A PLAN to finally allow the Ashes urn to travel from its Lord's home and visit Australia has been shelved after experts confirmed it was too fragile to make the journey Down Under.

The urn was supposed to have been displayed in Melbourne and Sydney during the current Ashes series following six months of talks between the MCC and the Australian Cricket Board to allow its temporary removal from the Lord's museum.

But after extensive tests from experts, they concluded that there would be a real risk of breakage if the urn was subject to unnecessary movement or changes in humidity and pressure - forcing the plan to travel overseas to be temporarily shelved.