That was also the last time that Darwin's Marrara Oval (TIO Stadium) hosted Test cricket, with Thursday's match the first of two games to be played against Bangladesh as part of the 2025-27 World Test Championship.
Australia are looking to shore up top place in the standings, having won seven of their first eight Tests of the championship (4-1 v England, 3-0 v West Indies).
It begins an enormous run of up to 21 Tests in 12 months for the Aussies, who are also set to tour India, South Africa and England as well as hosting New Zealand and a one-off 150th anniversary Test against England at the MCG in March 2027.
Bangladesh were scheduled to tour Australia in March 2027, but the tour was pushed forward to make way for that historic pink ball game in Melbourne.
Mackay will make its debut as a Test venue later this month for the second game of the series, which could be the first of many winter Tests for the Top End after the success of some white ball matches against South Africa last year.
Australia have named a full strength side for the match with the infamous quartet of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon leading the bowling lineup.
Lyon is expected to come into the match during the fourth innings on a pitch that, whilst presenting green and grassy on the opening morning on Thursday, has just 4mm of live grass and could dry up quickly in five consecutive days of 30+ degree temperatures.
It will be a particularly special match for Darwin-born Jake Weatherald, who is the first and only Test cricketer to have been raised in the Top End.
Bangladesh have been in Darwin for more than one week, acclimatising with a troubled tour match that saw them bowled out for just 263 & 54 in an innings loss to a Cricket Australia XI featuring only two players (Sam Konstas and Kurtis Patterson) with international experience.
Australia XI: 1 Travis Head, 2 Jake Weatherald, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Cameron Green, 6 Alex Carey (wk), 7 Beau Webster, 8 Pat Cummins (capt), 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Josh Hazlewood
Bangladesh XI: 1 Tanzid Hasan, 2 Shadman Islam, 3 Mominul Haque, 4 Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), 5 Mushfiqur Rahim, 6 Litton Das (wk), 7 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 8 Taijul Islam, 9 Taskin Ahmed, 10 Ebadot Hossain, 11 Hasan Mahmud
Aaron Murphy has been with Flashscore since 2018 and, as the founding editor of the Australian newsdesk, has reported on-site at several major events in Melbourne including the Australian Open, State of Origin, A-League, NBL and international cricket. You can read his pieces here and contact him on X or LinkedIn.
