Cricket Australia revealed its 2026–2027 international schedule on Sunday, which is jam-packed and will take little time to prepare for the major Border-Gavaskar Trophy in India, which is scheduled to start in January of the following year.
For Pat Cummins’ aging team, the five-Test away series against India next year is expected to be a pivotal part of an extraordinary and demanding schedule.
Australia will play ten Test matches in a 14-week period between December and March, which is one of the most difficult periods in their history.
The home season will start in August 2026 with two Test matches against Bangladesh and end in March 2027 with the 150th anniversary Test against England, a day-night spectacle at the MCG.
In addition to Australia’s tour of South Africa later this year, which ends at the end of October, and an eight-match white-ball series against England in November, the home series against New Zealand has been crammed into a window of just over four weeks.
“That Border-Gavaskar Trophy tour, a final frontier for the likes of Cummins, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon, who have never won a series in India, will also be a quick-fire campaign given CA’s anniversary Test begins back in Melbourne on March 11,” CA said in a statement.
“The call to hold back all three of Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood from at least the first few rounds of the soon-to-begin IPL shows CA is wary of getting their trio to the finishing line of the intense 2026-27 run,” it added.
Highlights of Australia’s Test Schedule:
August: Two Tests vs Bangladesh (home)
October: Three Tests vs South Africa (away)
December-January: Four Tests vs New Zealand (home)
January-March: Five Tests vs India (away)
March 11-15: 150th anniversary Test vs England (home)
June: WTC final (if qualified, England)
June-August: Five Tests vs England (away)
