Test cricket is returning to Darwin next year as part of busy period. Photo: PDPics/pixabay.com
The men’s cricket Test team is likely to return to the Top End in mid-2026 for the start of a 14-month stretch involving up to 21 Tests in the lead-up to an ODI World Cup.
This follows two T20 Tests involving South Africa in August at Darwin.
Cricket Australia says the return north during mid-2026 will begin a marathon 14-month stretch involving up to 21 Tests before an ODI World Cup.
A T20 World Cup is already coming up in February-March 2026 across India and Sri Lanka followed by a one-off 150th anniversary Test against England at the MCG from March 11-15, 2027.
That game squeezed out a two-Test home series against Bangladesh that has to be rescheduled with a separate limited-overs tour of Bangladesh also to be slotted into the 2026 winter schedule.
A trip to South Africa, the first since 2018, will follow before New Zealand visits for four Tests. Then the Aussies head off for a five-Test tour of India.
SCHEDULING
Cricket Australia (CA) CEO Todd Greenberg says the exciting schedule promises “another incredible international season”.
CA scheduling boss Peter Roach must also fit in two visits from England either side of those series and an MCG Test under lights.
“We have busier years and less busy years in terms of white-ball cricket and Test cricket. This is a really busy, heavy year Test-cricket wise. The team’s aware of it,” Roach told cricket.com.au.
“It’s still a long way away. We don’t know who’s going to be still fit and thriving at that stage but it isn’t moving so we’ve just got to plan well for it and manage the challenge.”
Roach concedes that there will be a minimal gap between their NZ Test series and their tour of India especially that Australian conditions will test the stamina of their pace bowlers.
“What I don’t think will be a problem is that they wouldn’t be viewed as insignificant series,” Roach told CA’s website.
CA has been buoyed by record viewing figures for last season’s inbound India Test tour in both Australia and India.
It says 192.5 million viewers in India watched the Test series with a 48 per cent year-on-year increase in viewers for an average daily audience of 1.47 million viewers.
