Melbourne, July 9 (IANS) Cricket Australia (CA) announced on Thursday that cricket World Cup semi-finallists India will return to Australia next year to play the World No.1 in a five-match One-Day International (ODI) Series starting on January 12.
In releasing its summer schedule, CA said the five ODIs will compliment three Twenty20 International (T20I) matches during January, one of which is to be played on India’s national holiday, boosting the prospects of a television audience to rival the 300 million viewers that watched the teams do battle in the semi-final of the ICC World Cup in March, reports Xinhua.
India lost the match by 95 runs, but cemented their place as the second-ranked ODI team in the world, behind only Australia which went on to win the tournament.
Among the other announcements released by CA is the confirmation of the first day/night Test match in history, while a series of Australian-first double-headers have been scheduled to raise the profile of the Australian women’s cricket team.
CA executive general manager of Operations, Mike McKenna said the “historic” decision to schedule a day/night Test match was to entice new fans to the game, as well as offering overseas viewers a more attractive time to watch the match on television.
“This summer promises to be another history-making season for cricket in Australia,” he said on Thursday.
“Test cricket will be played in every state including an inaugural day/night Test match between Australia and New Zealand in Adelaide, a step designed to make following the cricket much easier for fans to attend the game or watch on television.”
Australia will play three Test matches against New Zealand in November, while the West Indies are scheduled to play three Test matches during December and January.
The five-match ODI series and the T20 series will take place during January and February.
Highlights of the summer of cricket include:
Test Series v New Zealand
1st Test: November 5, Brisbane
2nd Test: November 13, Perth
3rd Test: November 27, Adelaide
Test Series v West Indies
1st Test: December 10, Hobart
2nd Test: December 26, Melbourne
3rd Test: January 3, Sydney
ODI Series v India
1st ODI: January 12, Perth
2nd ODI: January 15, Brisbane
3rd ODI: January 17, Melbourne
4th ODI: January 20, Canberra
5th ODI: January 23, Sydney
T20 series v India
1st T20: January 26, Adelaide
2nd T20: January 29, Melbourne
3rd T20: January 31, Sydney.