England and Australia to wear names and numbers on Ashes shirts

Image: Number and names have been printed on shirts in the County Championship since 2003

England and Australia's players will wear names and numbers on their shirts during this summer's Ashes series.

The International Cricket Council confirmed the initiative on Tuesday, with the organisation wanting players to become more easily identifiable.

Surnames and numbers on the backs of shirts has been a staple in limited-overs cricket for a number of years, while they were introduced in the County Championship in 2003.

Test matches have been played in plain shirts since the maiden meeting between England and Australia in 1877.

Australia's Ashes defence begins at Edgbaston on August 1, before further Tests against England at at Lord's (Aug 14), Headingley (Aug 22), Old Trafford (Sep 4) and The Oval (Sep 12), with all matches live on Sky Sports.

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The series will kick off the inaugural ICC World Test Championship, which will feature nine teams and culminate in a final in June 2021.

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All the teams - Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, Windies, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh - will play six series (three at home and three away) but they will not play the same number of Tests.

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