Australia’s summer is going to start to look a whole lot different with all home internationals done and dusted by the SCG Test at the turn of the new year.
In a bid to remove the annual Test versus Big Bash League battle for star players and TV viewership, Cricket Australia is set to bring matches against touring teams to the front end of summer in November.
The current schedule of a two-Test contest against the West Indies, which starts on Wednesday at Adelaide, followed by two sets of three-match ODI and T20 series in February, will become a thing of the past.
Under the new format flagged by Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley, they can get through their T20 and ODI fixtures early in the summer and then roll through their Test schedule to finish with the traditional dates of Boxing Day in Melbourne and January 3 in Sydney.
By frontloading the summer with internationals it means they can have their household name Test players available for the final three weeks of the BBL during the school holiday window when finals spots are on the line.
(Photo by Sarah Reed – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
It makes a lot of sense on a number of fronts but it means the venues outside of Sydney and Melbourne can pretty much give up on hosting Tests during the school holiday window.
Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Hobart have shown that they get bigger crowds to BBL games anyway so the slight reduction in Test attendances will be more than compensated by a likely spike in T20 crowd numbers, particularly if the drawcards of the best CA-contracted players are available as much as possible for their respective franchises.
Even if a Test player like Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne is not the greatest exponents of T20 cricket, their presence as a household name is an undoubted boost for the competition whenever they play, much more so than an imported short-form specialist unless they’re the very best.
And the very best save themselves for the IPL. The BBL hasn’t been able to attract the world’s top players for many years so it’s a smarter option to create space for Australia’s name brand contracted players who strike a chord with the competition’s younger demographic.
Cricket Australia also needs to look at the two other forms of men’s cricket at the domestic level to fit them into the crowded schedule correctly.
As it stands, the Marsh Cup 50-over tournament, runs from late September to the middle of November and then reconvenes in early February after the BBL is over.
It used to be a full two-round competition between the six states but it is now a “half-pregnant” seven matches for each team with the top two making the final.
Just cut it back to playing every opponent once to create space for games of greater relevance.
The Marsh Cup is no longer considered much of a breeding ground for Australia’s 50-over side. T20 specialist Tim David was picked to make his ODI debut a few months ago despite having played just one domestic one-dayer for Tasmania two years ago.
Of the team which won the World Cup in India in November, playing in the Marsh Cup is rarely on their radar – it’s worth keeping the competition running even in the age of T20 taking over the white-ball landscape but it can soak up less of the schedule.
(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images for Cricket Australia)
The Sheffield Shield should be given more rounds before the BBL instead. By doing that, it gives more of an opportunity for a fringe Test candidate to show they are ready for the next level early in the summer before the squad is selected to face whichever touring team is heading Down Under.
And when the competition is paused for the BBL, that is the time to schedule a few Australia A red-ball fixtures so that players who may be needed for late-summer tours can keep their form up.
Not every first-class cricketer has a Big Bash contract. The nations at the lower end of the Test world rankings would love to have the opportunity to send their fringe players to Australia for clashes in December and January against the best of our rest.
Players like Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris and Will Pucovski were quick to put their hand up for the hastily arranged two-dayer against Pakistan last month when the touring team let it be known they needed more match practice. Those kind of fixtures should be hard-baked into the summer schedule.
Cameron Bancroft batting for Australia A. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
While the Pakistanis gave Australia a good run for their money before going down 3-0, the West Indies are unlikely to be too competitive with their weakened side.
Next summer, Australia are slated to host Pakistan in a white-ball series in November before their five-Test contest with India. That should mean the Test stars can be available for the business end of the BBL before they head to Sri Lanka in February for their next international commitments.
A similar scenario will unfold in 2025 with India touring in October and November for white-ball fixtures/money-spinners followed by the Ashes, BBL and a February assignment to the subcontinent for the T20 World Cup.
Waving the white flag to February to the winter footy codes won’t please traditionalists who yearn for the old days of teams touring right up until the start of the NRL and AFL seasons but it makes sense for cricket to shift international matches to the start of the summer.
The BBL and WBBL are integral components of Cricket Australia’s plans to grow the game on home soil and also ensure our best players don’t end up in the UAE or another IPL offshoot league instead.
Ben Gray
Roar Rookie
Agree with everything in this article. Give each test match a dedicated slot each year which means each city can market it and make it a marquee event. Adjust the domestic season so that it prepares up and coming players for the test series through more Sheild games earlier in the year and less of the Marsh Cup, then Aus A matches to give the long form specialist players matches during the start of the BBL. Australia will only ever play six test nations at home as India and England take half of the summers with two 2-3 test match series against Windies, NZ, Pakistan and South Africa / Sri Lanka in the other summers. The test minnows who are barely up to shield standard and don’t deserve to play the top nations yet can play Aus A to develop their game.
