Fox Cricket legends break down upcoming series and Test opponents

It is the blockbuster schedule that shapes as the ultimate challenge for Australia, a legacy-defining stanza set to test the mettle of some of the nation’s best ever according to a couple of former greats.

After an August warm-up against Bangladesh in the Top End, Australia will tour South Africa before hosting New Zealand ahead of extended stints in India and then England for the 2027 Ashes.

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Australia sits atop the rankings in pursuit of securing a berth in the World Test Championship decider in June next year.

But much rests on the ability of its premier pace attack to feature as regularly as possible, according to Mark Waugh, who described the next year as extremely challenging.

“It is a big 20 Tests,” he told foxsports.com.au.

“You would think we are going to need to have our number one bowling attack on the park to be winning most of those Test matches and I’m not sure we are going to be able to do that, because there will be injuries and there are so many games, it is going to be a big challenge for a few of the bowlers in that Australian team.”

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Fellow Fox Cricket expert analyst Adam Gilchrist described the task facing the top-rated Australians as an unprecedented challenge of their physical and mental resilience.

“It is a packed schedule. I can’t remember a schedule so full,” Gilchrist said.

The former Australian stars spoke to foxsports.com.au after the announcement of the blockbuster schedule that begins in August and culminates in the one-off 150th Anniversary Test at the MCG against England in March preceding the WTC decider and the 2027 Ashes.

AT HOME AGAINST BANGLADESH

The Australians will play two Tests against Bangladesh in August in Darwin and Mackay and a four Test Chappell-Hadlee Trophy series against New Zealand at home, along with a white ball series against England in November.

While Bangladesh does not shape as the most challenging opponent in comparison to the nations which follow over in 2026 and 2027, the Top End series will be intriguing from an Australian perspective.

Although the Australians clinched the Ashes 4-1, stars including Cameron Green and Marnus Labuschagne struggled and questions remain at the top of the order as well after Jake Weatherald failed to cement his spot.

Josh Hazlewood did not play a Test and captain Pat Cummins featured in only the series clinching outing in Adelaide, which is a concern given the exacting schedule to come and the veteran status of the pace attack.

Waugh suspects there will be significant turnover in the Australian side by the end of the home summer of 2027-28 and is intrigued as to who will step out against Bangladesh given the potential to experiment.

“It is going to be interesting to see who we put on the park, who stays fit and what our batting order is going to be,” Waugh said.

“It is all up in the air. There are a lot of question marks around us. We are always competitive but there are some big questions to ask.”

Waugh flagged fringe fast bowlers including Riley Meredith, who took 30 wickets in five matches, and Victorian trio Fergus O’Neill, Sam Elliott and Mitch Perry as potential candidates to receive a ‘Baggy Green’ at some stage over the next 18 months.

“It is going to test our bowling depth, to be honest. Obviously with Cummins and Hazlewood, the injuries to them, that really tested the fast bowling strength (last summer) in particular,” Waugh said.

“It was great that (Michael) Neser came good and Brendan Doggett also, to a certain degree, but after that there was not a lot around.

“Someone like Riley Meredith – he has 30 wickets at about 17 in the Shield – is a guy who I think could play a big role in that period. He has raw pace and he is definitely one who could step up. Then there are guys like Fergus O’Neill and Perry and Sam Elliott – these are guys who are taking wickets, but probably on sporting pitches.

“You look at the Shield stats and there are not a lot of runs. The medium pacers have taken a lot of wickets, but that could be misleading. On Test match pitches, it could be a different story. Then we need someone like Cameron Green, whose bowling could be really important.”

A SAGA IN SOUTH AFRICA?

Gilchrist and Waugh have no doubt the ghosts of “Sandpaper-gate” will be dissected at length when Australia returns to South Africa for the three Test series in October.

While the Aussies have played white ball series against the Proteas in South Africa since the scandalous tour that led to significant bans for Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, the only Test matches between the nations have been played in Australia or at Lord’s last June in the World Test Championship decider.

But both believe the shenanigans will largely be reserved for those watching in the stands, noting there had been a reasonable shift in personnel on both sides, which includes the retirement of Warner.

“They’re achieving a lot of fine things, South African cricket, so that will be a blockbuster not to miss because of that reason, South Africa beating Australia recently (at Lord’s), and the return bout of that controversial, historic tour that is really remembered for all the wrong reasons,” Gilchrist said.

“The microscope is going to be on it. How will fans react? How will the crowd react? How will the players react? Do the emotions boil over or have they completely moved on? Will there be a flash point at some time in that series? We will have to wait and see.

“I think the players will have moved on, even those who were there and involved in it, but (there are) certainly a number of new faces on both sides, so I think the playing group, management, and administration will have moved on.

“But it’ll be all about the crowd and the desire for the fans to try and conjure something, to feel like they’ve got this free hit at the Australians. And so really it’s up to the Australians, who I’m sure will be expecting it at some point, and just how they deal with it mentally, how they deal with it internally and whether they are able just to block that out and just play their best cricket. So I don’t think the playing group will be carrying anything into it.”

The Proteas performed superbly when upsetting the Australians in the 2025 WTC Final and Waugh believes they will be even tougher to beat at home, saying “South Africa is a tough place to play cricket”.

