as they are safe to travel, let them have them, it will be all that much sweeter when we win the Ashes back!!
Jason Merry, UK

Assuming that the journey will not affect the urn, then I see no reason why not. Hopefully it will kept in a safe place. I guess the only concern is that it will never leave Australia. However the Ashes at the MCC can maybe replaced by those of the current England squad!
Anand Reddy, London