Five-Test India series, Ashes crown epic summer

The MCG will stage a historic day-night Test to close out the Women's Ashes and Perth will host the opening clash of the five-Test Border-Gavaskar series, as Cricket Australia confirmed details of the 2024-25 international schedule.

Australia's all-conquering women's side will open the season against New Zealand in September, then also host India in December, while Australia's men will also play limited-overs fixtures against Pakistan in November, clearing the way for the multi-format stars to play key roles in the KFC BBL in January.

Pat Cummins will lead Australia's bid to reclaim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy from India for the first time in a decade when the hotly-anticipated series begins on November 22 at Perth Stadium, a venue where Virat Kohli's side was soundly beaten on their only previous visit in 2018.

That match was Australia's only victory in that series, and Perth has been India's least favoured destination Down Under, losing four of their five Tests there in the 77-year history between the two nations.

The West Test series opener will be followed by a day-night Test in Adelaide starting December 6, meaning the series will open with back-to-back Tests in prime time for east coast viewers in the first summer of the new TV rights contract that Seven and Foxtel signed with CA last year that will see matches also streamed on the 7Plus digital service.

The Gabba, once the 'traditional' opening venue of the Test summer, will host the third Test from December 14, before the iconic Boxing Day and New Year's slots for Melbourne and Sydney.

It means India faces their three least-favoured venues to open the series, although the tourists will believe the Gabba holds no demons for them following their historic series-clinching victory there in 2021.

Indeed, Australia have not beat India in a home series since 2014-15, losing at home in 2018-19 while Steve Smith and David Warner were serving bans, and again in 2020-21 when the four-Test series skipped Perth.

Australia have not won a Test series in India since 2004.

"This is one of the most highly anticipated summers of cricket in memory, with the eyes of the cricket world focused on the extended Border-Gavaskar Trophy Series and the multi-format Women’s Ashes," Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley said.

"Fittingly, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy has been put on the same footing as the (men's) Ashes with a five-Test Series for the first time since 1991-92 and we're confident the schedule will maximise viewership and attendances and there will be a tremendous atmosphere in stadiums across the country."

Preceding that series, Australia will face India's arch-rivals Pakistan for three matches in each of the white-ball formats, including the first ODI at Perth Stadium for six years.

Perth will be the third ODI of the series after matches in Melbourne and Adelaide between November 4 and 10, with the following T20 series running from November 14-18 with games at the Gabba, SCG and Hobart's Blundstone Arena.

The move to open the men's international summer with one-day cricket is part of a concerted push under the current Future Tours Program to make Australia's multi-format players available for the BBL.

The international season again starts in September with Australia's women's team hosting New Zealand for a trio of T20 matches in Queensland that will serve as important preparation for the ICC Women's T20 World Cup that begins later that month in Bangladesh.

India's women will join their male counterparts in the country with a tour that runs in parallel with the men's second Test, with two ODIs in Brisbane and a third in Perth between December 5 and 11.

But the main course of the women's season is the multi-format Ashes series that will see several matches played at major stadiums, culminating in a day-night women's Test at the MCG.

The women's Ashes will commence after the Border-Gavaskar series has finished, with the first ODI on January 12, and the white-ball leg of the series will finish with a January 25 clash at the Adelaide Oval, marking a return to the ground's tradition of hosting cricket on the public holiday weekend.

The Test match at the MCG will be played over four days from January 30 and will be the first women's Test to be played at the iconic ground since 1949. England officials last year opted to make the women's Ashes Test a five-day affair to open the multi-format series, with Ashleigh Gardner's eight-wicket haul spinning the Aussies to victory on the final day.

It will be the second women's Ashes Test to be played with the pink ball under lights following the 2017 Test at North Sydney Oval where Ellyse Perry famously posted a double century in a drawn encounter.

Australia's 2024-25 international schedule

CommBank Women's T20I Series v New Zealand

First T20I | September 19: Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay (N)

 

Second T20I | September 22: Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay (N)

 

Third T20I | September 24: Allan Border Field, Brisbane (N)

Dettol Men's ODI Series v Pakistan

First ODI | November 4: MCG, Melbourne (D/N)

 

Second ODI | November 8: Adelaide Oval, Adelaide (D/N)

 

Third ODI | November 10: Perth Stadium, Perth (D/N)

Dettol Men's T20I Series v Pakistan

First T20I | November 14: The Gabba, Brisbane (N)

 

Second T20I | November 16: SCG, Sydney (N)

 

Third T20I | November 18: Blundstone Arena, Hobart (N)

NRMA Insurance Men's Test Series v India

First Test | November 22-26: Perth Stadium, Perth (D)

 

Second Test | December 6-10: Adelaide Oval, Adelaide (D/N)

 

Third Test | December 14-18: The Gabba, Brisbane (D)

 

Fourth Test | December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne (D)

 

Fifth Test | January 3-7: SCG, Sydney (D)

CommBank Women's ODI Series v India

First ODI | December 5: Allan Border Field, Brisbane (D/N)

 

Second ODI | December 8: Allan Border Field, Brisbane (D)

 

Third ODI | December 11: WACA Ground, Perth (D/N)

CommBank Women's Ashes Series v England

First ODI | January 12: North Sydney Oval, Sydney (D)

 

Second ODI | January 14: Junction Oval, Melbourne (D)

 

Third ODI | January 17: Blundstone Arena, Hobart (D)

 

First T20I | January 20: SCG, Sydney (N)

 

Second T20I | January 23: Manuka Oval, Canberra (N)

 

Third T20I | January 25: Adelaide Oval, Adelaide (N)

 

Test Match | January 30 - February 2: MCG, Melbourne (D/N)

*(D) = Day match | (N) = Night match | (D/N) = Day-night match

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