How to Get Ashes 2027 Tickets: Every Option Explained

There are several ways to get Ashes 2027 tickets: the free public ballot, county membership, priority schemes like We Are England Cricket Supporters and the Barmy Army, and official hospitality. Each works differently and runs to its own dates depending on the venue. Here's how they all fit together, and where to start depending on what you're after.

This guide covers the Ashes, but it's really a guide to the whole England home international ticketing system for 2027, so if you're after tickets for the Women's Ashes, the Bangladesh Test at Lord's, or any of the white-ball series, the same routes and the same section on memberships apply to you too. Jump to beyond the Ashes if that's what brought you here.

A quick note on why you can trust us: Matchside is an independent newsletter and guide covering ticketed live sports events across London. We don't sell tickets ourselves, so everything below is simply about helping you get into the ground. Our founder, Louis, is also an MCC member and huge cricket fan who's attended many an Ashes Test over the years.

In a hurry? Here's the short version

• If the ballot for your venue is still open, enter it. It's free and there's no obligation to buy if you're successful. Trent Bridge, Edgbaston and the Utilita Bowl close on 29 September 2026. Lord's closes 26 October. The Oval closes 15 November.
• Missed your venue's ballot deadline? Your remaining options are general sale, resale at face value and official hospitality, and all three depend on what's actually left.
• Want the most reliable route regardless of cost? County membership or hospitality are your best bets.
• Whatever else you do, sign up to We Are England Cricket Supporters for access to an additional priority sale and ticket updates. It's free and doesn't affect anything else you're doing, so there's no reason not to.

Before getting into the details of each, the table below summarises the options available to you.

Every way to get Ashes tickets, at a glance

1. The ballot

The most important thing to know is that this isn't one ballot. Every host ground runs its own, for its own matches, with its own deadline. Entering at Lord's doesn't enter you into the Oval's ballot, and vice versa. There's no central "Ashes ballot" you apply to once.

Wherever you enter, the mechanics are the same:

• It's free. No card details needed to apply.
• Entering doesn't commit you to buying anything. If you're picked, you get a window to decide whether to buy.
• It's a random draw, not first come first served, so there's no advantage to entering the moment it opens over entering the day before it closes.
• For Test matches, the ticket limit usually applies across the whole match, not per day. At Lord's, for example, you can apply for as many days of the Ashes Test as you like, but you'll only ever be offered a maximum of 2 tickets across the entire match.

Here's the ballot window for each of the five men's Ashes venues:

Notice that three grounds close on 29 September, a full month before Lord's and over six weeks before the Oval. If you're considering Trent Bridge, Edgbaston or the Utilita Bowl, don't leave it late.

Ticket prices and limits, where published: Lord's has published full pricing for its Ashes Test: adult tickets run from £100 (restricted view) up to £195 for the best categories across the first four days, with day five priced at a flat £25 across every category. The ticket limit is 2 per applicant across the whole match. Other venues haven't published Ashes-specific pricing yet, expect it to sit in a broadly similar range.

• Enter the Lord's ballot
• Enter the Oval ballot
• Enter the Trent Bridge ballot
• Enter the Edgbaston ballot
• Enter the Utilita Bowl ballot

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2. County membership: the earliest and most reliable route

If you want more certainty than a random draw, and you think you'll go to more than one match a year, membership at the host county is arguably the strongest route in. Here's how it stacks up:

So, members get first choice of days and seats, at a discount, before the public ballot closes. If you know you'll be a regular at one ground, that's usually the better long-term bet than relying on the ballot every year. Having said that, if you do take the membership route, there's no harm in entering the ballot as well to increase your chances.

3. We Are England Cricket Supporters

Joining We Are England Cricket Supporters (WAECS) just entails creating an account on the ECB website and signing up for email updates. It's free to do, so you may as well sign up alongside whatever else you're doing. Signing up gives you access to a dedicated priority window during the ballot period (23–29 September 2026, according to the ECB) to buy tickets ahead of the ballot results, through a link or code sent by email. The ECB's own wording is a little vague on exactly how this interacts with each venue's own ballot and membership tiers, but since it costs nothing and doesn't affect your ballot entry, it's worth doing regardless. Sign up here.

4. Barmy Army membership

A route a lot of casual fans don't think about: Barmy Army membership (£45 a year, or £395 for a one-off lifetime membership) gets you priority ticket access to England matches generally, ahead of general sale. It's a good option if you're a regular England watcher rather than a one-off Ashes visitor.

There's also a more specific 2027 offer running right now: existing Barmy Army Lifetime members who've held their membership since the 2023 Ashes series and who buy tickets to any of England's 2026 Test matches through the Barmy Army get an access code for a 24-hour exclusive Ashes 2027 ticket window. That one's narrow (it's not open to new members), but if it applies to you, it's worth using.

