The Gabba is set to lose the first Test of next summer under a Cricket Australia (CA) revamp of home international scheduling, with pink-ball matches to be played against South Africa and Pakistan.
CA is finalising international, domestic and Big Bash League schedules for the 2016-17 season, with an announcement expected this month.
According to Fairfax Media, the Gabba will miss out on hosting the season’s opening Test, but will feature as the venue for the first Test of the Australia-Pakistan series, set to be a day-night match in December.
The Test summer will start in November with Australia against South Africa at the WACA, with the ability for the match to be beamed into lounge rooms on the east coast at prime time weighing heavily in Perth’s favour.
The series against the Proteas will head to Hobart, which has been retained as a Test venue amid competition from Canberra, before wrapping up under lights at Adelaide Oval, the scene of last year’s historic first pink-ball Test against New Zealand.
Australia will then meet Pakistan in a day-night match at the Gabba and complete that series with marquee Tests in Melbourne and Sydney.
Brisbane has struggled to attract decent Test crowds outside Ashes years but, by beginning the summer in Perth, there is a belief that numbers should be boosted by the city’s strong expatriate South African population.
There will be little change to the BBL season, with no extra games in the draft schedule and a push for a match to be held on Christmas Day not getting over the line.
The Bush
Roar Guru
It's foolish in the extreme. The amount of cricket I've missed out on in the last few years, most predominantly the World Cup Match last year against Bangladesh, because it's the wet season is painful. I loved the Day-Night Test and 'em all for it, but moving from November is not a good idea.
Julian King
Roar Guru
I had to cop a rain out in Sydney this year Kev. Think of the greater good. Smart move by Cricket Australia. Maybe roofs are the final frontier?
Red Kev
Roar Guru
Evening storms in Brisbane over summer are par for the course - a day night test in Brisvegas is going to be problematic. It also messes up my planned trip to the cricket in November.
JohnB
Guest
The potential loss is the exchange of a test which has often been the best in the season on the season's best wicket for a lottery (assuming they have to doctor the pitch. Let's at least hope they continue to resist any move to drop in pitches). Yes the numbers attending each day will be higher (certainly at first while it's a novelty, quite possibly after that) - assuming the game goes beyond the first couple of days and you don't get rain in the evenings. I'm not so much writing off the concept as saying immediately jumping on a bandwagon isn't necessarily the right thing to do.
Paul D
Roar Guru
"probably get better crowds" There's no probably about it John, they will get better crowds. And more revenue. What are they losing? Are you saying that Australia can't win a Gabba test unless it's played as the first test of the summer and under sunlight? Regarding pitch condition, we've only seen one test and the wicket was always going to be massively accommodating because they couldn't afford for the game to turn into a farce, otherwise it would have killed the concept. You'd think you test cricket devotees would at least wait and see how the game goes before writing it off as a concept. Day-Night tests happen to be the one thing that will save the game you love as a commercial spectacle.
JohnB
Guest
So it's been 25 years since Australia lost at the Gabba, during which time they've regularly won and set themselves on the path to winning series. And during which time the Gabba has most often produced the best test wicket each summer, which it won't do for a day night test because they'll have to trick up the pitch unless they've managed to get the ball right, which I'll believe when I see it. Sorry, I don't think that's a good decision. You'll probably get better crowds, at least initially, and you may get more TV revenue. Those are things not to be sneezed at. But for mine what you lose is too high a price for that.
Anthony Condon
Guest
Three prime time tests in one summer? Watch the "Test Cricket Is Dead" crowd eat their words.
Niranjan Deodhar
Roar Pro
Hats off to Cricket Australia for trying out different things. Hosting two pink-ball day-night Test matches in one summer is a move worth appreciating. Hope so it attracts huge crowds at Gabba as well just like what we saw at Adelaide last summer.