Australia will begin its Ashes defence in Cardiff in July next year with Lord's, Edgbaston, Trent Bridge and The Oval rounding out the Test venues.

The England and Wales Cricket Board announced Monday the schedule for Australia's three-month UK tour starting in late June and ending in mid-September.

The first Test starts at Sophia Gardens on July 8 and, despite the emphatic 5-0 scoreline in the 2013/14 series at home, Australia coach Darren Lehmann is well aware of the difficulty involved in winning on England's decks.

"They know their conditions well and we certainly learnt from our last experiences there and we have to change a few things," he said.

"We played well on the back-end of the Ashes series last time in England and we've got to continue that on in the first Test and start the series well."

It is only the second time Sophia Gardens has hosted an Ashes Test and the venue holds some bad memories for Australia when England's 10 and 11, James Anderson and Monty Panesar, held on for an agonising 69 deliveries to force a draw in 2009's series opener.

But the 2015 clash will be a very different prospect with captain Michael Clarke, wicketkeeper Brad Haddin and paceman Mitchell Johnson the only likely Australian survivors from that game.

Australia has not won an away Ashes series since a 4-1 win in 2001 but Lehmann says, if nothing else, the team is in a better position to break the drought than the 2013 series.

"We changed coach 24 hours before the tour started. Hopefully we're a bit more settled, but you never know in this game of professional sport," he said.

Australia's itinerary
Tests
July 8-12: First Test at Sophia Gardens
July 16-20: Second Test at Lord's
July 29-August 2: Third Test at Edgbaston
August 6-10: Fourth Test at Trent Bridge
August 20-24: Fifth Test at The Oval

T20s and ODIs
August 31: T20I at Sophia Gardens
September 3: First ODI at The Rose Bowl
September 5: Second ODI at Lord's
September 8: Third ODI at Old Trafford
September 11: Fourth ODI at Headingley
September 13: Fifth ODI at Old Trafford

Tour games
June 25-28: Four-dayer v Kent at Canterbury
July 1-4: Four-dayer v Essex at Chelmsford
July 23-25: Three-dayer v Derbyshire at County Ground
August 14-16: Three-dayer v Northants at Northampton
August 27: 50-over game v Ireland

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-1...ardiff/5447976