2027 Ashes Split: Northern England Left Out
The north of England will be without a men’s Ashes Test in 2027 – and it all stems from a decision taken for Australia’s last tour.
When the venues for the 2023 Ashes were unveiled back in 2018, the plan was clear: Hampshire’s ground in Southampton would finally get its shot at hosting Australia. Instead, that match was later switched to Headingley, handing Leeds another slice of Ashes drama and leaving the Ageas Bowl waiting.
That change has now come full circle.
Southampton will stage its first men’s Ashes Test next year, while Old Trafford and Headingley both sit out the series. Hampshire were paid more than £1m in compensation by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) when the 2023 fixture was moved, and in the reshuffle that followed, they were also guaranteed an Ashes Test in 2027.
The price of that promise is a blank Ashes summer for the traditional northern strongholds.
Neither Hampshire nor the ECB has commented publicly, but the paper trail is clear enough. The 2023 venues were awarded under the ECB’s old “competitive tender” system, a model that turned marquee matches into bidding wars as grounds put forward financial packages to secure Tests.
At the time, the ECB was chaired by Colin Graves, now back at Yorkshire and once again a central figure at Headingley. His dual role – then ECB chair, formerly Headingley chair – has inevitably drawn scrutiny, yet he has insisted he had no hand in deciding where the Ashes went.
“I always left the room when their recommendations were discussed by the board. I was not involved,” he told the Guardian.
The fallout from that era has helped reshape how English cricket does its business. The tender model has been scrapped. In its place, the ECB has introduced a rotation system, signed off by all 18 first-class counties and Marylebone Cricket Club, to spread major fixtures more evenly and reduce the influence of pure financial muscle.
Using that rotation, the ECB has already mapped out big-match allocations through to 2031. The governing body has committed that from the 2031 home Ashes onwards, at least one men’s Test in each series will be played in the north of England. Southampton, meanwhile, is set to feature in every other men’s Ashes series, cementing its place on the long-term Test map.
For now, though, the north must swallow a rare omission. Both Headingley and Old Trafford have staged men’s Ashes Tests in each of the last two home series, feeding off packed terraces and long, noisy days that have become part of the rivalry’s modern soundtrack.
Next year, the most northerly men’s Ashes Test will be at Trent Bridge in Nottingham. Headingley will still see Ashes cricket – but only in the women’s game, as it hosts the sole women’s Ashes Test of the summer.
A different kind of history will be written there, while the men’s Ashes heads south and English cricket lives with the consequences of a deal struck years ago in a very different system.