“It is going to be a great series,” he said.

“I think the ‘sandpaper’ stuff should be long gone, really. There are going to be bits and pieces in the crowd who are going to stir up some trouble but I think we can just concentrate on cricket and I think the two best Test teams in world cricket at the moment are going to go head to head in three Tests.

“Hopefully that is going to be the main focus, which it should be, and it is going to be a huge test for Australia because I think South Africa have improved out of sight since their last tour of Australia.

“Their batting has gotten so much stronger and they have some great fast bowlers and they have got a lot of confidence. They are going to be testing material. They will be very hard to beat. Australia is going to find them a lot tougher than England last summer.”

Waugh is a fan of Marco Jansen and noted that Aiden Markram was now delivering consistently on the talent that makes him a world-class Test batter.

Gilchrist, too, is a fan of Markram, who was the Player of the Final in the WTC Final at Lord’s after a superb century in the second innings.

“(I’m) nothing but impressed by Aidan Markham. He’s a wonderful person,” he said.

“Everyone that I’ve known that’s come into close contact with him through franchise cricket or even that’s played alongside him just rates him so very, very highly. So he provides a nice stabilising influence. A talented bunch with a lot of belief? That can go a long way.

“They’ve got a mountain of belief and pride, which doesn’t necessarily always win your games at cricket, but it certainly gives you a chance to execute your skills well.

“They’ve got a very skilful line up there … and they seem to have a settled leadership group, be it on the field or off the field, with the coaching structure and the coach himself and working along with the captain.”

THE KIWI CONUNDRUM

The past two summers against India and England were blockbusters but Australians should not be lulled into thinking the challenge presented by New Zealand will be any easier.

Australia has held the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy since 1993 but Waugh is adamant the Kiwis will be harder to defeat in a four Test series played in less than a month than England were last summer.

The Kiwis are the fifth ranked nation in red ball cricket behind Australia, South Africa, England and Indian will tune up for the trans-Tasman series with two Tests at home against the Indians in late November.

“New Zealand are always hard to beat. They are a very competitive side and I think they will put up a better fight than England in a lot of ways,” Waugh said.

“They will put a higher price on their wicket when they bat. They will be more disciplined all round. They will field well. So they are going to be a test in themselves.”

The series begins in Perth on December 9, with Tests to follow in Adelaide leading into Christmas prior to the Boxing Day and New Years matches in Melbourne and Sydney, with the latter beginning on January 4.

While Australia has held the upper-hand in recent decades, a glance at the current individual rankings demonstrates why Waugh has respect for what the New Zealanders offer.

The Kiwis have four batters – Kane Williamson (4), Rachin Ravindra (12), Daryl Mitchell (13) and Devon Conway (=17) – ranked inside the top 20 Test batsmen, which is more than any other nation.

Their bowling expertise is thinner in the Test arena, with only the 4th ranked Matt Henry sitting inside the Top 20, but they do have the capacity to unearth an attack capable of performing well in the right conditions.

THE HOLY GRAIL

Tours of India have carried great significance for Australian teams this century and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series early next year shapes as a defining series.

Gilchrist was part of a generation determined to conquer “the final frontier” and captained the Australians to their last triumph in India in 2004 in a series they claimed 2-1.

This Test side has been extremely successful but a triumph over India in the subcontinent would confirm its reputation as one of the finest Australia has produced. But it will be an exceptionally difficult task against the 4th ranked nation.

It will be the first time Australia has played a five Test series in India in 50 years and the Aussies will have only a few days to refresh after the NZ series before heading away.

“It’s turning into that sort of Holy Grail status that, indeed, our generation had where we knew for 30-odd years the Australian team hadn’t been successful there, but had been quite successful everywhere else, home and away, as a general statement,” Gilchrist said.

“They’re aware of it, (because) the bulk of this group, or the more experienced players, have had a few goes at it now, and it just proves how tough it is.”

Gilchrist said the challenge of succeeding in India was learning how to deal with the nuances of Test cricket in the country and adapting to the contrasts that present from Test to Test.

But he said Aussies including Travis Head and Cameron Green, along with stars including Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, are now far more exposed to playing in India by virtue of their status as highly-sought after Indian Premier League stars.

“My recollection is that you have just got to try and learn so much from what you’ve the information, and the data, if you like, and the experience that you’ve garnered from the previous trips, and just try to work out, ‘Okay, how does that fit into what we know naturally from our game and then what we’ve got to change in our natural game plan and to tailor that to suit the conditions there?’” he said.

“But they’re all so knowledgeable in Indian conditions. I think they’re very aware of what they’ve got to do, it’s just getting over there and doing it across a five Test match series.”

Gilchrist has no doubt it will be an exacting series and said it is imperative the Australians arrive as fresh as they possibly can physically and mentally after the Aussie summer.

“We played a four Test match series and that was really challenging mentally and physically,” he said.

“But it’s going to be box office, it really is. And if Australia can get into that series somehow being a little bit refreshed – I think there’s only a couple of weeks, probably, between the end of our summer here and then the start of that tour, though those dates aren’t set in stone yet in India – but whatever the case, it’ll be a really challenging, challenging tour, but one that could be that final legacy statement for this generation of players.”