Australia's dominant women's team taking the solo spotlight at the start of the summer before the men's Test team breaks more than a century of tradition by staging their entire program during the school holiday break are features of the 2023-24 Australian international schedule.
The men's and women's international fixtures released by Cricket Australia today feature six Tests (against Pakistan, West Indies and South Africa), as well as nine ODIs and nine T20Is (South Africa and West Indies) at 11 venues across seven cities.
Among the noteworthy elements within those four and a half months are:
- First home matches of the new World Test Championship cycle for Australia men's team, with Tests against Pakistan (three) and West Indies (two) all staged within the December-January school holidays
- The inaugural Test between Australia and South Africa's women's teams, with the historic encounter to be held at the WACA Ground in Perth which last hosted a women's Test in 2014Perth to also stage the opening match of the men's summer when Pakistan make their first Test appearance in the Western Australian capital since 2004, and their maiden five-day outing at Perth Stadium
- Reigning ODI and T20 Women's World Cup champions Australia to feature in a multi-format series against South Africa having defeated the Proteas in the 20-over Cup final at Cape Town earlier this year.
Immediately after the ICC World Cup, Australia's men's team will remain in India for a bilateral white-ball series before returning home to begin their NRMA Insurance Test campaign (against Pakistan in Perth) from December 14, ensuring a different look to the Test schedule.
It will be the latest start to a men's Test summer of five or more matches since the 1924-25 Ashes battle that kicked off at the SCG on December 19, 1924.
Due to a quirk of the ICC's latest Future Tours Program – the recently released matrix that dictates each team's home and away opponents across all formats for the next four years – Australia host the West Indies men's team for the second time in as many summers.
With Pakistan scheduled to tour during the December-January period, and given the delayed start to the men's Test summer due to proximity of the 50-over World Cup in India, Cricket Australia's conundrum was which venue of Perth and Adelaide hosted the West Indies twice in succession for Tests.
Given the disappointing attendance for last year's Australia-West Indies Test at Perth Stadium and CA's hopes to grow the market in Western Australia, it opted to stage the first Pakistan Test in WA with Adelaide's mid-January fixture reverting to day status rather than its recent tradition of day-night.
The summer's only pink-ball Test match will be the second match between Australia and West Indies at the Gabba where the Caribbean visitors last played in 2009.
With a bulk of men's Tests being played at the height of summer in January, CA opted for a day-night fixture in Brisbane to avoid the heat and humidity of earlier in the day.
The men's Test scheduling also means those players who specialise in white-ball formats will be available for much of the KFC BBL season, which confirmed a reduction in total matches for BBL|13 on Friday.
Another key factor in formulating the men's schedule was the West Indies' requirement to depart Australia by mid-February to meet their FTP commitments with Pakistan.
As a consequence, the three Dettol ODIs and three Dettol T20Is between Australia and West Indies have been scheduled for Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Hobart, Adelaide and Perth from February 2-13 to round out the summer's international schedule.
Australia's men's team then travel to New Zealand for a series of two Tests and three T20Is, as per the FTP.
The domestic men's and women's schedules for 2023-24 are expected to be released in the coming weeks.
Mens Test Series v Pakistan
First Test December 14-18, Perth
Second Test December 26-30, MCG
Third Test January 3-7, SCG
Mens Test Series v West Indies
First Test January 17-21, Adelaide Oval
Second Test January 25-29, Gabba
Men's ODI Series v West Indies
February 2, MCG
February 4, SCG,
February 6, Manuka Oval, Canberra 2.30pm
Men's T20I Series v West Indies
February 9, Blundstone Arena
February 11, Adelaide Oval
February 13, Perth Stadium
