Southampton will host a 2027 Ashes Test as part of the new staging agreement for future international fixtures, Mail Sport can reveal.
The award represents the fulfilment of a lifetime’s dream for Hampshire chairman Rod Bransgrove.
An outspoken critic of past models of distributing major England men’s games, not least when Cardiff successfully bid to host the opening Test of 2009, Bransgrove is the big winner in an upcoming cycle in which there are arguably no losers.
Although the Ageas Bowl’s selection and obligatory visits to Lord’s and the Oval provide the schedule with a distinctly southern feel in four years’ time, sorting the flat plan for both the 2027 and 2031 Ashes simultaneously has resulted in an even spread between Test venues outside the capital.