Australia will host next year’s Ashes cricket opener against England 12 weeks after the teams are scheduled to finish their series in the U.K.

Cricket Australia today announced the dates for the 2013-14 edition of the sport’s oldest international rivalry, with the first match starting Nov. 21 in Brisbane. Further Tests will take place in Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne with the series finale in Sydney scheduled to finish Jan. 7, 2014.

England, which holds the Ashes after a 3-1 away victory in 2010-11, hosts Australia in the U.K. next year in a five-match series finishing Aug. 25. The teams are playing back-to-back home-and-away contests to prevent a quick turnaround between the Ashes and the 2015 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand early that year.

England, which will get three tuneup matches before the opening Test and another tour game after the series opener, will also play five one-day internationals and three Twenty20 games in Australia, with those dates yet to be released.

     2013-14 ASHES TOUR SCHEDULE
     ===========================
     England vs Western Australia XI  Oct. 31-Nov. 2, Perth
     England vs Australia A           Nov. 6-9, Hobart
     England vs New South Wales XI    Nov. 13-16, Sydney
     First Test                       Nov. 21-25, Brisbane
     England vs Chairman’s XI         Nov. 29-30, Canberra
     Second Test                      Dec. 5-9, Adelaide
     Third Test                       Dec. 13-17, Perth
     Fourth Test                      Dec. 26-30, Melbourne
     Fifth Test                       Jan. 3-7, 2014, Sydney

To contact the reporter on this story: Dan Baynes in Sydney at dbaynes@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Elser at celser@bloomberg.net