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    '93, '97, '01, '05, '09, '13 ..'15?

    Can one of OTF's cricket boffs please explain (because the BBC haven't, in the body of today's venue announcements) why we're playing two Ashes series in England in the space of two years in 2013 and 2015?

    #2
    '93, '97, '01, '05, '09, '13 ..'15?

    Because the ECB are shifting the Ashes cycles away from the World Cup.

    It then reverts to the usual 1.5/2.5 year gaps, in England in 2013, and then 2014/15 in Aus, 2017 in England, etc.

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      #3
      '93, '97, '01, '05, '09, '13 ..'15?

      No, hang on, we're playing them IN 2015, the same year AS the next World Cup - and that's the one that's out of sequence?

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        #4
        '93, '97, '01, '05, '09, '13 ..'15?

        I confused myself when writing the previous post as to which series was the one where the sequence gets back on track, which is 2015 not 2013.
        So 2013 in England, 2013/14 in Australia, 2015 in England and then it reverts to the usual 2.5/1.5 year cycles, with the next two being 2017/18 and 2019.

        The 2015 series is well after the World Cup, not before it. The ECB believes the intensity of an Ashes series leads to a let-down directly afterwards, and this is their explanation for the poor World Cup performance.
        Presumably both boards feel the World Cup isn't as intense as an Ashes, so the other way around they will not encounter the same problems. India's recent performance might suggest this is a fallacy.

        England's schedule from the Sept '14 to Sept '15 Champions League gaps reads as;

        Nov-early Dec '14: 5xODIs, 2xT20 in Sri Lanka

        mid Jan-early Feb '15: 5xODIs (triangular) in Australia against Aussies and India

        mid Feb-mid Mar '15: World Cup

        Apr '15: 3xTests in West Indies

        early May-late Jun '15: 2xTests, 5xODIs, 1xT20 vs New Zealand

        late Jun-Aug '15: ASHES, 5xODIs, 1xT20

        They really ought to be fresh and ready for the World Cup, as they only have 10 full days and 2 half-days work in the 18 weeks preceding it, rather than having just played 5 Ashes tests and then 7 ODI's. The question will be whether they can raise themselves for the Ashes, as if they are not mentally and physically knackered by the end of that lot, then they never will be. It is very reminiscent of what India have just put themselves through.

        Australia's schedule running into the 2015 World Cup is much more intense, reflecting as it does the World Cup coming at the end of their home season. 3 tests away to Pakistan, 4 tests at home to India, a set of ODI/T20 games at home to South Africa and the home England/India triangular series all crammed into the 4.5 months prior to the World Cup. However, they have given themselves six weeks off after the World Cup, but even they have an away tour to the West Indies (2xTests, 3xODIs) prior to getting to England.

        Likewise, the 2019 Ashes is after the 2019 World Cup. As that World Cup, to be hosted in England, ends in late July, that Ashes series is really shoehorned in.

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          #5
          '93, '97, '01, '05, '09, '13 ..'15?

          So there are no tests at all the winter before the 2015 WC? For fuck's sake.

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            #6
            '93, '97, '01, '05, '09, '13 ..'15?

            Correct. England have all of seven Tests between January 2014 and April 2015.

            Mind you, they make up for this after the 2015 World Cup, when they will play seventeen Tests in the space of ten months. If Strauss and Anderson are still around by then I imagine that workload will tip them into retirement.

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