Adelaide will host the third Test from December 17 as the traditional Ashes rota is shaken up
Smiling now: Nathan Lyon and Joe Root exchange pleasantries • Getty Images
Cricket Australia has unveiled the dates for the 2025-26 Ashes series in Australia with the Gabba set to host the day-night second Test while Adelaide will host the third Test as a day game under a new agreement to have the pre-Christmas Test for the next seven years.
CA confirmed that Perth will host the first Ashes Test next summer from November 21-25 before the second Test is played with a pink-ball under lights in Brisbane from December 4-8. The third Test will a day game in Adelaide from December 17-21 before the traditional Boxing Day Test begins on December 26 at the MCG. Sydney will host the fifth Test from January 4-8.
Adelaide has been the main home of the day-night Test since the first one in 2015 and has hosted the two previous Ashes day-night Tests in 2017-18 and 2021-22 as the second Test in the rotation in those Ashes series following the traditional Gabba opener.
But South Australia’s government, along with CA, were keen to give Adelaide a marquee holiday slot given the Test’s popularity from a tourism standpoint and it is now third in the rotation.
The Gabba has hosted three day-night Tests previously including West Indies’ famous win earlier this year in January. But it will be the first time Brisbane has not hosted the Ashes opener since 1982-83 when Perth hosted the first Test and Brisbane had the second.
The future of the Gabba has been left clouded amid uncertainty over the redevelopment plans for the stadium ahead of the 2032 Olympics. There is a chance the Ashes Test next year could be the last Gabba Test ever as there is no Test scheduled there for 2026-27 – and beyond – and the stadium in its current state will not be usable by 2030.
There has been criticism of CA for not maintaining the Gabba as the opening Test of the summer for at least the next two seasons, with former Australia allrounder Shane Watson among a host of voices who would prefer the Gabba to be the opening Test. But it understood the Australian team is quite happy to play the opening Test of the summer at Optus Stadium in Perth, as has been the case in the last two summers, given Australia’s perfect record there.
There may be less enthusiasm about using the pink ball at the Gabba as Australia’s bowlers have previously been vocal about the pink ball being better suited to the Adelaide Oval pitch than the Gabba. There have been periods in the Gabba pink-ball Tests where the ball has become very soft and the game has stagnated as a result.
Alex Malcolm is an associate editor at ESPNcricinfo
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