Cricket Australia confirms Ashes dates

Cricket Australia (CA) on Thursday confirmed the fixtures for the 2013-14 Ashes series against arch-rivals England for what will be a new-look Australian summer of 33 scheduled international playing days.

Melbourne: Cricket Australia (CA) on Thursday confirmed the fixtures for the 2013-14 Ashes series against arch-rivals England for what will be a new-look Austrlian summer of 33 scheduled international playing days.

A schedule of five Commonwealth Bank ODI Series matches and three KFC T20 Internationals to complement the five Ashes Tests will be played. The dates and venues of those matches will be confirmed in the new year. CA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) James Sutherland said the number of annual ODIs will vary from summer to summer according to future tours programme needs but he expected it would be a case of less is more for ODI cricket, with fewer matches on average than has been the case for the last 30 years. The following is the schedule for the Ashes: First Test: Nov 21-25, 2013, at Gabba, Brisbane Second Test: Dec 5-9 at Adelaide Oval, Adelaide Third Test: Dec 13-17 at WACA Ground, Perth Fourth Test: Dec 26-30 at MCG, Melbourne Fifth Test: Jan 3-7, 2014, at SCG, Sydney IANS