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.
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.
