It’s a seven-year itch for Adelaide Oval as ground gets green light to host premium December Tests

Adelaide Oval is poised to return to the big cricket stage and host December Tests, including “Christmas’’ Tests, for the next seven years.

Adelaide Oval is poised to return to the blockbuster stage and host December Test cricket matches, including “Christmas’’ Tests, for the next seven years.

After this season being shunted to a January time slot in a lacklustre fixture against the West Indies - a match that lasted just over two days - the SA Cricket Association is understood to have sealed a long-term deal with Cricket Australia to put Adelaide Oval at the forefront of international cricket again.

The deal, expected to be announced by the end of March, will likely see the Oval host a mixture of day and night December Tests for the next seven years.

Big guns India (this year) and England (2025) will kick off the fixtures in a huge boost to SA cricket.

India is expected to play an early December Test at Adelaide Oval this year while in the following six years the Oval is likely to stage the last Test prior to Christmas.

SACA could brand the Tests the “Christmas Test’’ in competition with Melbourne’s Boxing Day Test and Sydney’s New Year’s Test.

Adelaide Oval has played host to the West Indies in the past two summers as the ground this year staged a day Test for the first time in five seasons.

The Oval had been the traditional domain of men’s day-night Tests in Australia since 2015 when Australia played New Zealand.

Picturesque Adelaide Oval during this year’s Test match between Australia and the West Indies in January. Picture: Ben Clark

As part of handing over its traditional Test fixture, SACA has been granted a bumper new deal.

While SACA refused to comment on the new arrangement, president Will Rayner last year pledged his association would seek a new deal with CA that guaranteed it premium Test matches.

His bid has been backed by the State Government and premier Peter Malinauskas, who said he was “filthy’’ about this year’s Windies Test being wrapped up before lunch on day three.

“We have more people turn up for Test matches on a per capita basis than anybody,’’ Malinauskas said.

Rayner, whose board and the SA Government took on CA by audaciously lobbying for Sydney’s New Year’s Test, said SACA wanted “certainty over Adelaide Oval Test match scheduling until 2031’’ and that Tests at the famous ground - arguably the best cricket venue in the world - have been so successful since the world-class redevelopment in 2014 that it deserved to be rewarded with marquee match-ups and prime time matches.

SACA chief executive Charlie Hodgson also said the oval deserved to host marquee Tests.

“We have been very clear from the start that we think the biggest Test matches should come to the best ground that generates the biggest return for Australian cricket,’’ he said.

“We would love an Adelaide Test to have its own home in the calendar.’’