Cricket Australia (CA) is considering potential changes to the scheduling of the Sydney Test match, currently held at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), as existing broadcast and government contracts approach their expiration. The prospect arises amid pressure from prospective Big Bash League (BBL) club owners who seek greater availability of Australian Test players during the BBL season.
The longstanding coordination issue is that the BBL’s schedule overlaps with Australia’s summer Test cricket fixtures, including the prestigious Boxing Day Test in Melbourne and the New Year’s Test in Sydney. This contrasts with many other franchise-based leagues globally, which typically operate in separate windows that do not coincide with their host countries' home Test matches.
Cricket Australia has implemented measures to increase player participation in the BBL, such as minimizing conflicts by clearing home white-ball internationals from January. A proposal under discussion is to move the Sydney Test from its traditional first week of January slot at the SCG—where it has been hosted for over 30 years. This change could facilitate better player availability and is viewed favorably by potential BBL club owners.
CA chief executive Todd Greenberg emphasized the popularity of the Sydney Test in its current time window but acknowledged the fixture is not guaranteed indefinitely. Contracts securing the match at the SCG extend through 2032 and include commitments with both government entities and broadcast partners. Greenberg stated that decisions about the match’s future timing would need to be made beyond that year and that the organisation must remain open to revisions while aiming to maintain the existing Test schedule where possible.
He also highlighted practical challenges in rescheduling, noting that early and late summer are already filled with cricketing commitments, leaving limited flexibility to reconfigure the five-Test Australian summer series. Greenberg pointed out that evening BBL matches during the Sydney Test attract some of the highest ratings of the season, suggesting any change would need to yield a clear improvement to be justified.
Separately, Cricket Australia is evaluating the prospect of resuming bilateral Test cricket against Afghanistan, contingent on the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) planned expansion of the World Test Championship (WTC). Ireland, Zimbabwe, and Afghanistan are currently the only ICC full members excluded from the WTC, meaning their Test matches are not part of the official cycle and are scheduled on an ad hoc basis. With the anticipated inclusion of these teams in the next WTC cycle starting mid-next year, CA may reconsider its stance and lift its current ban on playing Afghanistan in bilateral Test matches.