Peter Gutwein,Premier
The Tasmanian Government is committed to delivering more elite sporting content for locals to enjoy that will boost our economy and put Tasmania front and centre on the national sporting stage.
There is no doubt an Ashes test match between Australia and the old enemy England at Blundstone Arena would be one of the biggest sporting events we have ever hosted and a massive boon for our State – potentially being the match that decides the 2021-22 Ashes.
Following ongoing discussions with Cricket Tasmania, including this morning, and the CEO of Cricket Australia in recent weeks, I can confirm I will be writing today to Cricket Australia to formally put our case for the relocation of the 5th test match to Tasmania.
The game is currently scheduled to commence on 14 January in WA, but they have made it clear their borders will not be open by then.
Tasmania has a proud history of representation in the national cricket team, with names such as Ricky Ponting, David Boon, George Bailey, Matthew Wade, and of course, the current Australian Test captain, Tim Paine.
It would be fantastic to see Tim play at Bellerive as Captain of Australia for the first, and possibly only time, and we will continue to work with Cricket Australia in the coming weeks to bring this to reality.
Tasmania has already shown on multiple occasions this year that we can successfully host elite sporting content, with a record 14 AFL matches including the two historic, hugely successful Elimination Finals in the State this year.
We have also hosted the first 20 matches of this season's Women's Big Bash League, and this weekend we will see the very first match of the new Tasmanian NBL team, the Tasmania Jackjumpers in the NBL preseason Blitz at the new Mystate Arena.
