Western Australia to play Tasmania a fortnight before first Test between Australia and New Zealand
Perth Stadium will host its first Sheffield Shield match in eight years in the lead up to this summer’s first Test against New Zealand.
Western Australia have been locked in to face Tasmania at the Burswood venue in round five this season, from November 23-26, less than two weeks before the ground hosts the Trans-Tasman Trophy series opener beginning on December 9.
The announcement comes as Cricket Australia released the full 2026-27 men’s domestic schedule on Wednesday.
It will be just the second Sheffield Shield fixture to be played at Perth Stadium after WA lost to NSW in November 2018 in what was the venue’s maiden first-class match after it was opened 10 months earlier. That match was part of a final tune-up ahead of the ground hosting its first ever Test match a fortnight later between Australia and India.
While Perth Scorchers men’s side have called the 60,000-seat stadium home since it opened, WA have continued to play their home games at the WACA Ground rather than split their matches between their top-tier and boutique venues like NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia do.
“We are pleased our men’s team get the opportunity to play a home Sheffield Shield match at Perth Stadium this season, as well as four (games) at the WACA Ground,” said Kade Harvey, WA Cricket’s high performance boss.
Full 2026-27 schedule
Sheffield Shield
One-Day Cup
“The Sheffield Shield match at Perth Stadium will also provide players, coaches and staff the valuable opportunity to familiarise themselves at the venue under match conditions before the NRMA Insurance West Test and KFC BBL|16 in the ensuing two months.”
The return of Shield action comes after the last red ball match at Perth Stadium lasted just two days when Travis Head’s rollicking 69-ball century in last summer’s Ashes opener saw Australia chase their 205-run target in 28.2 overs.
The speed of that match was primarily down to the aggression that both Australia and England played with throughout the two days, with the previous summer’s Perth Test against India lasting deep into the fourth day on a pitch that showed similar characteristics.
Regardless, this summer’s Shield match, which is scheduled to finish 13 days before the first Test gets underway, will provide head curator Isaac McDonald and his team an opportunity to finalise their plans for their biggest cricket event of the summer.
There is expected to be increased scrutiny on pitches this coming summer after two Ashes Tests – Perth and the MCG – were over inside two days last year, costing Cricket Australia millions of dollars in lost revenues.
The pitch for the first Test against England in Perth last summer was judged to be “very good” by the ICC, while the Boxing Day surface at the MCG received an “unsatisfactory” rating.
Domestic surfaces were also in the spotlight last season for being too conducive to seam bowling after the combined batting average across the competition dropped to its third-lowest mark in the past decade. Peter Handscomb’s haul of 688 was also the lowest tally by a leading regular-season run-scorer in 53 years.
The WACA Ground has been one of the Shield venues where batting has proved the toughest over the past two seasons with a combined batting average of 24.40, ahead of only the SCG (22.43) and MCG (18.70) since the start of 2024-25.
WA have won just two of their 10 games there during that period and will be hoping their return to Perth Stadium can help spark a change of fortunes in their home results, which have contributed to consecutive last-placed finishes in the past two Shield campaigns.
“What we’ve got in Perth is really similar conditions at Perth Stadium and the WACA Ground, but the ability to get our players and our curator at the stadium for a first-class game and at a good time of year, is a real highlight,” said Peter Roach, CA’s operations boss. “It’s a great experience for players and the curator leading into that Test series.”
WA will be seeking to square their ledger at Perth Stadium after Test spinner Nathan Lyon bowled NSW to victory with four second innings wickets in their last match there.
