Cricket Australia expects to play all of its domestic competitions in full during the summer of 2020-21, including an early start for the Sheffield Shield, although plans could be threatened by Covid-19.
The Sheffield Shield and Marsh One-Day Cup will return to their full length in 31 and 22 matches, respectively, after being truncated last season due to the pandemic. The Women's National Cricket League (WNCL) will again have 29 matches.
Last season the first group of WBBL and Sheffield Shield matches were held at hubs in Sydney and Adelaide respectively, but CA's head of cricket operations Peter Roach said it would be the last resort of this season, with player welfare at the forefront. will be worried.
"We know that last year we expanded a little bit in April, so we've had opportunities by default to play in a hub before that," he told ESPNcricinfo. "We are aware that this has a negative impact on our players and staff. It's been a long season and one of the lessons from last year was that a lot of cricket's appetite was challenged at the end of the BBL."
The most immediate concern will be the early-season matches around Sydney - currently in a lockdown that could be extended into August - which includes the start of India's multi-format tour.
The home season is set to begin on 11 September - less than two months later - with the first batch of Marsh Cup games being played by the WNCL on 23 September and the Sheffield Shield first round on 28 September. The early start is an attempt to allow adequate recovery time between matches, especially during the first six rounds of the BBL which will provide vital preparation for the Ashes.
"We try to space out the games to give the players the best chance of playing in them all," Roach said. "The opening intervals need to be a little bigger so that the body can repair itself. Pulling those Shield games into late September has allowed us to get those gaps between games."
The Sheffield Shield final is scheduled for March 26-30, with the Marsh Cup on February 27 and the WNCL on March 6.
The Australia-England women's A-team series will consist of three T20Is from 26 to 28 January and then three ODIs from 5–10 February that overlap the first half of the Ashes.
The England Lions - the men's second team - will face Australia A in a four-day game run alongside the Ashes Test from December 9-12 at the Ian Healy Oval in Brisbane. England, whose players are expected to come in two groups that first feature in the upcoming T20 World Cup, are likely to include more intra-squad matches in their schedule ahead of the first Test with Cricket Australia, which governments To train them in quarantine about allowing them in an ongoing conversation with.
Other tour matches include India's women's team facing Cricket Australia XI ahead of the ODI series on 17 September and New Zealand men's also facing CA XI at the start of their short tour at WACA on 27 January.
All these programs are dependent on the COVID-19 situation with the ambition to run full domestic and distant programs involving regular interstate travel, which means there is always room for change. Winter Codes are currently facing huge challenges with Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide completing their fixtures with lockdowns of varying lengths.