The Northern Territory will look to end a 16-year wait for international cricket in Darwin when Australia hosts South Africa in a white-ball series next winter.
Since then, two drop-in wickets have been installed at the ICC-certified TIO stadium and the Top End T20 series has been launched as part of the Cricket 365 branding in the region.
Last week’s Top End series featured four Big Bash clubs, Tasmania, the ACT and teams from Pakistan and Bangladesh, with plans to expand further.
Ten past and present Test players were in attendance, including Perth Scorchers’ Jay Richardson and Melbourne Renegades’ Marcus Harris.
However, Australia is scheduled to host three ODIs and three T20Is against South Africa in August next year, with negotiations between the NT Government and Cricket Australia also ongoing.
“I want that content. I’m not expecting all of it, I’m not expecting anything, but I want some of it. And I’m going after it,” NT Cricket CEO Gavin Dovey told AAP. “We’re putting the groundwork in place. We’ve got the infrastructure in place and we’ve put in some great cricket (with the Top End series).
“It’s not the Big Bash or international cricket, but we’ve shown that there’s a level of players that can play on this wicket. We have the pitch, it’s ICC certified and the weather is good.”
Prior to taking up the NT role in January, Dobby served as Australia’s men’s national team manager, running the national team’s training camp in Darwin.
He wants to make Darwin a reliable option for international events, with only the Territory and Northern Queensland being the only places in Australia that can host winter games, and with 2026 likely to be held in Australia.
“It makes sense to do a few T20s. We’ve never had a men’s T20 and there have been over 100 in Australia,” Dovey said. “I don’t particularly want content every 10 years. I don’t see a legacy in it. If you provide consistent content every one or two years, it doesn’t have to take 10 years for kids to see their BBL heroes or national heroes.”
Dobby’s growth plan is two-fold: firstly, to expand the Top End series to up to 12 teams, and secondly, to involve more Big Bash franchises and overseas teams.
Dobi wants to add teams from New Zealand and Nepal next year and said appealing to IPL franchises is a big draw.
“It’s an August window that no one else gets to play in. The wickets won’t be the same as ours due to the weather (elsewhere),” he said. “It’s an amazing window to go to the subcontinent, which we don’t get to play in easily this season. This event is awesome and it sets us apart from the international teams.”
