Cricket fans fume over ugly Ashes 'disgrace' after 'greedy' move backfires

With a pulsating Ashes series done and dusted, questions are being asked as to why five Test matches had to be crammed into six weeks in the shortest window in the famous cricket event's history. With the fifth Test finishing on the 31st of July, it marked the first time ever that an Ashes series in the UK won't be taking place in August.

With the first Test kicking off on the 16th of June, there were seven days in between that and the second Test. There was only a three-day break between the second and third Tests, 10 days between the third and fourth, before another three-day break between the fourth and fifth. The busy schedule clearly took a toll on the players, with bowlers in particular looking completely gassed at various stages throughout.

SAY WHAT? Usman Khawaja's shock revelation in Ashes ball change furore

HUGE HINT: Pat Cummins' telling confession amid David Warner doubts

England were wary of risking an under-done Mark Wood and left him out of the first two Tests as a result, before Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes both suffered injuries they had to play through. The Aussies lost Nathan Lyon to a calf injury in the second Test, while Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins suffered shoulder and wrist injuries respectively that they both played on with.

The various injuries and ailments no doubt had something to do with the fact that five gruelling matches were crammed into just 46 days. Four of the five Tests also went to the fifth day, with the third Test finishing on day four and rain ruining most of the final two days in the fourth Test.

It marked the shortest window for an Ashes series ever in a concerning trend for Test match cricket amid the growing popularity of T20. The 2005 Ashes series was played across 53 days, before it was reduced to 48 in 2009 when the first edition of the IPL took place. It was just 47 days in 2013, 48 in 2015 and 47 in 2019.

Australia also played the World Test Championship final against India the week before the Ashes and one week after the IPL finished, adding to the incredibly busy schedule. But why were organisers in such a rush to get the Ashes finished?

This year's 46-day window came about because English cricket officials thought it would be better to prioritise The Hundred competition - a 100-ball version of the game similar to T20 - so it could have a clear window in August during school holidays and attract bigger crowds. The previous administration at the ECB saw the cash cow potential of The Hundred and ticked off on the cramped schedule, a move that British writer Nick Hoult labelled 'greedy'.

"(The tight schedule) is caused by greed and the unstoppable forces of white ball cricket," Hoult wrote in The Telegraph. "There is no money in weeks off so the administrators have sacrificed giving the players a breather to cram in as much cricket, and therefore revenue, as possible."

One could make the very plausible argument that the scheduling cost England a chance to win back the Ashes for the first time in four series. Instead it finished in a 2-2 draw, allowing the Aussies to retain it.

Cricket fans fume over packed Ashes schedule

Thankfully Richard Thompson, the new chairman of the ECB, has vowed there will always be Test cricket played in England in August while he is in charge. The previous administrators had been hoping Aussie stars like David Warner, Steve Smith and Pat Cummins would stick around and play in The Hundred, but none of them are.

England captain Ben Stokes didn't play in last year's edition and probably won't this year either. He has flagged his intention to have surgery on the knee that hampered him throughout the Ashes.

The fact the Ashes is over already is particularly grating for fans of the longer form of the game in England. While Aussie fans only have to wait until December for more Test cricket, England won't host any red-ball games until next July.

Sign up to our newsletter and score the biggest sport stories of the week.