Big Ashes problem sparks Test dilemma; Olympic mystery deepens — Talking Points

Cricket Australia has unveiled its schedule for the 2026/27 season, with New Zealand, England and Bangladesh touring down under next summer.

The national men’s side will host England for eight white-ball matches before a four-Test series against trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand, with the busy summer including blockbuster tours of South Africa and India. Meanwhile, Sophie Molineux’s team will take on Bangladesh and the White Ferns.

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SEE THE FULL SCHEDULE HERE

FALLOUT OF ASHES PITCH DEBACLE

The Ashes debacles in Perth and at the MCG last summer cost Cricket Australia millions and there is a clear appetite for a more even contest between bat and ball this summer.

The Boxing Day saga saw MCG curator Matt Page and MCC chief executive Stuart Fox front an extraordinary press conference after a gamble with grass length went wrong.

But it is worth noting the pitch for the Boxing Day Test the year prior had provided a compelling Test between India and Australia.

The other two-day Test for the summer occurred in Perth, though that was arguably more due to England’s brashness when in a strong position and Travis Head’s dynamism than the actual quality of the pitch, which looked to be improving as play progressed.

Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg was on the war path after 20 wickets fell on the opening day when foreshadowing discussions with curators in the future.

“A simple phrase I’d use is short Tests are bad for business. I can’t be much more blunt than that,” he said.

“So I would like to see a slightly broader balance between the bat and the ball. I thought yesterday slightly favoured the ball. The batters have some ownership in some of that, it’s not all around the pitch, but we’ve got some challenges.

“Historically we have taken a hands-off approach in all of our wicket preparation and allowed the staff and the conditions and those characteristics to be presented. But it’s hard not to get more involved when you see the impact on the sport, particularly commercially. I’m not suggesting we’re going to go around talking to groundstaff, but we do have to have a careful eye on what our expectations are over the course of a summer.”

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When announcing the schedule for the summer to come, Cricket Australia’s head of scheduling Peter Roach said ideally Tests will last at least four days.

But Roach reiterated Cricket Australia wanted to ensure there was a unique nature to the pitches produced across the Test venues in the country.

“There’s a balance on how you define control, I think,” he said.

“We have a position that ‘Why does Test cricket thrive in Australia? Or why does it thrive wherever it thrives around the world?’

“You can make a case to say that it probably thrives in two places and maybe a third. It certainly thrives in England and why does it thrive in England? The wickets are pretty similar around the country, but they’ve got small venues, a big population, and a lot of history. Why is it thriving in India? Well, they’ve just got a huge population, such a lot for cricket, but it’s still not their preferred format.

“Why does it thrive here with a smaller population? (We have) big venues, a lot of history, but also the difference of our pitches across from west to east to north to south is so pronounced, and it’s something that we don’t want to change.

“We think one, (it) is a really good competitive advantage that we don’t want to (lose). We don’t want to make our wickets too similar, like we see in some other countries, so giving curators a chance to explore their unique characteristics is really important. But with that comes a reasonable amount of risk.”

Roach said it was not possible to seize control given the curators around the country knew the climate, pitches and characteristics better than any central curator could.

But discussions will be held in terms of match trends and other relevant metrics to ensure those charged with providing the pitches are as well-equipped as possible to deliver “a good contest”.

“We have set some really clear criteria with the grounds that this is how we want the SCG, this is how we want Perth Stadium to look … we want to see, you know, four days of Test cricket,” Roach said.

“We’ve said, ‘Maybe we need to talk a bit more about getting into the fifth day to give ourselves a bit more leeway.’ But we want to see exciting cricket. We want to see a good contest. We don’t want to see boring draws and clearly, equally, we don’t want to see matches finish too early, so there’s a balance and with all those discussions, it does mean that occasionally we get it wrong, because we’re putting a lot of faith in our curators who know those venues and they are the best in the world, these people who run these crowds.

“They are highly sought after around the world with their experience and their expertise. So do we have control? No, we don’t have control. Will we ever have control? It’s inconceivable that we could ever control much more than we do now. But do we have annual discussions and regular discussions with them within the season around what they’re seeing (and) what we’re seeing in terms of the game? Yes, we do.”

OLYMPIC MYSTERY REMAINS

The massive Test summer to come is clearly a priority given the challenges in India and South Africa, in particular, and the special Test against England with a view to featuring in the World Test Championship decider in the UK prior to the Ashes.

That is not discounting the threat New Zealand might pose, nor the rare opportunities for Darwin and Mackay to host Test cricket as well.

But there is also importance in the white ball series Australia is slotted to play later this year against South Africa in September and England in November, with good reason.

