Next Ashes series brought forward a year

[Gozu]

England and Australia will play each other in ten consecutive Tests across two series home and away in 2013-14, after it was confirmed by Cricket Australia that the dates of the next Ashes series Down Under have been brought forward by a year.

The situation, which last occurred in 1974-75, has been forced upon the two boards by the competing demands of the 2015 World Cup, which is also scheduled to be held in Australia and which, had the 2014-15 Ashes gone ahead as planned, would have required England's cricketers to remain in the country for five months.
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A major consideration for CA was the prospect of a new round of TV rights negotiations, as the current deal is set to expire in May 2013. With India due to tour in 2011-12, followed by South Africa, England and the World Cup, the board is anticipating four consecutive seasons of high-quality international cricket.

''The Ashes have an x-factor element that excites the Australian public," said Young. "The Ashes make turnstiles spin and they drive the ratings up. In terms of the next media contract, it's an ideal starting point because it's a lucrative blue chip series and all the networks would give their eye teeth to get hold of it."

http://www.espncricinfo.com/the-ashes-2 ... 98610.html

[Sam_goUUUdogs]

This has been a pretty strong rumour for a little while now, nice to see its now confirmed so we can start planning around it, an Ashes tour in Australia immediately followed by a world cup in Australia and NZ would have been far too much for most people to afford, so there will be quite a few pretty pleased with this decision.

One of the UK tour groups has already put out the dates for the Australian tour.

Thu 28 Nov - Mon 2 Dec 1st Ashes Test Gabba, Brisbane
Fri 6 - Tue 10 Dec 2nd Ashes Test Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
Thu 19 - Mon 23 Dec 3rd Ashes Test WACA, Perth
Thu 26 - Mon 30 Dec 4th Ashes Test MCG, Melbourne
Fri 3 - Tue 7 Jan 5th Ashes Test SCG, Sydney

[stampy]

England and Australia will play each other in ten consecutive Tests across two series home and away in 2013-14, after it was confirmed by Cricket Australia that the dates of the next Ashes series Down Under have been brought forward by a year.

The situation, which last occurred in 1974-75, has been forced upon the two boards by the competing demands of the 2015 World Cup, which is also scheduled to be held in Australia and which, had the 2014-15 Ashes gone ahead as planned, would have required England's cricketers to remain in the country for five months.
__________________

A major consideration for CA was the prospect of a new round of TV rights negotiations, as the current deal is set to expire in May 2013. With India due to tour in 2011-12, followed by South Africa, England and the World Cup, the board is anticipating four consecutive seasons of high-quality international cricket.

''The Ashes have an x-factor element that excites the Australian public," said Young. "The Ashes make turnstiles spin and they drive the ratings up. In terms of the next media contract, it's an ideal starting point because it's a lucrative blue chip series and all the networks would give their eye teeth to get hold of it."

http://www.espncricinfo.com/the-ashes-2 ... 98610.html

i may be thick but what situation last occured in 74/75?

[Sam_goUUUdogs]

A little more on the topic

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/ja ... intcmp=239

So potentially 11 England vs Australia tests inside seven months.

[FlyingHigh]

Don't quite understand the logic of this.
Ashes due in England 2013 and 2017.
2014/2015 is 1 1/2 years, then 2 1/2 years difference.
Bring them forward, they will be played 6 months apart, and then not for 3 1/2 years.
Would have thought trying to make them 2015/16 would have spaced them out better?

[Sam_goUUUdogs]

http://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/ ... 1a89f.html

[Sam_goUUUdogs]

Don't quite understand the logic of this.
Ashes due in England 2013 and 2017.
2014/2015 is 1 1/2 years, then 2 1/2 years difference.
Bring them forward, they will be played 6 months apart, and then not for 3 1/2 years.
Would have thought trying to make them 2015/16 would have spaced them out better?

From what i can see the schedule will be, England 2013, Australia 2013-14, England 2015, Australia 2017-18, England 2019.
The big issue with pushing them back is that neither the ECB or CA would want to go 5 years without hosting an Ashes series, the other issue from an English point of view is that far too much attention would be taken away from an Ashes series if you were to stage it while there is a major football tournament on, so that rules out 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, etc.

With Australia now in line to have so many ''high quality'' summers in a row, whats the bet they host Bangladesh in Nov/Dec 2014?

The new ICC future tours program shouldn't be all that far off now, so time will tell.

[FlyingHigh]

Interesting stuff Sam. If that is right, they are wanting to squeeze in two more series than normal in that time frame.