Cricket’s oldest and newest rivalries headline an historic Australian international summer cricket schedule that features a total of seven Tests for the men’s and women’s teams across all six states as well as one in the national capital.
Cricket Australia has revealed the summer international schedule which will see cricket TV broadcast rights holders Seven and Fox Sports have cricket on offer for viewers until February 20 next year.
In addition to the five-match Vodafone Ashes Series that will be preceded by the inaugural Test meeting between Australia and Afghanistan in Hobart, the men’s home season includes Dettol ODI and T20 clashes with New Zealand and a five-game T20 series against Sri Lanka to complete the international season.
Australia’s world champion women’s team will kick off the international schedule against their T20 World Cup opponents from last year, India, but the details of that tour are yet to be confirmed.
Meg Lanning‘s team will then embark on their own campaign to retain the Ashes, beginning with a Commonwealth Bank Test against England at Manuka Oval before the trophy’s fate is decided by three ODIs and as many T20s under the multi-format system first introduced in 2013.
After COVID-19 also put paid to plans for Afghanistan to play their maiden men’s Test against Australia last November, they will launch the 2021-22 men’s international season from November 27 at Blundstone Arena, where Tim Paine will captain his country for the first time on his home turf.
Paine’s quest to keep hold of the Ashes urn Australia retained in the gripping 2019 series in the UK gets underway on December 8 at the Gabba, where the hosts had established a winning streak stretching three decades until they were toppled by India earlier this year.
In Ashes Tests, Australia has remained undefeated at the Gabba since 1986-87 and can claim an even more imposing record in day-night Tests on home soil having won all eight of their pink-ball encounters since 2015-16, a record that will give them a boost heading into the second Ashes Test at Adelaide Oval from December 16, which will be played under lights.
Melbourne and Sydney will again host their traditional Boxing Day-New Year Tests with the new Perth Stadium to host the series finale from January 14, the first time an Ashes campaign has finished in Western Australia since 1990-91.
World Cup finalists New Zealand will play ODIs in Perth, Hobart and Sydney followed by a T20I at Manuka Oval, the Kiwis touring in place of South Africa, who were scheduled for a white-ball tour of Australia next summer under the ICC’s Future Tours Program (FTP).
The five-match T20I series against Sri Lanka will see matches in Sydney, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Adelaide and Melbourne from February 11-20.
The configuration of the multi-format women’s Ashes has been altered to start with a Test (in Canberra from January 27-30) followed by three T20Is (at North Sydney and Adelaide Oval) and three ODIs (Adelaide and Junction Oval).
Summer of cricket schedule
Commonwealth Bank Women’s Series v India
Details TBC
Vodafone Men’s Test v Afghanistan
Nov 27 – Dec 1: Test match, Blundstone Arena
Vodafone Men’s Ashes v England
Dec 8-12: First Test, The Gabba
Dec 16-20: Second Test, Adelaide Oval
Dec 26-30: Third Test, MCG
Jan 5-9: Fourth Test, SCG
Jan 14-18: Fifth Test, Perth Stadium
Commonwealth Bank Women’s Ashes v England
Jan 27-30: Test match, Manuka Oval
Feb 4: First T20, North Sydney Oval
Feb 6: Second T20, North Sydney Oval
Feb 10: Third T20, Adelaide Oval
Feb 13: First ODI, Adelaide Oval
Feb 16: Second ODI, Junction Oval
Feb 19: Third ODI, Junction Oval
Dettol Men’s ODI & T20 Series v New Zealand
Jan 30: First ODI, Perth Stadium
Feb 2: Second ODI, Blundstone Arena
Feb 5: Third ODI, SCG
Feb 8: T20, Manuka Oval
Dettol Men’s T20 Series v Sri Lanka
Feb 11: First T20, SCG
Feb 13: Second T20, The Gabba
Feb 15: Third T20, Metricon Stadium
Feb 18: Fourth T20, Adelaide Oval
Feb 20: Fifth T20, MCG