Cricket Australia announced the venues for the upcoming five-match Test series against India with Perth's Optus Stadium to host the first Test likely to take place in November despite having a low attendance in a recently concluded match against Pakistan.
Cricket Australia, along with Western Australia, will work together and try their best to improve the attendance in Perth's stadium.
Sources close to the board, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the schedule has yet to be officially revealed, said that improving Test cricket in Perth was a top goal for the governing body. The new 60,000-seat Perth Stadium has been barely occupied for Tests in previous seasons, although it is much busier during Perth Scorchers BBL matches.
The highest attendance at the stadium was during the Perth Scorchers match in the Big Bash League which was 28,494 and the lowest was during the Test series against Pakistan (17,666).
With India and England set to travel to Australia over the next two years, Perth's Test attendance figures are expected to rise.
The sources further revealed that playing the series opener in Perth, with a three-hour time difference, and the day-night Test in Adelaide would provide cricket with a primetime lead-up to the Big Bash on Channel Seven and Fox. The Twenty20 competition could potentially continue uninterrupted from mid-December until the end of January.
The second match of the series will be played at Adelaide Oval and Brisbane's The Gabba will host the third Test match. The Boxing Day Test will be held at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground and the last match of the series will be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Cricket Australia has yet to release the schedule for next season, with an announcement likely at the end of the month. However, the board has announced the complete details of the upcoming season of Men and Women's Big Bash League.
"The schedule is yet to be finalised," a Cricket Australia spokesman asserted as quoted by The Sydney Morning Herald.
