Australian great Allan Border is hoping for a more even test between bat and ball as the nation’s Test team embarks on a challenging 12 month period culminating in an away Ashes against England.
But the former Australian captain is confident that even if conditions prove less bowler friendly in home series against Bangladesh this month and New Zealand through summer, the nation’s premier bowling battery will prove durable.
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Australia has selected a full strength squad of 13 for the two Test series against Bangladesh in Darwin and Mackay which kickstarts a year in which the Aussies could play 21 Tests if qualifying for the World Test Championship final in June.
The series will see captain Pat Cummins, champion pace bowler Josh Hazlewood and record-breaking spinner Nathan Lyon return after serious injuries curtailed their presence in Australia’s dominant Ashes win over England last summer.
Cummins, who played only the Adelaide Test, and Hazlewood, who missed the entirety of the summer, were among those who featured in a match simulation session at Allan Border Oval in Brisbane on Monday ahead of the Bangladesh series.
While the squad for the two Test series is small, head coach Andrew McDonald said last week there are 19 players preparing for the initial stanza of red ball cricket given the South Africa tour is only two months away.
With a tour of South Africa, the reigning WTC champions, to follow in October followed by four Test summer against New Zealand, which precedes the five match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in India, it shapes as a heavy summer load.
Australia set to host Bangladesh | 07:34
Australia will also host England in a one-off Test at the MCG in March to celebrate the 150th Anniversary Test before the WTC decider in June, should they qualify, and the Ashes abroad, but Border is pleased to see the front-liners playing Bangladesh.
“I’m a big fan of just playing our best side and if someone breaks, there’ll be someone to replace them,” Border told foxsports.com.au.
“That’s why you play Sheffield Shield. That’s why we’ve got hosts of young players just waiting for their opportunities.
“But I think Mitchell Starc last year showed that, you know, these guys are at they’re an age where the more they bowl, almost the better they become. So if you take Starc’s example, Joshy Hazlewood, hopefully he’s back to full fitness, and the skipper as well, I just think they’ll all be better for bowling as much as they possibly can and resting when appropriate.”
Border is not certain whether the upcoming series will provide a decent gauge as to where the Australian team is at ahead of the year above but is hopeful it will set the stage for the nation’s top-order to find form.
The Ashes series resulted in two day Test matches in Perth and at the MCG and Border believes the pitches were too advantageous for pace bowlers, which made batting harder and also reduced the time for spinners to have an impact.
Champion batter Steve Smith said there were moments in matches where it was better to be aggressive and make runs as quickly as possible rather than play conservatively because, invariably, it would not take too long to get out.
“The games I watched last year, we had a couple of debacles, didn’t we?” Border said.
“I mean we had green grassy tracks and games were finishing in two to two and a half days, so the bowlers had their way last year. This year I’d like to see some good surfaces, good, flat and true surfaces that degenerate over a period of time, where on days three, four and five things start to happen.
“For the first couple of days, it (should be) a good batting surface. That’s what I’d like to see and I think you’ll see our batsman come through, because it is difficult to go out there against a good hard red ball with the ball moving off the seam.
“What do you do? If you if you play it properly, you just nick one and get out. And then if you try and slog and get out, I mean, you’re between a rock and a hard place. So it’s very difficult for the batting side of the equation.
“That’s not about the quality of cricketer. That is about the surface you play on, so I want good surfaces that give everyone an opportunity, but particularly the batting early on in the game, and then the spinners and the fast bowlers come into it as the game wears on from there, and if we get that, then we will have some idea as to how our batting is going.”
2027 Ashes schedules released | 00:58
Cricket Australia conceded it was “bad for business” to have pitches that were too seam-friendly but while the message to curators around the country is that games lasting at least four days are preferable, there will be no central edict.
Instead curators will be trusted to judge the conditions, with CA head of operations Peter Roach saying in March those based in states were best-placed to monitor conditions and deliver a decent pitch.
“It’s inconceivable that we could ever control much more than we do now,” he said.
“In England, you could put in a central curator to go around or New Zealand, or South Africa, because the wickets and the clays and the climates are so similar.
“In Australia, because they’re so different, you could put the best curator in Australia to a different venue and all of a sudden they’re an also-ran for a while. Because they wouldn’t know the characteristics and the climate and how those pitches respond to that.”
AUSTRALIA 2026-27 TEST SCHEDULE
Two Tests vs Bangladesh: August 13-17 Darwin, August 22-26 Mackay
Three Tests vs South Africa: October 9-13 Durban, October 18-22 Gqberha, October 27-31 Cape Town
Four Tests vs New Zealand: December 9-13 Perth, December 17-21 Adelaide, December 26-30 Melbourne, January 4-8 Sydney
Five Tests vs India: January 21-25 Nagpur, January 29-February 2 Chennai, February 11-15 Guwahati, February 19-23 Ranchi, February 27-March 3 Ahmedabad
150th Anniversary Test vs England: March 11-15 MCG
Possible World Test Championship final: June 9-13 The Oval
The Ashes, five Tests vs England: June 18-22 Trent Bridge, June 30-July 4 Lord’s, July 8-12 Edgbaston, July 21-25 Rose Bowl, July 29-August 2 The Oval
Allan Border will feature as a Fox Cricket expert analyst during the series against Bangladesh.
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