Australia to shelve annual tri-series

Cricket Australia will replace the home triangular one-day series with head-to-head contests for at least two seasons from 2008-09. While the one-day format will change, the Test programme will keep its Boxing Day and New Year's matches until 2017.

There was concern South Africa would demand they host series around Christmas in the future, but James Sutherland, CA's chief executive, said Australia had succeeded in making those dates a priority. "There is absolutely nothing on the horizon to suggest those are in doubt," Sutherland said in the Age. "We know that because we know the programme through to 2012 and we've seen drafts through to 2017 and there is nothing to indicate there will be any sort of problem."

The large crowds guaranteed for the Tests in Sydney and Melbourne helped Australia's bargaining for the games, but a lack of interest was behind the limited-overs changes. The tri-series format was introduced under Kerry Packer in 1979-80 and Australia, India and Sri Lanka will end the run in the CB Series in February and March.

Australia's new schedule for 2008-09 will include three Tests, one Twenty20 and five ODIs against South Africa and New Zealand. The same structure, which has fewer 50-over matches, will be followed when Pakistan and West Indies visit the following season. "It's a better fit for us to have teams come in for a short, sharp visit," Sutherland told AAP.

Sutherland said in the Australian the new format would be a trial. "We are looking to move away from the tri-series in the next few years to see how it goes. That's not to say we won't move back to the tri-series, but to say that at least in the next couple of years we want to have a look at going head-to-head with one-day matches."

In the 2007-08 CB Series each side will play the other two four times before the winner is decided by a best-of-three finals. Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden have said the concept is tired and the format has come in for criticism when one of the teams has lost early matches, leaving the end of the group contest with dead rubbers.

Another addition to the programme could be a Twenty20 league involving teams from Australia and New Zealand. Justin Vaughan, the New Zealand Cricket chief executive, wants to investigate the possibility of the tournament with CA.

"It's something we're keen to discuss further," Vaughan said in the Sydney Morning Herald. "We think a trans-Tasman Twenty20 league is something that could develop." However, the emergence of the Indian Cricket League, the Indian Premier League and the Stanford 2020 has jammed an already crowded schedule.