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Australia in June will play their first Test against Zimbabwe since 2003 before hosting Bangladesh for two Tests the following month, according to the new international cricket fixtures just released.
There are a number of shocks for Australian fans in the International Cricket Council’s new Future Tours Programme.
Aside from the Tests against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh this coming year, Australia also apparently won’t have another Test tour of India until 2023, making it six years in between tours.
EXCLUSIVE – In the proposed FTP cycle from May 2019 to May 2023, the Trans-Tasman rivalry – surprisingly – seems to have petered out https://t.co/lf9huvMBZc pic.twitter.com/jKXvI7GCUz
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) December 12, 2017
The Tests against Zimbabwe came out of the blue while the Bangladesh Test tour of Australia had long been mooted but had seemed far from a certainty to occur in the coming year.
In 25 years of playing Tests, Zimbabwe have only played three matches against Australia, the first in Harare in 1999 and the second and third in 2003 in Perth and Sydney respectively.
Soon after those Tests in Australia, Zimbabwean cricket plunged into crisis.
They had a mass player strike in 2004 and then went almost six years without playing a Test match from September 2005 to August 2011.
Since that return to Tests, Zimbabwe have struggled badly, owning a 3-17 win-loss record. All three of those victories have come in Harare – two against Bangladesh in 2011 and 2013, respectively, and one a 24-run victory against Pakistan in 2013.
While it will be fascinating to see Zimbabwe finally play Australia again, in all likelihood it will be a bloodbath, just as it was in each of the two team’s previous three Tests.
Australia won those Tests by ten wickets, an innings and 175 runs and nine wickets.
The second of those Tests famously saw Matthew Hayden break the world record for the highest individual score in a Test by making 380 in Perth. To get an idea of where Zimbabwe are at as a Test nation, consider the results when New Zealand toured last year.
The Kiwis, fresh from a 4-0 home-and-away thrashing against Australia, humiliated Zimbabwe, winning by an innings and 117 runs in the first Test and 254 runs in the second match.
Zimbabwe’s batting line-up did ok in that series, making totals as high as 362 and 295.
But their bowling was exposed as cannon fodder, with an ordinary New Zealand batting line-up incredibly racking up 1,324 runs for the loss of only 12 wickets.
After Australia have completed a Test and three ODIs in Zimbabwe they will return to immediately face Bangladesh in two Tests and three ODIs at home.
Where, exactly, those Tests will be played has yet to be confirmed but given they’ll be played in the core of the AFL and rugby seasons it’s a fair bet they will end up in the Northern Territory, North Queensland, or perhaps Tasmania.
(AP Photo/A.M. Ahad)
Bangladesh’s last Test match in Australia was in 2004 when they suffered innings losses in Darwin and Cairns. The Tigers have since improved dramatically as a Test side and recently drew 1-1 at home with Australia.
Their dearth of pace bowlers, however, means they are facing a pair of thrashings in Australia next winter.
After this current Ashes, Australia will play a long-planned four-Test series in South Africa early next year. Then they’ll travel to England in June for five ODIs and a Twenty20 against the home side, before the tour of Zimbabwe and hosting of Bangladesh.
After that Australia will launch into a hectic 2018-19 season. This starts with six limited overs matches against Pakistan in the UAE in October, followed by eight limited overs matches at home against South Africa, four Tests hosting India, two Tests at home against Sri Lanka, seven white ball matches in India in February, and three Tests in Pakistan in March.
Then Australia will head to England to defend the Ashes they’re all but certain to secure over the coming weeks.