5. After the ballot: results and general sale

Once a venue's ballot closes, winners are notified, given a window to buy, and then whatever's left goes to general sale. Timings vary a lot by venue, which is exactly why the ballot table above matters:

• Lord's: Round One winners notified early November 2026, purchase window opens 17 November, general sale from 10 December 2026.
• The Oval: results announced 23 November 2026, purchase window opens 24 November. General sale date: not yet published, depends on the ballot uptake.
• Trent Bridge, Edgbaston, Utilita Bowl: exact post-ballot dates for each aren't fully published yet, expect a similar pattern of a winners' window followed by general sale in the following months if any tickets are left.

If you're reading this closer to any of these dates, check the venue's own site for the exact current status before assuming the ballot is still your best option; general sale or resale might already be more realistic.

6. Resale: what's actually allowed

Every England venue's ticket terms are explicit: cricket tickets cannot be resold for more than face value. This is written into the ticket purchase T&Cs at every ground.

In practice, that means:

• You can legitimately pass a ticket you can't use to a friend or family member, at face value or less.
• Selling above face value on general resale sites (Viagogo, StubHub, eBay, and similar) breaches the ticket's own terms. The ECB actively monitors these sites, and a ticket sold above face value can be cancelled, leaving both buyer and seller out of pocket and the buyer refused entry at the gate.
• Some venues, including Lord's, run their own official resale platform for tickets holders can't use, which is the safest way to both buy and sell if you're in that position.

The short version: if you're offered Ashes tickets above face value anywhere, walk away, it's against the rules and the ticket can be pulled at any point.

7. Hospitality

If certainty matters more than cost, official hospitality guarantees you a seat with no ballot, no membership tier and no waiting. Keith Prowse is the official hospitality partner at the Kia Oval, Edgbaston and Lord's, with Ashes packages starting from around £299 per person at the Oval and from around £339–349 per person at Edgbaston, rising for later stages and finals-adjacent days. This is the option for a corporate day out or a milestone trip where you want the whole thing handled.

• Keith Prowse cricket hospitality

Your Ashes ticket action plan

If you're looking at Trent Bridge, Edgbaston or the Utilita Bowl:

• Enter the ballot before 29 September 2026.
• Check whether the cost of county membership is worth it for you.

If you want to go to Lord's or the Oval:

• Enter the Lord's ballot before 26 October, and/or the Oval's before 15 November.
• Check whether the cost of Surrey county membership is worth it for you.
• At Lord's specifically, remember the 2-ticket cap on the Ashes Test before you plan a group trip.

Whichever venue you want:

• Sign up to We Are England Cricket Supporters, it's free and there's no downside.
• Subscribe to Matchside and we'll flag general sale dates and any late ticket drops as soon as they're announced.

Beyond the Ashes

The exact same ballot, membership and priority systems above cover every England men's and women's home international in 2027, not just the Ashes. If you're after any of these instead, everything above still applies to you. The key difference is that the other matches are much less likely to sell out at the ballot stage, and we'd expect them all to go on general sale.

In London specifically:

The rest of the Women's Ashes:

Elsewhere across the country: England Men host Pakistan for five ODIs in May (Utilita Bowl, Old Trafford, Headingley, Riverside and Sophia Gardens), and England Women host Bangladesh across three T20Is and three ODIs in September at various county grounds outside London. New Zealand's white-ball tour in September also includes fixtures beyond the Lord's ODI listed above.

Ashes tickets FAQ

How do I get Ashes 2027 tickets? The free route is the ballot, run separately by each of the five host venues (Lord's, the Oval, Edgbaston, Trent Bridge and the Utilita Bowl). County membership is the more reliable but paid route. See the ballot and membership above for the full breakdown.

When does the Ashes 2027 ballot close? It varies by venue. Trent Bridge, Edgbaston and the Utilita Bowl close on 29 September 2026. Lord's closes 26 October 2026. The Oval closes 15 November 2026.

How many tickets can I apply for in the Ashes ballot? At Lord's, a maximum of 2 tickets across the entire Ashes Test, regardless of how many days you apply for. Other venues haven't published their limits yet.

Is the Ashes ballot free to enter? Yes, every venue's ballot is free, with no card details required, and no obligation to buy if you're selected.

Can I resell Ashes tickets? Only at face value or less. Reselling above face value breaches every venue's ticket terms and the ticket can be cancelled.

What's the cheapest way to get Ashes tickets? The ballot, at face value. At Lord's that ranges from £100 to £195 for the Ashes Test across the first four days, with day five at a flat £25.

Does county membership guarantee Ashes tickets? No, but it moves you to the front of the queue well ahead of the public ballot, and at most venues it comes with a discount too.

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