A torrid T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka and India saw the gap Australia holds over New Zealand in the rankings diminish, which could be pivotal to another long term goal.

The Aussies are desperate to feature in the 2028 LA Olympics but recent discussions suggest only six nations will feature in its return to the Games – one from each geographical region, along with the United States as hosts.

There is uncertainty surrounding when the cut off for the Olympics will be, but the third-placed Aussies are only marginally ahead of the fourth-ranked Kiwis.

“We are still to learn about the cut off for the Olympics. That hasn’t been definitively stated yet for the T20s,” Roach said.

“There was some thought that it was after the previous T20 World Cup, but we haven’t heard official confirmation yet. So it could be after the last World T20? It could be after this series? It could be, who knows? So they’re obviously very important games to make sure we keep our neck well ahead of New Zealand.”

Australia’s defence of the ODI World Cup comes before the Olympics, with three African countries to host the 2027 edition in October and November.

But with a heavy workload on the Test front, and with commitments to franchise cricket as well, there are relatively few opportunities to play the format.

As it stands, Australia is set to play about 10 ODIs prior to the 2027 WC in South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe and three of those games will occur this year against England in Perth, Adelaide and Hobart.

BOWLER ROTATION ON THE AGENDA IN TEST FRENZY

With 20 Tests across 12 months, Australia will almost certainly be required to rotate its bowling attack next summer, with opportunities for the nation’s fringe quicks on the horizon.

As demonstrated by the recent home Ashes campaign, Australia’s ageing pace attack remains vulnerable to injury setbacks, with Josh Hazlewood missing all five Tests due to a hamstring complaint, while captain Pat Cummins could only manage one match. Since the start of the 2019/20 season, Hazlewood has missed 17 of Australia’s 34 home Tests due to injury, exactly half of the match.

And while it’s not out the question, the chances of 36-year-olds Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland being fit and available for 20 consecutive Tests next summer seems unlikely.

Therefore, Australia’s bowling depth will once again be tested across the 2026/27 season, opening the door for the likes of Lance Morris, Xavier Bartlett or Sean Abbott to make their Test debut. Experienced seamers Brendan Doggett, Jhye Richardson and Michael Neser, who each stepped up in the absence of Cummins and Hazlewood this summer, will no doubt be called upon at some stage as well.

The December to March window will be especially chaotic for the national men’s side. Australia will play four Tests against New Zealand in less than a month, commencing at Perth Stadium on December 9 and concluding at the SCG on January 8.

The Trans-Tasman Trophy can’t start earlier because New Zealand is hosting India in November, while the series can’t finish later because Australia is expected to fly to the subcontinent for a Border-Gavaskar Trophy campaign in mid-January.

“I’m pretty sure we’ve never had four Tests this close together as this in our summer,” Roach told reporters.

Following the five-Test series against India, the Australians return home for the 150th anniversary pink-ball contest against England at the MCG in early March. Managing the bowling workloads will be essential during this period, especially with a potential World Test Championship final, Ashes tour and World Cup on the horizon.

However, it’s worth acknowledging that many of Australia’s recent home Tests have wrapped up in less than four days, courtesy of the country’s juiced-up decks and the seaming Kookaburra, resulting in a couple of two-day contests during the recent Ashes. If that trend continues, Australia’s fast bowlers will enjoy longer breaks between Tests to recover.

NEW ZEALAND’S 22-YEAR TEST DROUGHT RESUMES

For the first time in four years, the Australian women’s team won’t play a home Test next summer, with the White Ferns opting against a red-ball contest.

New Zealand will play six white-ball matches against Australia in February-March next year, commencing with a T20 at North Sydney Oval on February 21.

Across the last three summers, South Africa, England and India have agreed to a points-based multi-format series when touring Australian shores, which includes three T20s, three ODIs and a Test. The hosts won the series on each occasion.

However, the White Ferns, who are the reigning T20 World Cup champions, have not played a Test match since 2004, and when offered the opportunity to break their 22-year drought next summer, New Zealand Cricket declined.

The Australian women’s team haven’t played a Test match against their trans-Tasman rivals since 1996.

“New Zealand Cricket’s position was that they don’t play the women’s Test, which we’re disappointed with,” Roach said.

“We offered it to them and they said no.

“They’re entitled to make their own decisions.”

Australia was scheduled to play a Test match during the ongoing tour against the West Indies, but the multi-day fixture was scrapped at the eleventh hour so the Caribbean team could prioritise white-ball cricket ahead of the T20 World Cup.

It would have been the first Test match between the two nations in 50 years.