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New Zealand step in to fill Lilac Hill fixture

New Zealand will prepare for the Chappell-Hadlee Series in December by appearing in the annual Lilac Hill fixture in Western Australia

Cricinfo staff
12-Jul-2007


The 18th Lilac Hill game will go ahead with New Zealand playing the Cricket Australia Chairman's XI © Getty Images
New Zealand will prepare for the Chappell-Hadlee Series in December by appearing in the annual Lilac Hill fixture in Western Australia. The 18th edition of the match was in doubt due to the altered international calendar, but New Zealand agreed to use the game against the Cricket Australia Chairman's XI on December 7 to assist their defence of the trophy.
"We are ecstatic that the Lilac Hill tradition, which has spanned almost two decades, will continue," Graeme Wood, the Western Australian Cricket Association chief executive, said. New Zealand have a Twenty20 International against Australia at the WACA on December 11 before the first of three Chappell-Hadlee games starting in Adelaide on December 14.
Michael Brown, the Cricket Australia manger of operations, was pleased New Zealand Cricket had agreed to keep the game on the summer schedule. "I'm sure this traditional fixture will again be one of the highlights of the summer in Western Australia," he said. Sri Lanka will play two Tests in Australia in November, but India's delayed arrival means the first of the four Tests will begin in Melbourne on Boxing Day.