The return of winter Test cricket to the Top End, a return to South Africa for Test matches and T20 World Cups for both Aussie teams headline an action packed 2026 for Australian cricket fans. 

The Aussie men have wrapped up the Ashes again at home, with a 3-1 lead before the 2026 calendar year begins with the Pink Test in Sydney in front of sold-out crowds, and a healthy lead in the World Test Championship standings. 

Attention for international cricket will then turn to Australia's women who host India for a blockbuster multi-format series in February and March, concluding with a day-night Test match at the WACA Ground. 

A tilt at a second men's T20 World Cup title will also begin in February with the tournament hosted in Sri Lanka and India - after a three-game warm-up series in Pakistan, a country the Aussie men will return to mid-year for a series of ODI matches on an overseas jaunt that will also include white-ball games in Bangladesh.

But Aussie fans won't have to spend the winter just watching their heroes play abroad late at night, with two Tests against Bangladesh scheduled for at home in August, expected to be played in Darwin and Mackay. When confirmed, it will mark the first Test cricket in the Northern Territory since July 2004 when Sri Lanka visited, while Mackay's Great Barrier Reef Arena will become Australia's 12th Test venue. 

That will be Queensland's only Test match cricket for the 2026-27 season, with the marquee summer Tests against trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand to be played in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and, in early 2027, Sydney. 

The coming year will also see Australia play their first bilateral white-ball fixtures against Zimbabwe since 2014 before a highly anticipated tour of South Africa that will see three Test matches played, Australia's first in the country since the infamous events of 2018.

Also to look out for in 2026 will be confirmation of the extenstion of the ICC's men's Future Tours Program that will set out the blueprint for all international cricket between 2027 and 2031. The current women's FTP, last published in late 2024, runs until April 2029. 

The final confirmed dates and venues for a number of series are yet to be locked in, but here's a rundown of how the international cricket calendar is shaping up for Aussie men and women.

Australia Men in 2026

January 4-8: Fifth Ashes Test, SCG, 10:30am AEDT

✈️ Jan-Feb: Three T20 tour of Pakistan

✈️ February: ICC Men's T20 World Cup

February 11: v Ireland, R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo (8:30pm AEDT)

 

February 13: v Zimbabwe, R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo (4:30pm AEDT)

 

February 16: v Sri Lanka, Pallekele International Stadium, Kandy (Feb 17, 12:30am AEDT)

 

February 20: v Oman, Pallekele International Stadium, Kandy (Feb 21, 12:30am AEDT)

 

Australia's Super Eight fixtures (Assuming all seeded teams qualify)

 

February 23: Australia (X2) v West Indies (X3), Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai (Feb 24, 12:30am AEDT)

 

February 26: India (X1) v Australia (X2), MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai (Feb 27, 12:30am AEDT)

 

March 1: Australia (X2) v South Africa (X4), Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi, 8:30pm AEDT

✈️ June: Three ODIs tour of Pakistan

✈️ June: Three ODIs and three T20Is tour of Bangladesh

August: Two Tests v Bangladesh

Venues Darwin and Mackay

✈️ September: Three ODIs tour of Zimbabwe 

✈️ September - October: Three Tests and three ODIs tour of South Africa

November - December: Three ODIs and Five T20Is v England

December-January: Four Tests v New Zealand

Confirmed venues: Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne Sydney, all day matches

Australia Women in 2026

February 15: First T20 v India, SCG, 7:15pm AEDT

February 19: Second T20 v India, Manuka Oval, Canberra, 7:15pm AEDT

February 21: Third T20 v India, Adelaide Oval, 7:15pm AEDT

February 24: First ODI v India, Allan Border Field, Brisbane, 2:50pm AEDT

February 27: Second ODI v India, Bellerive Oval, Hobart, 2:50pm AEDT

March 1: Third ODI v India, Bellerive Oval, Hobart, 2:50pm AEDT

March 6-9: Test match v India, WACA Ground, 4:20pm AEDT (D/N)

✈️ March-April: Multi-format series v West Indies with one Test, three ODIs, three T20Is

✈️ June-July: ICC Women's T20 World Cup

June 13: v South Africa, Old Trafford, 11:30pm AEST

 

June 17: v Qualifier TBC, Headingley, 7:30pm AEST

 

June 20: v Qualifier TBC, Rose Bowl, Southampton, 7:30pm AEST

 

June 23: v Pakistan, Headingley, 3:30am AEST June 24

 

June 28: v India, Lord's, 11:30pm AEST

October: Three ODIs and three T20Is v Bangladesh

✈️ December: Three ODIs tour of Sri Lanka

✈️ indicates series played outside Australia