Twenty20 international confirmed for 2005 Ashes

As expected, England and Australia will contest the world's first Twenty20 international next summer, as part of the 2005 Ashes tour. (The first by men, anyway. England's women are playing one against New Zealand later this summer.) The match will take place at Hampshire's Rose Bowl on June 13, as a curtain-raiser to the NatWest Series, which will also feature Bangladesh, whose maiden Test in England will start at Lord's on May 26.

The ten-match one-day NatWest Series will be followed a further three one-day fixtures, also against Australia, before the main event of the summer gets under way. The five-Test Ashes campaign starts at Lord's on July 21, and, happily for the players involved, there will be plenty of breathing space between the matches.

The second and third Tests at Edgbaston and Old Trafford will be back-to-back affairs, but the other games all have a ten-day break between them. With England and Australia set for their most evenly contested series in years, this should reduce the danger of player burnout.

npower Test series

May 26-30 1st Test v Bangladesh, Lord's
June 3-7 2nd Test v Bangladesh, Chester-le-Street

NatWest Twenty20 International

June 13 v Australia, Rose Bowl

NatWest Series

June 16 England v Bangladesh, The Oval
June 18 Australia v Bangladesh, Cardiff
June 19 England v Australia, Bristol
June 21 England v Bangladesh, Trent Bridge (D/N)
June 23 England v Australia, Chester-le-Street (D/N)
June 25 Australia v Bangladesh, Old Trafford
June 26 England v Bangladesh, Headingley
June 28England v Australia, Edgbaston (D/N)
June 30 Australia v Bangladesh, Canterbury
July 2 Final, Lord's

NatWest Challenge

July 7 v Australia, Headingley
July 10 v Australia, Lord's
July 12 v Australia, The Oval

npower Test series

July 21-25 1st Test v Australia, Lord's
August 4-8 2nd Test v Australia, Edgbaston
August 11-15 3rd Test v Australia, Old Trafford
August 25-29 4th Test v Australia, Trent Bridge
September 8-12 5th Test v Australia, The Oval