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
Fair call and I think that's the same in most sports. Frings golfers, for example, will play almost every week, mostly because they need to, in order to make a decent living. I'm thinking more of the guys who are contenders for international duties. I regularly hear how tired these players are which is linked to a drop in performances, eg the start of last years World Cup. If there's suitable rest windows included in scheduling, at the least, this excuse is removed. If players decide to play during their official down time, so be, but they can't then carry on about playing too much and being tired as a result.
All day Roseville all day
Roar Guru
Hi Reddy, Plus another time zone. Enabling back-to-back 3-hour games in NZ, then our east coast, and finally Perth.
All day Roseville all day
Roar Guru
For a player trying to establish himself, or one from a low-paying country, there's no such thing as a "down time window." He or his manager will always follow the money, rather than rest.
Reddy
Roar Rookie
Why not combine the BBL and NZ's super smash into one competition then you don't need the australian test stars. Add more teams like Canberra, Second Perth team, Gold Coast etc. T20 is very popular in NZ. It's a pretty short plane ride from Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne to NZ.
carnivean
Roar Rookie
What kind of "REAL FAN" doesn't know that Australia have already won a T20 world cup and what kind of "REAL FAN" hates watching cricketers playing cricket? Wait, everyone else already knows the answer to those quesions.
DTM
Roar Rookie
I'd be starting the SS in late August and have the competition wrapped up in November. Play games in the dry season in Darwin, Cairns and Townsville in Aug/Sept/Oct. No crowds go to SS in the major cities so any spectators in those places would be a bonus. That allows for SS form to be relevant for home test selection. If you start each game on Thursday and finish Sunday, you could play the 10 rounds over 10 weeks uninterrupted but there's enough time for a break of a week if need be. Final could be late October/early November. This allows for a window before and after Christmas for BBL and then Marsh Cup in Feb/March.
Opeo
Roar Rookie
International players leaving before the final/s happens every years.
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
Possibly, but I don’t think it’s needed. Starting in October means there’s three months of Shield games being played (as I would keep it running during the Test ‘season’). That’s long enough.
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
I'm happy to be corrected, but right now it seems as though the future tours programme is worked out over a few days and some enjoyable long lunches. It really needs to be tightened up so the "windows" many are talking about can be incorporated into the year and we don't have a repeat of the Saffers/Black Caps Test situation. It would also be useful for international players to have "down time windows" incorporated at a local level. I keep hearing about how overworked they are, so knowing when they can take breaks would have to work in their favour.
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
I was thinking exactly the same thing while I was writing my other comment. I'm sure CA would have some way of stopping a full-on exodus, but it would be a real coup for the Saffers if they were able to lure some top Aussie names, eg Dave Warner.
All day Roseville all day
Roar Guru
At the risk of stating the obvious, it takes two to tango. If Aus is to host international cricket instead during early-Nov, and even Oct, and possibly also even earlier in northern Aus, then its opponents' FTP obligations must be able to accommodate it. Aug-Sep-Oct-Nov is often peak season for ICC white-ball tournaments (eg the 2023 WC), and for many other nations particularly sub-continental ones.
Timmuh
Roar Guru
So, by the end of January, there won't be any cricket designed to get viewers? Only the Shield, and maybe the ListA Cup moved to later in the summer. Or they'll extend the BBL back out and run it for three months. Really, its the exact opposite of what I would like to see; but there's no way CA will move the BBL to the start of the summer and run Tests in January when more people have the day off work and school for a largely daytime pursuit. (By this point of the month less so than in the first week of Jan, but still moreso than November and December.)
All day Roseville all day
Roar Guru
Noting that ahead of an overseas Test tour during Feb/Mar, ideally key red-ball players would still get some first-class cricket during Jan/Feb. If not in the Sheffield Shield, then at least for Aus A v an equally-strong visiting side.
Ross
Roar Rookie
You could play one or two rounds of Shield matches and Marsh Cup games in northern Australia in late August and early September. There are excellent facilities for this in Alice Springs, Darwin, Mackay, Townsville and Cairns. These comps are essentially development opportunities for the national squads (Bancroft may disagree) so getting them going ahead of the international season makes sense.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
But it’s been Mickey Mouse this year. A bunch of overseas players including Evans are leaving before the finals to go and play in an Emirates League of all things. Pretty poor that we can’t compete with that. And even the commentators- Howard and Gilchrist – are off to Emirates to commentate rather than stay for the finals.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
They could start Sheffield Shield in September by having some matches in Qld, WA, SA, even Syd.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
To be fair the BBL is a tv competition with spectator tickets just being the icing on the cake. Having our test stars would increase viewers making the BBL a sponsors delight. With our test stars in their two gaames in the BBL Carey did well, Smith got one good scopre, Marnis OK. Green and Head never played BBL so hard to say the test players did a lot wxcxept for them being there.
Gamechanger
Roar Rookie
Yes there are a number of top performers who don’t have CA contracts who might test their wares elsewhere.
Paul Suttor
Expert
Hockley has indicated they will be doing more with Pakistan and CA has already ramped up second-tier clashes with NZ. Hopefully these arrangements can also be set up for the lower-ranked nations like Zim, SL, Bang, etc