No matches in Darwin and Cairns for two years

After hosting Test matches against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the last two seasons, Darwin and Cairns will not get to stage international matches for the next two years. Australia travel to England next year, to try to retain the Ashes, while they have international assignments in 2006 as well.

While confirming this, James Sutherland, the chief executive officer of Cricket Australia, said that Australia's foreign tours in the next two years had caused the board to shelve the Top End series for two years.

However, Sutherland said that an elite international series was being considered for northern Australia in 2006, the details of which were being worked out. The series may include an Australia A side and up to three additional international A teams.

Australia is due to play Zimbabwe and Bangladesh at home in 2007 and 2008, and Sutherland confirmed that both those series could be scheduled for northern Australia. "We're very attracted to taking the game to new audiences when the international schedule allows, and we see our home series against emerging nations like Bangladesh and Zimbabwe as a good opportunity to do this."