Test cricket will return to the WACA in Perth, with Australia’s women’s team facing South Africa for the first time as part of their multi-format series in early 2024.
It will be one of three Tests Australia will play in nine months after the Ashes in June and a multi-format tour of India scheduled for December and January. However, unlike the five-day Ashes Test, the match against South Africa would be four days.
Cricket Australia (CA) on Sunday announced the domestic fixtures for the 2023-24 season, with Pakistan’s men coming in for three Test matches, including the traditional Melbourne and Sydney fixtures, while West Indies will feature both men’s and women’s sides. Will be
The West Indies men next tour in successive seasons due to a quirk in the FTP, their Tests will be in Adelaide, which will revert to a one-day game for one season, and then Brisbane which will host a day-night encounter. Will do
The men’s Test summer goes deep into January next season due to the 2023 ODI World Cup, then a subsequent five-match T20I series, meaning Australia will not return home until early December. However, the T20 and Test teams are likely to look very different.
Their summer begins with the first Test against Pakistan in Perth on 14 December, before the teams meet in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne and the New Year’s Test at the SCG.
Adelaide will host a red-ball Test against the West Indies from January 17 before a day-night Test at the Gabba from January 25. This means that all the Tests will be held during the holiday period.
The white-ball players will be available for the entire men’s BBL before entering the camp for three ODIs and three T20Is against the West Indies from February 2 to February 13.
But the international season risks getting started in full force by the National Rugby League (NRL), with the first match scheduled for the grand final day in Sydney with Australia Women playing the West Indies in a T20I at North Sydney Oval on 1 October. is defined.
The game would end just hours before the NRL Grand Final, allowing fans to choose which event to attend and giving spectators the closure of rugby league’s Grand Final lead-up games.
CA are of the view that in a cluttered schedule, a Sunday start in Sydney is the right way to go, hoping they can benefit from Channel Seven promoting the match during the AFL Grand Final the previous day.
They are also adamant that the cricket season should start on 1 October, that scheduling conflicts with other sports are inevitable and that their world champion women’s team can win.
But there are concerns relating to some of the significant challenges facing the sport in promoting the T20 match privately in Sydney, with a second match to be played a day after the grand final.
Australia’s vice-captain Alyssa Healy hoped the situation would not affect crowds, while acknowledging there could be some barriers to attracting fans.
“It could have been [a problem]”Maybe we can get washed up in that a little bit,” Healy told you. So hopefully that’s talked about for the week.
“Yes, the spotlight will be dominated by the AFL and the NRL, but they are there anyway. Come and see some world class athletes do their thing in North Sydney if the NRL isn’t your thing. I don’t think we have to compete against it.” needed.” NRL Grand Final, we can work around it.”
This is not the first time that concerns have been raised about the schedule of women’s matches.
The players were unhappy when last summer they were switched to play on 26 January, with Indigenous woman Ashley Gardner voicing her opposition to the decision.
Another match in the same series, against Pakistan at the North Sydney Oval, clashed with the Sydney Smash in the BBL.
However, there is some good news for the women in the upcoming bouts. After three T20Is and three ODIs against the West Indies at the start of the summer, they host a multi-format series against South Africa in January and February.
A day-night ODI at the Adelaide Oval, a premier venue on 3 February, will be followed by a Test on a quicker WACA wicket from 15 February.
