Cricket Australia address record-low England ODI series

Cricket Australia’s chief has provided context behind the “less than ideal” recent cricket schedule but insists normality isn’t too far away.

Cricket fans can expect a return to a more traditional schedule in future according to Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive Nick Hockley.

The CA boss described the recent logjam of fixtures from early September to the start of the test summer as “an exceptional circumstance”.

Just four days after England won the T20 World Cup, Australia played their arch rivals in a three-match ODI series which drew record-low crowds and criticism of the busy schedule.

It’s understood the series was part of a bilateral agreement with England rather than an ICC requirement but were always scheduled for the season of 2022-23.

Hockley has since addressed the one-day series and busy international schedule explaining how cricket was still catching up from matches that were missed during the pandemic.

He said he is now “looking forward to getting back to some normality”.

Australia's Travis Head (L) acknowledges the applause after scoring a 50 against England. Photo: AFP.

“I think we got to remember that the last two and a half years has been pretty exceptional circumstances,” Hockley said.

“Cricket has done a really great job to keep the game going but there has been a backlog of fixtures and I think we are now essentially caught up.

“In a normal year you wouldn’t have 14 white ball internationals plus a World Cup before the end of November, that is an exceptional circumstance.”

Hockley said the scheduling was a challenge due to the Covid pandemic which caused delays and reshuffling of many series and events including the T20 World Cup.

“There has been a lot of reworking on the schedule, it has been seriously complicated,” he said.

“You look at the next Future Tours Program, you got anything between six to eight white ball matches a year, five tests pretty regularly in Australia, you got the big world events, the world test championship which I think has added brilliant context.

“Our next nine test matches really count, every single match counts.

“We want to be in that World Test championship final so I think everyone is looking forward to getting back to some normality.”

Australia’s series against England drew record low crowds. Photo: AFP

Hockley said the Future Tours Program schedule, coming into effect from next year, was exciting for the game and had “a good balance between the formats.”

“I think the exciting thing now is that we have now announced the next future tours program,” he said.

“I would say there is a good balance between the formats.

“We now have five test matches home and away against India (in 2024-25) which really puts the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the same level equivalent to the Ashes.

“Similarly with the rhythm of the season, we have also been able to make sure our best white ball players are available for the entirety of the Big Bash.

“I think it is a balancing act but I think the concentration of cricket that you have just seen in Australia is unique.

“I think it’s less than ideal but I think the context is the exceptional circumstances of having to catch up following the pandemic.”