Out of season, out of the ordinary: Australia meet Bangladesh in rare home winter tests

MELBOURNE, Aug 12 : Australia begin a massive year of test cricket in unusual surrounds on Thursday, hosting Bangladesh for the first time since 2003 in a two-match series in the country's tropical north.

With stadiums further south occupied by Australian rules football, Darwin's Marrara Oval will stage its first test since 2004 before the Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay becomes the nation's 12th test venue on August 22.

Unlike the festive atmosphere of an Australian home summer, the country's first winter tests in more than two decades will have a different feel, despite familiar heat and sunshine.

Marrara Oval holds about 15,000 spectators while the venue in Mackay, a coal and sugar port about 1,000 km north of Brisbane, accommodates around 10,000.

Commercial realities and a crowded international calendar have shaped the unusual schedule.

The series was slated for March 2027 but was brought forward to accommodate Australia's 150th anniversary test against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

This will be only the fourth test series between the teams and the first since Bangladesh held Australia to a 1-1 draw at home in 2017.

The hosts' 20-run victory over Steve Smith's Australia in Mirpur in 2017 remains one of Bangladesh's finest moments in test cricket.

It also stands as their only test win against Australia, who claimed the other five matches dating back to 2003.

Another Bangladesh triumph in this series would likely trump the "Miracle of Mirpur", given Australia are at the peak of their powers.

'FAB FOUR'

Test cricket's primacy is challenged in some nations by franchise Twenty20 cricket, but Pat Cummins' Australia remain determined to win everything everywhere.

They beat England 4-1 in the Ashes with a second-string