Cricket Australia (CA) is hopeful that pitches in the Sheffield Shield next season will redress the balance between bat and ball, but there remains confidence that the competition is preparing players for international cricket.
The 2026-27 men's state fixtures were announced on Wednesday with a rematch between last season's finalists Victoria and South Australia launching the Shield at Junction Oval as SA aim for a hat-trick of titles. There will be an increase in matches at the regular Test venues with Perth Stadium hosting just its second Shield game and first in eight years, the MCG staging three, and South Australia playing all their home fixtures at Adelaide Oval.
There will be a round of floodlit matches following the BBL break, staged at the Gabba, MCG and Adelaide Oval a month before the 150th anniversary Test at the MCG with the pink ball. Australia's Test squad will be in India at the time, but it will provide fringe players more experience under lights. However, there are no plans to trial the use of pink balls for day games to counter bad light, which is due to be made an option in Test cricket from October should both teams agree.
The day-night game at the MCG will also be important for the venue itself in a season where its pitches will be under the spotlight after the two-day Ashes Test last summer, when Matt Page's surface was rated "unsatisfactory" by the ICC. Any repeat would be a major worry for CA. The MCG will host its other two Shield matches before the Boxing Day Test against New Zealand and greater opportunities for curators at the major venues to hone their first-class surfaces is viewed as advantageous.
More broadly, bowlers dominated first-class cricket last season with the collective batting average of 26.01 the second-lowest of the last 20 years in the Shield, and the 34 centuries the fewest since 2012-13. There were also 420 fewer overs of spin sent down compared to the previous season but spinners had an impact, averaging 33.16, the lowest figure of the last 20 seasons. However, at Test level spin was so sidelined in the Ashes that Australia did not play a specialist after Nathan Lyon was injured and he had also previously been left out of the day-night match at the Gabba.
"We don't manage curators, we don't employ them … but clearly we have an interest in the outcomes they provide," Peter Roach, CA's head of scheduling and domestic cricket, said. "What we do know is we've got very similar goals to our curators.
"We all want to see a good balance between bat and ball. We want the games to go a reasonable distance … so when you're seeing games finish in two days and two and a half days, as the case may be in Shield matches, and we see across the board a season where we're seeing less runs and less overs of spin being bowled, they're things that we try and discuss with our stakeholders around the country."
Roach added that demand for certain venues, not just for cricket but other events as well, can make pitch preparation a challenge for groundstaff and the desire from teams to get results has seen surfaces start with more life for the bowlers.
"The games can go into real fast forward, as we've seen in the last couple of years at both domestic and international cricket," he said. "Curators will adjust. We think in some cases the stats show whilst across the board last year runs were down and spin overs were down, that wasn't at every venue, so we did see some improvements in some venues, especially some of our major venues.
"We'll talk generally to them [curators], but a little bit more specific at some venues to just highlight a few trends that we're seeing. We're really confident they'll respond and try and get back, as they do every game let alone every season, to the balance we want to see."
There was no consideration given to tweaking the points system with CA having looked "in depth" at how bonus points worked last year, while any significant changes to playing conditions won't be introduced. "The view from the national teams and the states is it [the points system] is still achieving what it needs to achieve," Roach said.
He added: "We think that currently our Shield cricket is preparing players well for Test cricket."
Starting the season with a replay of last year's final was possible through a favourable draw rather than a commitment from CA that it will be a pattern for future seasons. "It's not something we want to hang a hat on to say we're going to do this every year," Roach said. "But it's nice when it can happen."
There is a potential issue with the 2026-27 final, which will be staged from March 25-29 over Easter weekend, if Victoria qualify to host as it could clash with the Melbourne Grand Prix or its build-up. CA are aware of the possibility but are awaiting confirmation of the race dates before looking further at contingencies which could involve a neutral venue.
The men's domestic season will start on September 18 with the One-Day Cup where New South Wales are defending champions. The early rounds will include the first professional match under Junction Oval's new floodlights when Victoria host NSW on September 25, which is a local public holiday for the eve of the AFL Grand Final.