Cricket Australia has unveiled a congested 2026/27 home season, featuring a four-Test series against New Zealand squeezed into 31 days. The schedule, running from August to March, includes Tests against Bangladesh, South Africa, India, and a 150-year anniversary match against England.
The men's Test summer begins with two matches against Bangladesh in Darwin and Mackay in August. The main event, a four-Test series against New Zealand, starts in Perth on December 9, with subsequent Tests in Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney. The tight schedule leaves no room for warm-up matches for the tourists.
To accommodate the fixture congestion, the Perth Test will start on a Wednesday, a move that previously drew a low crowd of 10,929 for a day against the West Indies in 2022. Cricket Australia's head of operations, Peter Roach, noted that shifting the Test back a day was not possible due to player workload concerns, especially with 21 Tests scheduled in a 12-month period.
On the women's side, there will be no Test in Australia for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, as New Zealand Cricket declined to invest in long-form matches. Instead, Australia will play limited-overs series against Bangladesh and New Zealand, with the latter confined to smaller venues due to scheduling conflicts.
