Sun to shine on state in summer cricket talks

AFTER bailing out rugby league, Australian Rules and netball, Queensland is set to secure government backing to become a saviour state for cricket in its most challenging summer.

The Queensland Government is in talks with Queensland Cricket and Cricket Australia about the state becoming a safe haven for cricket at state and national level by accepting a larger than normal slice of the programming pie.

The first schedule change is likely to be in October when the New Zealand women’s cricket team is arriving for a six match white ball series which was expected to be split between Queensland and NSW.

It is now likely the series will be played entirely in Queensland.

With no guarantee that the COVID crisis in Victoria will have passed this year Queensland is also on standby to host a large number of Big Bash games at the Gabba, Metricon Stadium and Allan Border Field.

With the closing of the NSW border and a small number of active COVID cases, Queensland is seen as an increasingly bankable planning option for a schedule which was announced last month but is certain to be redrafted.

Queensland has been pencilled in to host the first Test of a four match series against India but that is a different discussion and nothing is certain.

Western Australia has made a push to host the first

Test, believing it would be easier for India to arrive in Perth and go into quarantine before playing at Optus Stadium, then go to Adelaide and perhaps Brisbane then Sydney if the Boxing Day Test cannot be played in Melbourne.

The Queensland Government is aware a Test may be up for grabs if Melbourne cannot host Boxing Day and is poised to make a bid for Brisbane to host a second Test if states are asked to tender for it.

Such a victory would represent a timely feather in the government’s cap given that the decision would most likely be made in the weeks before the state election in October.

Adelaide Oval, with a hotel on the ground, would be a strong rival and the once quirky thought of playing two Tests at the one venue is no longer unfashionable after England played two out of three against the West Indies at Old Trafford last month and are currently involved in another against Pakistan at the same venue.