In March 2027, Australia and England will play a one-off Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) to commemorate the format's 150th anniversary. Australia won the single-innings timeless match between March 15 and 19 by 45 runs.

The confirmation of the anniversary match in Melbourne came as Cricket Australia [CA] and state governments revealed that the MCG, SCG, and Adelaide Oval had signed seven-year staging agreements for regular Tests.

The 2027 Test will be similar to the Centenary Test in 1977, when Australia won by 45 runs, matching the margin of the first Test in 1877. In 1977, Rod Marsh and Derek Randall scored hundreds, while Dennis Lillee took 11 wickets.

“The 150th anniversary test match at the MCG in March 2027 will be a wonderful celebration of the pinnacle format of the game at one of the world’s great sporting arenas and we can’t wait to host England on that occasion,” CA CEO Nick Hockley said in a statement.

The annual Boxing Day (Melbourne) and New Year's Tests (Sydney) have been confirmed until 2030-31. Adelaide has earned a seven-year commitment to a pre-Christmas schedule for their Test after the South Australian government pitched for the New Year's Test.

Although the current Future Tours Programme (FTP) is only inked up to early 2027, England and India have confirmed tours in the four years after that.

England will tour for a five-match Ashes series in 2025-26 and New Zealand will be the visitors in 2026-27. The latter series will be extended to four Tests from the original three on the FTP and be played in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney. Australia is then due to tour India for five Tests in January and February 2027.

(Reuters inputs)