Matador Cup heads to Brisbane, Perth

The 2016 Matador One-Day Cup is scheduled to be played in three cities, with Perth and Brisbane joining Sydney in hosting the tournament.

In 2015, the 50-over tournament was held exclusively in New South Wales, and while the country's most populous state will again stage the majority of matches (15 of 23, including the qualifying final and the final), Western Australia and Queensland will host eight matches between them in the early part of the national tournament, which takes place from October 1-23.

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This marks the first time domestic one-day cricket will be back at the WACA since the 2012-13 season when the tournament format was spread across the summer.

Brisbane hosted matches in 2014 while the round-robin carnival style format introduced to open the season in 2013 has seen the majority of matches played in Sydney.

Brisbane's Allan Border Field will be the venue for the tournament opener, between Queensland Bulls and a Cricket Australia XI – a concept team developed in 2015 that will again be included by CA.

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Tasmania will be the other team to play out of AB Field, taking on both the Bulls and the CA XI to round out the Brisbane-based matches.

The WACA in Perth will host four matches, involving the Warriors, South Australia, Victoria and Queensland that will all be broadcast on the east coast in prime time.

New South Wales begin the defence of their title on Friday October 7 at Bankstown Oval against the CA XI, and are the only team that won't play outside their home state.

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WA quick Jason Behrendorff welcomed the addition of Perth and Brisbane as host cities, with the Warriors to play two home matches – against the Bulls and Bushrangers – on home turf in the early stages of the tournament.

"It's a great result, we're stoked," Behrendorff said of the Warriors, who won the tournament in 2014 but fell away to finish fifth last year.

"That's very exciting, for us to be able to play some one-day cricket here at the WACA again.

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"We love, as bowlers in particular, playing here at the WACA and our style of cricket really suits playing at the WACA.

"It's something we can't wait for and if we start the season off with a couple of wins here, that really sets us up the rest of the tournament."

As in 2015, four venues around Sydney – Bankstown, Hurstville, Drummoyne and North Sydney Ovals – will host the remainder of the fixtures, with the decider at North Sydney on October 23. 

Fans can also tune in to watch 13 Matador Cup matches broadcast live and in HD on the Nine Network, including three day-night matches and four matches in Perth that will be broadcast in prime time on the eastern seaboard.

"The Nine Network are working very hard with us to elevate the profile of the Matador Cup, and we’re really grateful for this," Cricket Australia’s Executive General Manager Team Performance Pat Howard said.

"We want as many fans around Australia to be able to witness the established and emerging talent cricket has to offer, and with limited grounds available to host the tournament in October, this opportunity gives fans the chance to catch some great action, no matter where they are around the country."

Nine Network Director of Sport Tom Malone said the Matador Cup provided a terrific launch pad for the summer of cricket.

"Genuine state rivalries forged between star-studded teams, featuring big-name Australian players and the next generation of superstars, on the always unpredictable one-day stage guarantees a thrilling ride for viewers," Malone said in a statement.