Australia's full World Test Championship schedule
With the newly formulated idea of World Test Championship in the limelight in recent times, the cricketing fraternity's focus has shifted towards the Ashes 2019, which marks the first series to be played as the format's marquee event. As the Battle of Birmingham continues to enthrall us, let's take a deeper dive into what lies ahead for Australia in this highly-anticipated Test league.
During these two years, Australia are scheduled to play the second most number of Tests (19). Their campaign has kick-started with the five-match Ashes in England's backyard. Once the Australian summer commences back in Down Under later this year, they will be inviting over a handful of teams and will play five WTC matches at home: two against Pakistan and three versus their trans-Tasman rivals, New Zealand.
As their home summer concludes, the Australians will head over to the subcontinent where, initially, they will face-off against India in the LOI formats before flying to Bangladesh for two Tests in February.
There will be a massive break from Test cricket following that, as far as Australia's schedule is concerned. The next red-ball game they partake in is scheduled right after the World T20 in November. Yet, the one-off game will be against Afghanistan and consequently will not count towards the WTC Points Table since Afghanistan have been excluded from the event's first edition.
Shortly afterward, however, India will touch down on the Australian shores for a full-fledged Test series consisting of four games. Australia will look to settle down matters and will eye sweet vengeance after they were toppled over by the subcontinental giants in their backyard last season.
Australia will finally wind up their WTC campaign with a three-match series early in 2020 in South Africa where, not a long time ago, they were not only beaten comprehensively but also lost a lot of face and repute after the ball-tampering fiasco flared up. There too, Australia will have a point or two to prove.
As we build up to an exciting couple of years of test cricket, here is Australia's complete WTC schedule.
Home Fixtures
November 2019: 2 Tests v Pakistan
December 2019-January 2020: 3 Tests v New Zealand
November-December 2020: 4 Tests v India
Away Fixtures
July-August-September 2019: 5 Tests v England
February 2020: 2 Tests v Bangladesh
February-March 2021: 3 Tests v South Africa