Australian cricket fans hoping to get to England to support the Test team in next year’s Ashes series will need to fork out an eye-watering sum of hard-earned cash after a major price hike.

The English grounds set to host the historic series are set to cash in on the extreme demand to be part of the rivalry’s rich history, with prices for attending each day rising by as much as 50 per cent at some venues.

It’s left England great Michael Vaughan seething, the former England captain calling the move “pure greed” and “really poor”.

The fixture has already created tensions in the UK, with several northern venues left out, including Headingley, which was the scene of Ben Stokes’ miracle in 2019.

But Vaughan now worries many English fans will be priced out after more than half a million spectators attended the epic 2023 Ashes on English soil.

“I think the game’s got to be very careful. I think you’re going to be pricing a lot of people out of the biggest series of them all,” Vaughan told the BBC.

“(For) a family out of four with children over 16, it’s near on £1,000 (A$1,787). And then you’ve got to price in a few drinks when you’re there, a bit of food, travel, maybe accommodation – this is the sport the ECB are wanting to be the most inclusive in the country.

“The fans, first and foremost, are the reason any sporting occasion is a good one. Don’t price them out because they might get a shock.”

The price mentioned by Vaughan is in reaction to the estimates around the third Test at Edgbaston in Birmingham.

An average ticket is going to set fans back around $220 per day, $100 more than in 2023, while a seat in the famed Hollies Stand is expected to cost around $315.

“The Hollies Stand is one of the most famous stands in cricket, in the UK. We love the atmosphere. But you’ll be sitting among the beer snakes, there’s going to be giraffe and elephant (costumes) walking by,” Vaughan said.

“A lot of these venues are having a huge amount of expenditure, and it’s great. (But) The Hundred sale money, I thought, was going to be helping for that. A year or so after all that money coming in, it looks like it’s been put on the ticket prices as well.”

For Aussie fans, who have to factor in flights and accommodation, spending the week in Birmingham to watch the third Test alone could end up costing more than $5000.

The price hike is believed to be a way for many of the venues to raise funds to ensure maintenance and upgrades of the ageing historic venues, but Vaughan took aim again in a separate column for The Telegraph, saying they were “ripping” fans off.

“But none of that justifies ripping off loyal fans, who have been coming year after year to the cricket,” he wrote.

“There will be plenty of people looking at the ballot this week against and realising they just cannot afford their day at the cricket next summer. That is a very sad thought.

“Perhaps saddest of all is that these ticket prices are never going to come down. This is the benchmark now, and in 2031 they will go up again.”

The series begins in Nottingham on June 18 2027.