The 2006-07 Ashes test series between Australia and England will be squeezed into a 45-day window to avoid clashing with the major one-day tournaments scheduled around the same period, it was announced.

The eagerly-awaited itinerary, released by Cricket Australia on Wednesday after months of fine-tuning, confirmed leaked reports that the five tests will be played over six and a half weeks from late November 2006 to January 2007.

The first test starts in Brisbane (November 23-27) followed by Adelaide (December 1-5), Perth (December 14-18) and the traditional Boxing Day test in Melbourne (December 26-30) and New Year test in Sydney (January 2-6).

England will play just three warm-up matches before the opening test before diving straight into a hectic month of limited-overs games with Australia and New Zealand after the final test.

The start of the tour has been delayed from its usual October slot because the ICC Champions Trophy in India does not finish until November 5.

The tour ends in mid February, a month ahead of the World Cup starting on March 13.

¤ Pakistan, inspired by a second successive century by Kamran Akmal, crushed England by 165 runs in the third one-day international yesterday. England, chasing a massive victory target of 354, were bowled out for 188 in 42 overs on the way to a record-equalling defeat which left them 2-1 down in the series. Pakistan's victory was inspired by Akmal who followed up his 102 in the second match at Lahore with a 109. England also lost to West Indies by 165 runs in 1992-93, their biggest losing one-day margin in runs.