‘I’m as excited as a kid at Christmas’ – Hampshire chairman Rod Bransgrove on the Ageas Bowl being awarded an Ashes Test

Bransgrove saved the county from insolvency when he took charge more than 20 years ago and masterminded their move from Northlands Road to their current home in West End.

Bransgrove made no secret of his desire to bring international cricket to the region, with the pinnacle being a Test against Australia.

The Ageas Bowl has been on the England circuit since 2005, when England took on Australia in T20 action, and was first allocated a Test against Sri Lanka in 2011.

The ground was one of two, alongside Emirates Old Trafford, that hosted international games in the Covid summer of 2020, due in large part to its on-site hotel and practice facilities, and also staged the inaugural World Test Championship final in 2021.

But Bransgrove’s main objective has proved elusive - until Wednesday, with the announcement that the the Baggy Greens will be coming in four years.

‘It is the realisation of a dream. I didn’t really believe it until I saw it in writing, and we got the official letter from the ECB,’ he admitted.

‘I’m as excited as a kid at Christmas. It is amazing. I just can’t wait to get it on sale and stage the match.

‘When I first took over the priority was to just save the club. It was heading for extinction, and we obviously didn’t want that to happen.

‘It was only really after a year or two that I sat back and realised the stadium we were building was obviously far too large and too complex for just county cricket. It needed to be used for a bigger stage.

‘That is when we embarked on our plan to make it an international and Test match ground and we spent considerable sums of money to get it there to be the amazing ground it is today.’

It has been a long road to this week’s announcement.

Hampshire had been expecting to be awarded an Ashes Test when the 2013 and 2015 venues were announced in September 2011. After being overlooked, Bransgrove said it was a 'crushing blow’.

Five years earlier, he said he was considering his future with the county after the ECB preferred Cardiff to the Rose Bowl as an Ashes venue in 2009.

‘The 'w' in ECB is silent but very powerful,’ Bransgrove said.

At the time, in 2006, former Glamorgan chairman David Morgan was ECB chairman, current Glamorgan chairman Paul Russell was on the management board and former captain Hugh Morris was the performance director.

‘I'm trying to get over the shock,’ Bransgrove added. ‘I'm in a very difficult position now. I have to consider whether this has become personal and if it is beneficial for Hampshire cricket to have me around.’

Seventeen years later, his emotions are very different now.

Australia great Shane Warne was a favourite at Hampshire during an influential spell as club captain between 2005-2008 and there is a stand named after the late leg-spinner, who Bransgrove credits with influencing the culture of the team to this day.

And he believes Hampshire’s Australian links make it a fitting site for England’s next home series against their greatest rivals.

‘Shane Warne was probably the biggest individual influence we’ve had at Hampshire, certainly in my time here,’ added Bransgrove.

‘His legacy will live on forever. We’ve also had some other great Australian friends play for us, people like Matthew Hayden, Shane Watson, Michael Clarke, Stuart Clark, Simon Katich.

‘We have a long list of Aussie friends here in Hampshire and I’m sure they’ll all be over to watch the game in 2027.’

Headingley and Emirates Old Trafford will miss out for the 2027 Ashes five-match series, but return as venues four years later alongside Lord’s, Kia Oval and Trent Bridge.

In addition, Hampshire have also been awarded a Test against India in 2029 and another one the following summer, though the opposition are not yet known for that one.

The Ashes Test for the women’s multi-format series in 2027 will be hosted by Headingley, while the Ageas Bowl will be used for the 2031 series.