Perth to host Australia’s season-opening test in a 5-match series against India
FILE - India’s Rishabh Pant falls as he hits the ball for four runs during play on the final day of the fourth cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba, Brisbane, Australia, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard, File)
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Perth will host the first cricket test between Australia and India in November, replacing Brisbane’s Gabba ground as the traditional opening venue for international series Down Under.
Cricket Australia officials announced the 2024-25 schedule on Tuesday, confirming the Western Australian capital will kick off the five-test series against India on Nov. 22.
Adelaide will host the second Border-Gavaskar test from Dec. 6 before the series moves to Brisbane on Dec. 14 and to Melbourne and Sydney for the traditional Boxing Day and New Year’s tests.
Australia is undefeated in 31 season-opening tests at the Gabba since 1989. Its only two test defeats at the ground in that time have come when it closed out the summer schedule, including a series-deciding loss to India in 2021.
Organizers of the Brisbane Olympics had originally planned to redevelop the Gabba as the centerpiece of the 2032 Games but scrapped the contentious proposal earlier this month.
Cricket Australia operations chief Peter Roach said the hard and fast Optus Stadium pitch Perth, where Australia has won all four tests it has played at the relatively new venue, was now more than comparable to the one traditionally used at the Gabba.
“The clear advice from our national team is there is a preference to start series strongly at venues where they’re really comfortable,” Roach said. “Perth and Brisbane they believe are somewhat comparable in terms of the advantage they get, in that they’re the hardest and bounciest pitches in Australia.
“With Perth and the Gabba, I think the gap has really closed in recent times in the way our players think about that.”
Adelaide will host the day-night test this series after Australia’s upset loss — it’s first in a pink ball test match — to West Indies at the Gabba last season.
Australia will also play a three-match one-day international series and three Twenty20 against Pakistan over a two-week period starting Nov. 4.
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