Edgbaston confirms Australian fixture in busy 2018 cricket calendar
Fresh from a busy season of major match cricket, Edgbaston has confirmed that it will be one of the venues hosting a game against next season’s touring Australian team.
England will resume battle against the old enemy in a T20 fixture next June, the England & Wales Cricket Board has confirmed.
The 20-over-a-side game on June 27 will be the only T20 match of the tour and it is the first time the Birmingham venue has staged a T20 game between England and Australia.
The game is in addition to a test match with India (August 1-5) and the now-traditional domestic T20 Finals Day on September 15.
Neil Snowball, chief executive of Warwickshire County Cricket Club, said: “Having just finished our 2017 major match programme with a record attendance for a NatWest T20 Blast Finals Day, we’re very excited at the schedule for next year.
“Hosting the first match of the high summer Test series was previously a regular event at Edgbaston, and we are delighted to see this return for 2018 and hope that it can continue for the 2019 Ashes series and beyond.
“We’ve not hosted an International T20 since 2014, so to host the only fixture between England and Australia is a good result for Edgbaston and it’s certainly an occasion where we will have to consider increasing our capacity again with a temporary stand.”
Tickets for the 2018 programme of major matches at Edgbaston will go on-sale to club members from Monday (September 11), with the remaining allocation released on general sale from 10am on Tuesday October 10.
Edgbaston has accommodated 203,770 spectators across its major match cricket programme in 2017, which has included five matches in the ICC Champions Trophy, England’s first ever day/night test match, versus West Indies, and NatWest T20 Blast Finals Day.
The 2018 major match programme at Edgbaston will be followed by a further 10 days in 2019, including five matches in the ICC Cricket World Cup and an Ashes test match between England and Australia.
