Australia Hosts Bangladesh in Unconventional Test Series in Northern Venues

Australia begin a massive year of Test cricket in unusual surrounds on Thursday, hosting Bangladesh for the first time since 2003 in a two-match series in the country’s tropical north. With stadiums further south occupied by Australian rules football, Darwin’s Marrara Oval will stage its first Test since 2004 before the Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay becomes the nation’s 12th Test venue on August 22. Unlike the festive atmosphere of an Australian home summer, the country’s first winter Tests in more than two decades will have a different feel, despite familiar heat and sunshine. Marrara Oval holds about 15,000 spectators while the venue in Mackay, a coal and sugar port about 1,000km (about 621 miles) north of Brisbane, accommodates around 10,000. Commercial realities and a crowded international calendar have shaped the unusual schedule. The series was slated for March 2027 but was brought forward to accommodate Australia’s 150th anniversary Test against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.