Australia-India ODI moved to Hobart after floodlight delays at Melbourne

Cricket Australia has moved the third ladies’s ODI between Australia and India of the 2026 tour, initially scheduled as a day-night fixture at Melbourne’s Junction Oval on March 1, to Hobart’s Bellerive Oval. The shift is the results of delays in putting in new floodlights at Junction Oval and the tight schedule.

The multi-format India tour was constructed round an Australian house window shifted to February–March due to the Girls’s Premier League (WPL) transferring to January and the ODI World Cup later within the yr. The collection’ itinerary initially positioned three T20Is in mid-February, adopted by three ODIs (Feb 24, Feb 27, and Mar 1) and a day-night Take a look at in Perth early March. 

Cricket Australia beforehand anticipated lights being accomplished a number of weeks earlier than

Notably, the Junction Oval’s new floodlights is not going to be prepared in time. Set up and commissioning work and the related spectator entry throughout building meant the bottom was not being safely or virtually capable of host a global underneath lights on the scheduled date. Cricket Australia had anticipated the lights being accomplished a number of weeks earlier than the fixture. 

Given the schedule’s constraint of simply in the future between the second and third ODIs, organisers concluded switching the March 1 fixture to a daytime begin was not a viable choice. Cricket Australia’s head of operations, Peter Roach, expressed disappointment at dropping a Melbourne worldwide this season, stressing the physique had been wanting ahead to the Junction Oval’s first floodlit worldwide. 

„We’re disillusioned we’ve got needed to transfer this match from Junction Oval and that there will probably be no ladies’s worldwide match in Melbourne this season. We anticipated the Junction Oval lights can be put in a number of weeks earlier than this fixture and had been wanting ahead to celebrating the primary worldwide match underneath lights on the floor,“ Peter Roach, CA’s head of cricket operations and scheduling, mentioned as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

In the meantime, Hobart now hosts back-to-back ODIs within the collection, eradicating journey and lodging logistics for groups, broadcasters, and officers. Followers who bought tickets for the Junction Oval fixture will obtain refunds, in keeping with Cricket Australia’s discover. In the meantime, Junction Oval’s calendar is about to be busy as it should proceed to host WBBL fixtures for Melbourne Stars and Renegades and different home daytime cricket as deliberate, slightly than worldwide night time video games whereas the lights venture is accomplished. 

India Girls’s tour of Australia 2026 up to date schedule:

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