Men’s Ashes in 2027: North of England Left Out

The north of England will sit out the men’s Ashes in 2027 – and it all traces back to one switch of venues for Australia’s last visit.

When the England and Wales Cricket Board reshuffled the 2023 schedule, moving a planned Ashes Test from Southampton to Headingley, it triggered a chain of consequences that is only now fully visible. Hampshire’s Ageas Bowl lost out on hosting Australia then. Next year, it finally gets its first men’s Ashes Test. The price is steep for the traditional northern strongholds: Old Trafford and Headingley both miss out in 2027.

That trade-off, first revealed by the Guardian, has left a hole in the Ashes map from Nottingham upwards. The most northerly men’s Test in the next home series will be at Trent Bridge. Leeds and Manchester, scenes of some of England’s most vivid Ashes memories, will be watching from afar.

The story began years ago. Back in 2018, when Colin Graves was ECB chair, the board announced the 2023 Ashes venues under its old “competitive tender” model. Grounds effectively bid for marquee fixtures, putting financial muscle at the heart of scheduling. Southampton was on the slate to host Australia.

The match never came. The Test was switched to Headingley, with Hampshire awarded more than £1m in compensation and, crucially, promised an Ashes Test in 2027. That commitment now explains why there is no men’s Ashes in the north that summer.

Neither Hampshire nor the ECB has offered any public comment on the arrangement. Graves, now Yorkshire chair and formerly in charge at Headingley before moving to the ECB, has denied any role in the allocation of those matches. He has said he left the room whenever the board discussed recommendations on venues.

What has changed since is the system itself. The ECB has moved away from the auction-style tendering that shaped the 2023 series and adopted a rotation model it argues spreads opportunity more fairly. All 18 first-class counties and Marylebone Cricket Club backed the shift, which now governs major match allocations through to 2031.

Under that framework, Southampton is set to host a men’s Test in every other Ashes series, cementing its place on the long-term rota. From 2031, the ECB says there will be at least one men’s Ashes Test in the north of England each time Australia visit, a nod to the deep reservoirs of support at grounds such as Headingley and Old Trafford.

For now, though, the imbalance is stark. Both Headingley and Old Trafford have staged men’s Ashes Tests in each of the past two home series. Next year, neither will see Pat Cummins’ side in the longest format. Instead, Leeds will stage the sole women’s Ashes Test, a significant fixture in its own right but a different kind of showpiece.

The Ashes has always been about more than a set of fixtures; it is about where those battles are fought and who gets to feel the contest under their own skies. In 2027, the north’s turn will not come. The question is whether the promised rotation from 2031 truly restores that balance, or whether this gap lingers in the memory longer than the board expects.