Ashes 2023 Preview: Early odds, dates, venues and squads for England vs. Australia

This year’s Ashes series is the most hotly anticipated series in recent memory, with both teams in great form and talking a big game ahead of the showdown.

Australia dominated the last series Down Under, winning 4-0 and embarrassing the English in the process. 

Things have changed since then, and since Ben Stokes was named as captain and Brendon McCullum as coach England have played an ultra-aggressive and entertaining brand of cricket that has led them to 10 wins in 12 games.

The Aussies will be England’s stiffest competition in the ‘BazBall’ era, with an elite bowling attack and a batting line-up that includes two of the world’s premier players in Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne. 

Below we run through all the early information of the series, from dates, venues, and squads to the early odds from trusted online betting sites.

What is The Ashes schedule?

The Ashes kicks off in Birmingham on Friday June 16th and runs all the way to July 31st.

London will be hosting two games with the Oval and Lords hosting a game each, while Leeds and Manchester will be hosting a game each too.

• First Test, Edgbaston, Birmingham June 16-20
• Second Test, Lord's, London June 28-July 2
• Third Test, Headingley, Leeds July 6-10
• Fourth Test, Old Trafford, Manchester July 19-23
• Fifth Test, The Oval, London, July 27-31

What are the Ashes Odds?

England are slight favourites to win the series a few weeks before things kick off, with odds of 11/10 with most betting sites, while Australia are available at 6/4.

A series draw is the outside bet, currently sitting at the 11/2 mark. 

When do the games start?

Each game will start at 11am BST.

The morning session goes until 1pm, then there is 40 minutes for lunch.

The afternoon session then goes until 3:40pm, then a 20 minute tea break, and the final session runs until 6pm, with an additional half an hour available if the full allocation of 90 overs hasn’t been bowled. 

What TV channel is The Ashes on?

Sky Sports have the rights to all domestic cricket, and every ball of every day will be live on Sky Sports cricket and Sky Sports Main Event.

The BBC have the rights to show the highlights after each day’s play, as well as ball-by-ball radio coverage Radio 5 Live Sports Extra. 

What are the squads for each team?

While England haven’t named a full squad for the Ashes, they have named one for the one-match series against Ireland the week before the Ashes starts, which will serve as the squad for the series against Australia. It is as follows:

Ben Stokes (captain), Ollie Pope (vice-captain), Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Dan Lawrence, Jonny Bairstow (wkt), Chris Woakes, Ollie Robinson, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Mark Wood, Matt Potts, Jack Leach.

Australia play the World Test Championship final against India at the Oval the week before the Ashes starts, and Australia have named a squad for that game and the opening two Ashes tests, which is as follows:

Pat Cummins (captain), Steve Smith (vice-captain), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Mitchell Starc, David Warner.

The big talking point from England’s squad is the omission of Ben Foakes, who has been a steady hand in the lower order for England over the past 12 months as well as one of the world’s best glovemen.

Many pundits had called for Zak Crawley to be dropped, with one of Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook or even skipper Ben Stokes to move up the order and open the batting, but Stokes and McCullum have stuck with their man. 

How have recent series gone?

• 2013/14 (in Australia) - Australia won 5-0 
• 2015 (in England) - England won 3-2 
• 2017/18  (in Australia) Australia won 4-0 
• 2019 (in England) - drawn 2-2 
• 2021/22  (in Australia) Australia won 4-0