Ashes: Hobart replaces Perth for 5th Test to be played in day-night format

Cricket Australia confirmed on Saturday that the Bellerive Oval in Hobart will host the fifth and final Test of the Ashes series from January 14. For the first time in the history of the Ashes series, two day-night Tests will be played as the second match. The final matches in Adelaide and in Hobart are to be played with the pink ball.

Cricket fans in Tasmania have received gifts early in Christmas as Hobart will host the Ashes Test for the first time in history.

The 5th and final Test of the Ashes series was originally scheduled to be played in Perth for the same dates, but the match had to be called off due to COVID-19-related quarantine and state border restrictions in the Western Australian capital.

It will be the first Test match in Hobart since 2016 – and the last Test did not go down well for Australia. In a match that ended within four days on 15 November that year, South Africa defeated the home team by an innings and 80 runs.

Hobart was to host the Test match between Australia and Afghanistan last month. It would have been a first between the teams but was canceled by Cricket Australia following the takeover of the Taliban in Afghanistan and the new regime’s ban on the women’s game.

The first Ashes Test between Australia and England came to an end within 4 days, with Pat Cummins’ men winning by 9 wickets. Joe Root and Rory Burns led a strong fight on the third day with a 162-run partnership, but England fell on Saturday morning but avoided an innings defeat.