MELBOURNE, Aug 12 (Reuters) - 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 attack and sit comfortably atop the World Test Championship (WTC) table.
The 'Fab Four' of Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon are all fit and available for the first time in more than a year.
Should they all bowl, it will offer cricket fans in Darwin and Mackay a rare chance to see the group live. With all four players well into their 30s, there may be few opportunities left.
Both Darwin and Mackay have shown a strong appetite for elite cricket.
The Queensland state government contributed more than A$20 million ($14 million) to develop facilities at the Great Barrier Reef Arena, which had buzzing crowds for Australia's white-ball matches against South Africa last year.
Cricket Australia (CA) are happy with ticket sales and hopeful that fans from large Bangladeshi communities in Sydney and Melbourne will travel north for the matches.
But the 'Top End' tour will not prove a major financial windfall for CA, which reported an A$11 million ($7.77 million) deficit in 2024-25 and faces continued pressure to grow the game.
The series is backed by public funding from the Northern Territory and Queensland governments.
"We're getting some support from the government, which we really appreciate," Cricket Australia chief of cricket James Allsopp told Reuters.
"Obviously, when you take content further north, it does cost us more to deliver those matches."
For Australia's players, the Bangladesh series is only the beginning of a minimum 20-test schedule over the coming year, or 21 if they reach the WTC final at The Oval in June 2027.
Winter tests are unlikely to become a regular fixture in Australia but fans may not have to wait another two decades for another Top End series.
"We generally feel like cricket is Australia's national sport ... and international cricket still is the premium," Allsopp said.
"If we can get that to all corners of Australia, we think it's a great platform to help us grow the game."
($1 = 1.4162 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
