What channel is the Ashes on? When is the first Ashes Test? TV and stream details for Australia v England

England and Australia will lock horns in one of sport's great rivalries when The Ashes series gets under way in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Tim Paine of Australia lifts the Urn after Australia drew the series to retain the Ashes at The Oval on September 15, 2019 (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

The 2021-22 series is set to begin in Brisbane at 0001 GMT on December 8 as the hosts look to retain the world famous urn for a third successive occasion after following up their 4-0 victory on home soil in 2017 with a 2-2 draw in England two years ago.

England last lifted the title in 2015 but you have to rewind to 2010 for the last time they claimed victory Down Under.

Here's everything you need to know about this year’s The Ashes including how to watch.

When is The Ashes?

The 2021-22 series will follow the traditional five-Test format running from December 8 to January 18.

The schedule also includes a day-night Test in Adelaide - the same venue which hosted a day-night match in the 2017/18 Ashes.

The itinerary, including UK start times, is as follows:

1st Test - Dec 8 (0001 GMT) to Dec 12, The Gabba, Brisbane

2nd Test - Dec 16 (0400 GMT) to 20, Adelaide Oval

3rd Test - Dec 26 (2330 GMT Dec 25) to Dec 30, MCG Melbourne

4th Test - Jan 5 (2330 GMT, Jan 4) to Jan 9, SCG Sydney

5th Test - Jan 14 (TBC) to Jan 18, TBC

What channel is the Ashes on?

The Ashes is being shown exclusively in the UK on BT Sport.

Coverage of day one of the first Test begins at 11pm on BT Sport 1 HD on Tuesday 7 December with an hour-long preview show beforehand which will be made available for anyone to watch on YouTube.

Subscribers will be able to follow all the action on TV, the BT Sport app and online.

Presenter Matt Smith will head up proceedings live from the BT Sport Studio in London, alongside former England internationals across the series including Alastair Cook, Moeen Ali, Steve Harmison, Matt Prior and Mark Butcher, as well as England women’s captain Heather Knight.

Following the close of each day’s play, Ashes Daily, a new daily live breakfast show, will provide fans with all the latest news, highlights and talking points from the action overnight.

It will also be made available as a podcast, available to download from all major providers.

A full 90 minutes of highlights will be made available every morning for BT Sport customers following the conclusion of Ashes Daily and repeated later in the day.

A shorter highlights package will also be available for BT Sport customers on app and btsport.com soon after the day’s play finishes.

Non-subscribers will be able to watch on the on the app and website at 4pm each day.

2021/22 Ashes squads

England: Joe Root, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

Australia: Pat Cummins, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner

Odds

Australia 9/11, England 9/2, Draw 42/5 – via Oddschecker

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