'The biggest discussion point': Cricket Australia reveals schedule as Manuka misses out

Cricket Australia has finalised its fixture list for the 2024-25 summer, with Canberra being the casualty of a reduced number of games as India prepares for a historic five-Test tour.

The capital is the only major city to miss out on a men's international match, but it will host a women's Ashes Twenty20 fixture in January. The Prime Minister's XI is also locked in, but a date and format is still to be determined.

The ACT government lodged its expression of interest in a long-term content plan at the end of last year. Barr said negotiations were ongoing, and that plan was expected to start in 2025-26.

"These are positive and productive discussions that will continue through the year," Barr said.

"While we continue these discussions, the ACT government welcomes the return of international cricket to Manuka Oval for the upcoming summer. The women's Ashes clash will be an exciting match.

"The shared goal between Cricket Australia, Cricket ACT and the ACT government is to grow participation in the sport in Canberra.

"A key element of this growth partnership is to have regular international women's and men's cricket at Manuka Oval.

"The schedule and content will, of course, vary from year to year reflecting the international touring program and the number of international teams touring Australia in any given summer."

Canberra and Hobart have in the past been forced to share games on an alternate year arrangement, but both had been hoping for an increase in their share particularly leading into the Brisbane Olympics in 2032.

The proposed rebuild of the Gabba in Brisbane was expected to pave the way for more men's international opportunities to be up for grabs. That now appears unlikely after the Queensland government scrapped plans to overhaul the Gabba and it leaves Canberra fighting to get some of the schedule scraps.

The Australian men's team has played at least one game - either a Test, one-day international or T20 - in Canberra in all but one of the past 10 summers.

They made their first appearance at Manuka Oval in 2013 and have since played in the city every year except the 2017-18 fixtures.

Asked if Canberra missed out because of the limited games, Cricket Australia operations boss Peter Roach said: "A lot of reasons. Always the biggest discussion point is about who misses out on a Test match.

"Now with six white-ball games, there's a challenge. The time of year is one thing, it's a bit of rotation for what feels right, who have we given matches to in the past, who has missed out in the past.

"That's the juggling act. It's Canberra this year. You'd hasten to say that if we have six matches next year then it will be someone else."

The future of Big Bash content in Canberra also remains unclear after the end of a deal with the Sydney Thunder.

Cricket ACT is pushing to secure its own team in the competition, but the likelihood of that happening and a timeline for that remains unclear.

The Australian women's team will arrive in town in January as part of a bumper summer of games. They will play against New Zealand in September, India in December and then host England in a blockbuster multi-format Ashes campaign in January.

Canberra will host the second of three T20 matches before a day-night Test at the MCG from January 30.

The Prime Minister's XI details are still being worked through, but Roach expects the warm-up match to be locked in soon. Given the schedule is so limited, the only time it can be played is in the weeks before the first Test against India on November 22, or before the one-day series against Pakistan from November 4.

Cricket Australia has used the game as a Test warm up for visiting teams over the past two years, but Pakistan slammed what it said was a lacklustre Manuka Oval pitch last year before their first Test in Perth.

India will likely have similar reservations given Manuka is renowned as a flat batsman's paradise compared to the fast and bouncy conditions in Perth.

"We're confident to say there will be a PM's XI game in Canberra. We're working through what that will look like," Roach said.

"We know [Manuka Oval] was disappointed with their pitch last year as we were, as Pakistan were. That was an anomaly in Canberra - we've had such great pitches there in both short form and long-form cricket, men's and women's.

"So we're really confident whatever match lands there ... will be played on terrific wickets ... Last year was a pretty unique set of circumstances in Canberra that didn't allow them to deliver their best I'm sure that won't be the case this year."

Cricket Australia insists Perth can replace the Gabba as the men's Test team's new fortress after handing Perth the first match against India.

Officials announced their schedule for this summer on Tuesday, with the WA capital to kick off the five-Test India series on November 22.

Perth is then expected to hold that status as the season opener in the majority of coming summers, a position long held by the Gabba.

Australia are undefeated in 31 summer-opening Tests at the Gabba since 1989, their only two defeats at the ground coming when it has closed out the summer.

But CA operations boss Peter Roach said the hard and fast Optus Stadium pitch, where Australia has won all four Tests played there, was now more than comparable to the one traditionally used at the Gabba.

Optus Stadium in Perth will kick off the five-Test India series on November 22.

"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.

"They also believe that playing a day-night [Test] in Adelaide is a significant advantage, and the stats there are pretty conclusive too.

"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 second Border-Gavaskar Test from December 6, with the venue winning back the day-night Test after Australia were beaten with the pink ball at the Gabba last season.

Brisbane then follows on December 14, before the traditional MCG and SCG Tests for Boxing Day and New Year's.

Test players are expected to get a month of Sheffield Shield cricket in October, before three ODIs and T20s against Pakistan, starting with a day-night game at the MCG on November 4.

CA had offered an invitation to make the white-ball matches part of a triangular-series with India, but that was knocked back.

T20s v New Zealand

September 19 at Mackay

September 22 at Mackay

September 24 at Brisbane

One-dayers v India

December 5 at Brisbane

December 8 at Brisbane

December 11 at Perth

Ashes one-dayers

January 12 at North Sydney

January 14 at Junction Oval

January 17 at Bellerive

Ashes T20s

January 20 at SCG

January 23 at Manuka Oval

January 25 at Adelaide

Ashes Test

January 30-February 2 at MCG

One-dayers v Pakistan

November 4 at MCG

November 8 at Adelaide

November 10 at Perth

T20s v Pakistan

November 14 at Brisbane

November 16 at SCG

November 18 at Bellerive

Tests v India

November 22-26 at Perth

December 6-10 at Adelaide

December 14-18 at Brisbane

December 26-30 at Melbourne

January 3-7 at Sydney