After a near decade-long break between contests, Australia and Scotland will follow this weekend’s crunch T20 World Cup clash by playing three more matches in Edinburgh later this year.
Cricket Scotland today confirmed the Aussies’ first ever bilateral men’s tour of England’s northern neighbours in early September, with three matches in four days to be held at The Grange ground in the Scottish capital.
It will kick off Australia’s tour of the UK that sees them also play five ODIs and three T20s against England through September, which will be Australia’s next engagement in any format after this month’s T20 World Cup in the Caribbean.
The two nations’ T20 captains Mitch Marsh and Richard Berrington posed for photos in Saint Lucia today ahead of a clash that will decide whether Scotland will make their biggest mark ever on a World Cup by qualifying for the Super Eights stage of the T20 World Cup.
“I’m really excited about the trip and the series in Scotland, and I know the team is pretty pumped about it as well,” said Marsh of the matches on September 4, 6 and 7.
“My brother Shaun was lucky enough to feature in the last game we played in Edinburgh (in 2013) and had nothing but good things to say, so it will be great to follow in his footsteps.
“Scotland have developed into a really good unit as we’ve seen at this World Cup. It will be a great privilege to play them on their home turf.”
Scotland have only previously hosted Australia in one-off ODIs or played them at ICC events and have never faced them in a T20I.
“Scotland don’t get many opportunities to play England, India, Australia, Pakistan – especially at home,” Scotland allrounder Michael Leask told reporters in Saint Lucia on Friday.
“That is going to a wonderful occasion for Scotland again to host the World Test Champions, the ODI champions – literally one of the best in the world at our home ground.
“It’s going to be electric … Scotland cricket is on the rise, Australian cricket is as good as it ever has been. So two good nations going up against each other in our own country, it couldn’t be better.”
The tour has been arranged after a mooted three-ODI, one-T20I tour of Ireland, pencilled into the same window of the International Cricket Council’s Future Tours Programme, fell through due to financial reasons.
Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom admitted hosting Australia was too expensive a prospect, revealing that use of the Malahide Cricket Ground would have cost the organisation a six-figure sum.
Grassroots cricket, domestic and ‘A’ series programs have been prioritised instead.
“We have to make some difficult decision and that was probably among the more difficult decisions the board has had to weigh (up) in the last couple of years,” Deutrom told the Final Word podcast recently.
“We are no longer a board that exclusively weighs itself on the amount of men’s senior cricket it hosts. We are looking to try to rebalance our spend and looking to try to invest in other areas of the sport.
“It was a difficult conversation, picking up the phone to (Cricket Australia boss) Nick Hockley to say, ‘look Nick, we’ve looked at our schedule, we think we’re going to have to make some fairly difficult choices here about what stays and what goes, and we’ve concluded – difficult though it might be to believe – that we reckon this is the only way forward’.”
Deutrom said the decision highlighted the imperative for a permanent cricket venue to be constructed in Ireland as the Emerald Isle prepares to co-host the 2030 T20 World Cup along with England and Scotland.
Ireland’s was granted full member status in 2017 but a scheduled Test against Zimbabwe in Belfast in July will mark the first one they have hosted in six years, while a ‘home’ series against South Africa is instead set to be played in the UAE.
“The simple fact for us was that because we have so few pitches here in Ireland that can host international cricket, we had to make a fairly difficult decision,” Deutrom said of the Australia series.
“It required us to have to open up Malahide Cricket Ground and if we were going to do that, we estimated it was going to be a very, very significant six-figure loss for us, to have to open up Malahide.
“The fact is, broadcast rights wise, Australia would probably be the fourth-largest of all the various (opponents) that we would have.
“It wouldn’t even have covered the cost of production, opening up Malahide and bearing in mind it’s an entirely greenfield site. Those, unfortunately, are the difficult decisions we have to make.”
Qantas Tour of the UK 2024
September 4: First T20 v Scotland, The Grange, Edinburgh, time TBC
September 6: Second T20 v Scotland, The Grange, Edinburgh, time TBC
September 7: Third T20 v Scotland, The Grange, Edinburgh, time TBC
September 11: First T20 v England, Rose Bowl, Southampton, 3.30am Sept 12 AEST
September 13: Second T20 v England, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, 3.30am Sept 14 AEST
September 15: Third T20 v England, Old Trafford Manchester, 11.30pm AEST
September 19: First ODI v England, Trent Bridge, Nottingham, 10pm AEST
September 21: Second ODI v England, Headingley, Leeds, 10pm AEST
September 24: Third ODI v England, Riverside, Chester-le-Street, 10pm AEST
September 27: Fourth ODI v England, Lord’s, London, 10pm AEST
September 29: Fifth ODI v England, County Ground, Bristol, 8pm AEST