Mackay to host first Test match when Australia faces Bangladesh in 2026

Mackay’s Nice Barrier Reef Enviornment is poised to host its first Take a look at match, when the Australian males’s crew takes on Bangladesh subsequent 12 months.

The Queensland authorities is deep in discussions with Cricket Australia to deliver a fixture to the tropical metropolis throughout a two-match winter sequence.

“The Take a look at is programmed to be in 2026 in Mackay on the Nice Barrier Reef Enviornment,” Mackay MP Nigel Dalton mentioned. 

“Bangladesh is clearly a world-class crew and we’re actually trying ahead to internet hosting them.”

Australia performed two ODI matches to sell-out crowds on the 10,000-seat venue in August, taking a win and a defeat in opposition to South Africa, and an total sequence loss following an earlier blowout in Cairns.

The Mackay venue hosted two girls’s T20 matches between Australia and New Zealand final 12 months, in addition to girls’s ODI fixtures in opposition to India in 2021.

Mr Dalton mentioned a date for the primary worldwide Take a look at in Mackay had not been set as Cricket Australia nonetheless needed to “liaise with one other state or territory”.

A second venue for the sequence is but to be determined, with Darwin and regional Queensland cities Cairns and Townsville additionally into account.

It will likely be Bangladesh’s first Take a look at tour of Australia since 2003.

Uncertainty for Gabba fixtures

Talking on Triple M’s Take a look at protection on Sunday, Queensland Premier David Crisafulli mentioned the Gabba would miss out on internet hosting the match as a consequence of a scrapped rebuild.

“For the primary time in half a century, there will not be a Take a look at in Brisbane,” Mr Crisafulli mentioned.

“There wasn’t any certainty over whether or not it [the Gabba] could be there.

“We can have a Take a look at: it will likely be in Mackay in opposition to Bangladesh.”

The Gabba was assured solely two seasons (2024/25 and 2025/26) in Cricket Australia’s worldwide allocation launched in 2024, as a consequence of uncertainty over whether or not the bottom could be demolished and refurbished subsequent 12 months.

The Crisafulli authorities dropped the rebuild, and the stadium will as an alternative be demolished following the Brisbane Olympics in 2032.

Nice Barrier Reef Enviornment

A $24 million growth of the Nice Barrier Reef Enviornment, collectively funded by the state and federal governments, was accomplished in 2023.

The upgrades included a 2,000-seat grandstand, coaching amenities and a broadcasting sales space, together with new lighting.

CEO Adrian Younger mentioned the upgrades and up to date internationals had been key to the bid for Take a look at cricket.

“We have hosted constant, high-level content material over an extended time period [and] we have been capable of develop amenities,” he mentioned.

“Clearly, state authorities investments got here into the ability as properly, so [we had] all these issues lining up.”

Nice Barrier Reef Enviornment can be set to develop into an Olympic venue, with Mackay marked right down to host cricket in the course of the 2032 Video games.

The homeowners are looking for near $25 million from the Australian authorities for a second stage of upgrades, which features a regional sports-performance centre.

Financial increase

Numbers from Queensland’s tourism minister present the Mackay area has had greater than 2,000 guests to main cricket occasions previously 12 months, staying a complete of 5,700 nights.

The figures present $1.7 million was injected into the economic system by the large matches, which included the second and third ODIs between Australia and South Africa.

Mr Dalton mentioned the potential for 5 days of Take a look at cricket would have a huge impact within the regional metropolis.

“It’s going to be an enormous financial increase for Mackay. It will likely be an enormous win for resort lodging, for the eating places, for rent vehicles,” he mentioned.