MCG and SCG may have to fight to keep their iconic Test matches

There’s a state versus state battle to get hold of some iconic cricket matches and Cricket Australia’s ears are open for bids.

Cricket Australia is refusing to lock in Melbourne and Sydney in their historical place as host venues for Test matches beyond this season, declaring there‘s a “good runway to look at our future content now”.

Other states have made yearly waves about potentially poaching both the Boxing Day Test from the MCG and the New Year’s Test from the SCG, declaring no one should have a stranglehold on blockbuster games.

The release of the international scheduled confirmed the iconic matches would remain in Melbourne and Sydney for at least this summer.

While CA scheduling boss Peter Roach said they placed “great weight in historical matches”, the quest for maximising crowds and revenue would play a leading role in fixturing for the future.

The Sydney Test has become a huge fundraiser. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Negotiations with both state governments and officials at the Melbourne Cricket Club, which runs the MCG, and CA are ongoing, with the latest three-season deal to host the Boxing Day Test having expired last summer.

Officials in South Australia have also expressed their desire to snatch the New Year’s Test from Sydney, and Roach couldn’t guarantee the two venues of their traditional dates beyond the 2023-24 campaign.

“We think there is great weight in historical matches because it drives that continued attendance and that continued support, but we haven’t locked in any venue for future years,” Roach said on Monday at the MCG.

“We look at it historically one year at a time. As I said, we have a runway now where we can look at the best outcome for the next seven or eight years for all of our venues.

“We can work with our venues and our governments and our state associations to plan thoroughly ahead. We see it as there is enormous competition for our, I guess, marquee content, which is terrific. We know that year after year we have great content to take around the states.”

No Test match gets bigger crowds than the MCG on Boxing Day. Picture: Michael Klein

Roach said CA would “engage with the SCG” about their annual Test match, which has become a massive fundraiser for the Jane McGrath Foundation and a special piece of the cricket summer.

“It’s not a matter of whether they retain the Test. It’s a matter of whether we have got the best fit for Australian cricket,” Roach said.

“All of our venues play a great role in that. The SCG is one of them.

“It comes down to making sure that we play at venues where we can maximise our crowd, play at venues where we can maximise people watching home on television, play at venues that make sense from a scheduling and travel point of view, make sense from a historic point of view.

“All those things play an important part in making sure we put the best schedule together for Australian cricket.”

Perth will host Australia’s opening Test next summer against sixth-ranked Pakistan before the series shifts to Melbourne and Sydney. Brisbane, from Australia Day, and Adelaide then host the West Indies.