Huge summer to limit Test prep as domestic fixture revealed

Australia's all-format stars will again get no red-ball practice ahead of the first Test of the summer with a busy international schedule that includes a home T20 World Cup set to limit their Sheffield Shield availability.

But the red-ball specialists will have at least four rounds of Shield cricket in before the Tests start as Cricket Australia today released its men's and women's domestic fixtures for the 2022-23 summer with both the Shield and Marsh One-Day Cup returning to a full complement of games after two seasons heavily impacted by the pandemic.

With the T20 World Cup defence in October-November immediately followed by a three match ODI series against England, the likes of Test captain Pat Cummins, Steve Smith, David Warner, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc are unlikely to play any four-day domestic cricket for NSW before the Perth Test against the West Indies beginning on November 30.

But Peter Roach, Cricket Australia's Head of Cricket Operations and Scheduling, said that wouldn't become the new normal in future seasons.

FULL MARSH SHEFFIELD SHIELD SCHEDULE

FULL MARSH ONE-DAY CUP SCHEDULE

FULL WOMEN'S NATIONAL CRICKET LEAGUE SCHEDULE

He said trying to fit in international series that were postponed during the pandemic had made it challenging to create a window to allow Australian all-format players to get some domestic red-ball cricket in.

"Our hope is that you can have a perfectly planned schedule that allows for preparation before a big Test series," Roach told cricket.com.au.

"Players have no doubt become more adaptable over the last couple of years … (and) what we do know is our coaches, selectors and (High Performance General Manager) Ben Oliver will look at the individual management of each player to make sure they're ready to go every time they represent Australia."

The Marsh Sheffield Shield will return to a full 10-round home-and-away season after states each played a varying number of matches last summer due to COVID lockdowns and border restrictions.

Each state will also play seven Marsh One-Day Cup games before the final on March 8, while the Women's National Cricket League (WNCL) has been expanded to a full home-and-away season, with the 43-game fixture to run from late September to late February.

"Domestic cricket is vitally important to the health of cricket in Australia, both men's and women's, and we were very keen at the first available opportunity to get the Shield and Marsh Cup back for their full quota and equally expand the WNCL to 12 games (for each team)," Roach said.

"It gives players across the whole game – the current international stars, the domestic players, plus those on the fringes plenty of opportunities across the season to show their wares and put their best foot forward.

"That's the aim of the domestic competitions – to keep producing great players to play for Australia and equally to make really strong domestic competitions so that every game counts."

The domestic season is scheduled to begin in less than three months with two Marsh Cup rounds between September 23 and October 1, while the WNCL will also get underway on September 23 with a triple-header.

Western Australia and NSW will kick off the Shield season at the WACA Ground from October 3-6, which will be followed by Queensland-Tasmania at Allan Border Field and South Australia-Victoria at Karen Rolton Oval from October 6-9.

There will be five full Shield rounds before the first Test meaning non-T20 players such as Nathan Lyon, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head, Alex Carey and Cameron Green could feature multiple times for their states ahead of the two-Test series against the West Indies and three Tests against South Africa.

The sixth Shield round before the mid-season Big Bash break will be played concurrently with the first Test of the summer from December 1-4.

That also signals that the KFC BBL season will start later this summer, mostly likely in mid-December after the conclusion of the Adelaide day-night Test against the West Indies from December 8-12.

The Weber WBBL|08 and BBL|12 schedules are expected to be announced next month.

Shield matches have been fixtured for 11 venues, including North Dalton Oval in Wollongong, which will host its fourth first-class match when NSW and South Australia visit from October 31-November 3.

UTAS Stadium in Launceston will host its first men's List A match (it has hosted one WNCL, 23 WBBL, eight BBL matches in previous seasons) on October 26 when Tasmania clash with Victoria, while there will be seven day-night Marsh Cup fixtures, with the first three to be played under the new flood lights at the redeveloped Allan Border Field.

Fox Cricket and Kayo Sports will again broadcast the Sheffield Shield final live from March 23-27, along with 13 Marsh Cup games including the final.

All Sheffield Shield and Marsh Cup matches will be live streamed on cricket.com.au and the CA Live app, with streaming details for WNCL matches to be confirmed soon.

Roach said keeping domestic cricket and the WBBL on the nation's traditional cricket venues had posed the biggest challenge with the T20 World Cup also running at the same time.

Several concerts have also been scheduled for the MCG over the summer, which has resulted in Victoria hosting Shield matches at the Junction Oval during period where the 'G would otherwise traditionally be available.

"We've got three (Shield) games on the Gabba, SCG and Adelaide Oval, and two on the MCG – we're really pleased we've kept a strong footprint on those major venues while also working with them all on other opportunities that may present during the season," Roach said.

"We're really aware (how) COVID has hit our venues and we try and work hand-in-hand with them to try and give them opportunities to maximise their revenue outside cricket during our season without having a detrimental effect on our competitions."