The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between international cricket's most celebrated rivals England and Australia and is hosted alternately in Australia and England.
A series of The Ashes is played under the regular rules for international Test-match cricket and  comprises five Test matches with two innings per match. If a series is drawn then the country already holding the Ashes retains them.
The Ashes 2009 take place in England from July 8-August 23, 2009.
While in England, the Australia national cricket team is also scheduled to play seven one-day internationals and two Twenty20 internationals against England, a one-day international against Scotland, and four other first-class matches.