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Ageas Bowl: Venue looks forward to new T20 franchise despite Test match omission

Hampshire will have to wait to find out why the Ageas Bowl was not chosen to host an Ashes Test match, chief executive David Mann has said.

The England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed the venues for major matches between 2020 and 2024 on Wednesday.

The Ageas Bowl was not awarded a Test match during that five-year period.

"The competition is pretty tough," Mann told BBC Radio Solent. "We were working hard to secure an Ashes Test and naturally we're disappointed."

Hampshire's 16,500-capacity home ground, opened in 2001, has been chosen as one of eight venues for a new city-based T20 competition from 2020.

But after this summer's Test against India in August, it will have to wait until 2025 at the earliest to host another.

It will stage a solitary one-day international in 2023 and six T20 international matches between 2020 and 2024.

"These decisions are made by a fair and rigorous process that all the grounds eligible have been through," Mann said.

"We made our submissions and representations to the panel on various aspects, but we haven't had any feedback yet, so we don't know where we fell down.

"We'll reflect on that when we have the information.

"Our record on most of the criteria we were being judged is right up there with the grounds that have been chosen (for the 2019 and 2023 Ashes series).

"The reality is all these grounds are fantastic venues and have all invested heavily to improve facilities, as indeed we have."