Australia to play three-match Test series in the West Indies next year, says Nick Hockley

Adelaide (The Uttam Hindu): Cricket Australia (CA) CEO Nick Hockley said the Test team will play three matches in the West Indies in June-July next year, as opposed to two games. As per the new World Test Championship cycle, Australia is supposed to play two Tests in West Indies. But Hockley mentioned CA and Cricket West Indies (CWI) have decided to host three games instead. In January this year, Australia and West Indies drew the two-Test series one-all. Australia will be touring West Indies for Tests for the first time after 2015, where they had won both games in Dominica and Jamaica. "I am really glad that is going to manifest. We're still waiting for an official announcement from the West Indies Cricket Board around precise dates and precise locations but it will be a three Test series which is obviously big and is as it should be." "It's another great opportunity. The World Test Championship prescribed that we needed to play two, at least two. But really, for the fans and for the players, you don't want to be stuck in the position when it's one-one and everyone is feeling unsatisfied," said Hockley on SEN Radio during day two of Adelaide Test. Asked about the likelihood of one Test match between Australia and the West Indies being a pink ball day-night Test fixture, Hockley said, “I’m not sure on that. That’ll be confirmed in due course.”Talking about the lights going out twice in the final session’s play on Friday, Hockley stated, “All we know really is that it was a switching issue. We’ve got really good reassurance that it’s not going to happen again.”

“I was actually standing next to Charlie (Hodgson), he’s the chief of the SACA and it’s their ground. In those situations, you know that the venue managers and the experts are on the case, and I was pretty confident they’d pop back up pretty quickly.” Quizzed on the future of 2025 Men’s Champions Trophy, whose schedule and venues are in limbo for quite some time due to India not traveling to Pakistan, Hockley revealed there hadn’t been formal talks, but a hybrid model for staging the tournament would make sense if situation is dire. “So we haven't had anything formal on that, but I obviously have seen the media (reports) over the last 24 hours. Again it's above even people in cricket’s pay grades but the main thing for fans for broadcasters, for everybody who loves the game is that we get a really fantastic event and a fantastic Champions Trophy. So if the hybrid model is the most pragmatic one in this environment then I think that makes a lot of sense.”