How to watch The Ashes 2025-26

One of the cricket world’s most iconic grudge matches, The Ashes is a five-Test series that gives the winner a tiny urn – said to hold the ashes of a burned cricket ball – and bragging rights until the next Test series. Created as the result of a joke in a newspaper in 1882, it's provided us with some of cricket’s finest moments.

While this time around, Australia play host for the series and currently hold The Ashes Urn, you can still get in on all the action from home soil. Whether you are a life-long member of the Barmy Army or just getting into the sport, you need to know where to catch all the Test matches in time for the series kicking off on 21 November.

The Ashes kicks off in Perth on Friday 21 November, with the first Test captained by Ben Stokes. The final Test match concludes in Sydney on Thursday 8 January.

The Ashes might be hosted across loads of different cities and territories in Australia, but you can watch every second live from the comfort of your sofa. Following all the twists and turns of The Ashes 2023, you won’t want to miss a single second.

But how early will you need to be awake, or how late will you have to stay up to catch the coin toss?

Friday 21 – Tuesday 25 November

England Men vs Australia Men, 1^st Ashes Test in Perth
First Ball: 2:30am

Saturday 29 – Sunday 30 November

England Men vs Prime Minister’s XI, in Canberra
First Ball: 3:40am

Thursday 4 – Monday 8 December

England Men vs Australia Men, 2^nd Ashes Test in Brisbane
First Ball: 4:30am

Wednesday 17 – Sunday 21 December

England Men vs Australia Men, 3^rd Ashes Test in Adelaide
First Ball: 12:00am

Thursday 25 – Tuesday 30 December

England Men vs Australia Men, 4^th Ashes Test in Melbourne
First Ball: 11:30pm

Saturday 3 – Thursday 8 January 2026

England Men vs Australia Men, 5^th Ashes Test in Sydney
First Ball: 11:30pm

All of The Ashes Test matches are available to watch on TNT Sports, which can be added on to your Virgin Media bundle any time you like.  

You can watch The Ashes while on the go too, thanks to the Virgin TV Go app. Download the app your phone or tablet and sign in to your Virgin TV and TNT Sports accounts to dive straight into the cricketing action.

Ready to catch up on the action? If you’re already with us but don’t have TNT sports as part of your package you can, log into your My Virgin Media account and add it to your bundle to anytime you like enjoy every wicket, bowl and catch live. 

Want to upgrade your broadband with live sport? Check out our Sports TV bundles and get set before the first ball is bowled. Follow every moment of The Ashes plus top cricket action all year round.

And it’s not just cricket. Unlock live sport from Sky Sports, TNT Sports and Premier Sports – instant access to Premier League football, Formula 1, rugby union, horse racing and plenty more.

Ready to get watching? Check out all of our Sports TV packages and pop in your postcode to see what you can get.