Women's Ashes brought forward to assist World Cup preparations

The schedule change will allow Australia and England more time to travel, quarantine and prepare for the 50-over tournament in New Zealand

Australia and England's battle for the Women's Ashes has been brought forward to allow both teams extra time before the World Cup in New Zealand.

The fixtures and dates of the seven-match, multi-format series have been revised to ensure the teams can travel and complete 10 days of quarantine ahead of the tournament which runs between March 4 and April 3.

Three T20Is will now kick off the schedule on January 20, 22 and 23, with all matches being played at the Adelaide Oval. The first two were due to be played at the North Sydney Oval.

The one-off Test at Manuka Oval was due to start the series but will now sit in between the two white-ball formats, though remains in the same window of January 27-30.

Canberra will also host the first ODI on February 3 before the series moves to Melbourne's Junction Oval for the final two ODIs on February 6 (February 5 in the UK) and February 8 (February 7). 

^{Meg Lanning will lead Australia's attempts to keep hold of the Ashes (William West/Getty Images)}

Starting seven days earlier, the series will now conclude 11 days before originally intended.

Both teams will then travel to New Zealand ahead of the 12th edition of the Women's 50-over World Cup, a campaign that starts against each other on March 5 in Hamilton.

England, who will depart for Australia on January 7 as per the original schedule, will kick off the tour with two warm-up matches against England A on January 15 and 16.

In accordance with the Ashes being shifted, the A tour has also been adapted. The three T20s against Australia A have been moved to Adelaide on January 20, 21 and 23, with Canberra now hosting the three ODIs against the same opponent on January 28, 30 and February 2.

Our coverage of the Ashes is brought to you in association with Cricket 22

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Women's Ashes 2021/22 fixtures