How to watch the Ashes: Live stream England vs Australia 5th Test anywhere online
The fifth and final Ashes Test gets underway on 27 July: here’s how to watch every ball live in the UK
Following the heartbreaking result at Old Trafford, England take on the Aussies at The Oval in the final Test of the 2023 Ashes series.
In what has been a gripping series – with superb cricket on display from both teams alike – the grandstand finish we’d all hoped for returned a monumental anti-climax. England’s hopes of a comeback were thwarted by heavy rain during the final day of the fourth Test, with persistent bad weather preventing a single ball from being bowled.
Despite play scheduled to resume in the afternoon, the rainfall continued – preventing England’s chance of chasing the final five wickets needed for the win. In the end, the stalemate result was enough for Australia to retain the Ashes, continuing their six-year possession of the world-famous urn.
Although gifting us with some thrilling performances, Ben Stoke’s men go winless in the Ashes since 2015, while the Aussies – 2-1 up going into the final Test – will look to complete their first UK series win in 22 years.
After a draw here in 2019, the Aussies will certainly be looking to win outright, but it can’t be expected of the Three Lions to roll over willingly. Though the result is all but concluded, you can guarantee both teams will go down fighting – with pride and bragging rights both firmly on the table.
To find out how you can watch every test of the Ashes including the highlights, read on below for full details on streaming, television packages and more.
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Ashes 2023 fixture list
1st Test, England vs Australia, Edgebaston (Birmingham): Friday 16 – Tuesday 20 June 2023 – Australia won by 3 wickets
2nd Test, England vs Australia, Lord’s (London): Wednesday 28 June – Sunday 2 July 2023 – Australia won by 43 runs
3rd Test, England vs Australia, Headingley (Leeds): Thursday 6 – Monday 10 July 2023 – England won by 3 wickets
4th Test, England vs Australia, Old Trafford (Manchester): Wednesday 19th – Sunday 23rd July 2023 – Draw (Australia retain the Ashes)
5th Test, England vs Australia, The Oval (London): Thursday 27th – Monday 31st July 2023
England’s 2021-22 Ashes squad
- Ben Stokes (captain)
- Moeen Ali
- James Anderson
- Jonny Bairstow
- Stuart Broad
- Harry Brook
- Zak Crawley
- Ben Duckett
- Dan Lawrence
- Ollie Pope
- Ollie Robinson
- Joe Root
- Josh Tongue
- Chris Woakes
- Mark Wood
How to watch the Ashes in the UK: NOW TV Monthly pass
If you don’t want to be tied into any Sky packages, a Now Sports membership is the perfect alternative.
You can either purchase a Now Sports Day Membership, which includes a Mobile Month Pass free – setting you back £12; or a Now Sports Month Membership, for only £35/mth. The latter comes with a handy seven-day free trial of Now Boost, letting you stream HD on any device (and is £5/mth thereafter). Apart from the cricket, you can also watch all the upcoming marquee Premier League, EFL and NBA games using this pass.
How to watch the Ashes in the UK: Sky Sport
Sky hold the rights this year’s Ashes, which means to get full HD coverage you’ll need a Sky Sport package. Although Sky features a Sky Cricket channel, all test matches will be broadcast on Sky Main Event. This requires you to have its basic Sky Entertainment and Netflix package – Sky are currently offering the first month for free, with the price thereafter £29/mth and includes the best of Sky TV and Netflix on multiple compatible devices and ties you to an 18-month contract. Alternatively, you can also get a 31-day rolling package for £27/mth.
The Sky Sports package includes eight Sky Sports channels all in HD, meaning you’ll be able to watch live international cricket, franchise cricket tournaments like the IPL, marquee matches from the Premier League, EFL, Scottish Premiership, golf majors, NFL, NBA and more. This will cost £27/mth on a rolling 31-day contract but the better value pick is the 18-month deal currently priced at £20/mth.
How to watch the Ashes in the UK: BBC
For terristrial TV goers, the BBC will be showing hour-long highlights of each test following end of play.
How to watch the Ashes abroad: Use a VPN
If you’re abroad and worried you won’t be able to use the BT Sport app due to the company’s geo-block restrictions, don’t fear; signing up to a good VPN service to circumvent this is easy. We’ve compiled a list of the best VPNs that money can buy which will allow you to use the BT Sport app anywhere in the world by setting up a virtual private network. You can also find a quick summary of the very best of the best below.
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ExpressVPN: ExpressVPN is the very best VPN on the market for streaming. With more than 3,000 servers in 90 countries, it works with every major streaming service and offers lightning-fast speeds. At £10/mth on a rolling one-month contract basis, it might not be quite as cheap as NordVPN, but it does come with 24/7 customer support as well as a 30-day moneyback guarantee.
NordVPN: Of all the VPN services we have reviewed, NordVPN stood out to us as the best all-rounder, so much so that we awarded it a coveted Expert Reviews Best Buy award in our comprehensive five-star review. Although not the cheapest VPN out there, NordVPN is reasonably priced at just £2.44/mth over 24 months or £8.84/mth if you just want to use it for the Ashes. Based in Panama with an independently audited privacy policy, it’s also as secure as they come.