Sky Sports has announced plans for its own dedicated Ashes cricket channel.

Sky Sports Ashes HD will offer 63 days of action between June 30 and August 31 for dedicated cricket lovers, which includes ball-by-ball coverage of the summer Investec Ashes series between England and Australia.

It will also air county fixtures, highlights and various support shows, transforming Sky Sports 2 HD into the home of cricket for the summer.

The first summer Test starts on July 10 at Trent Bridge.

The channel's extra cricket coverage will include the Women's Ashes, YB40, Friend's Life t20, England v Pakistan under-19 internationals, plus archive shows.

Sky Sports commentator Sir Ian Botham said: "This is wall to wall cricket, on one channel, for the key months of the summer. The Ashes is the pinnacle of Test cricket and when it comes to television, cricket fans have never had it so good. Bring it on."

Sky Sports managing director Barney Francis said that Sky would be offering "an unrivalled schedule".

Sky's punditry team will include former England captain Andrew Strauss, Shane Warne, David Gower, Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain, David Lloyd and Michael Holding.

Sky Sports 2 HD and Sky Sports 2 will automatically be transformed into Sky Sports Ashes HD and Sky Sports Ashes at 6am on June 30.

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