Complications related to the COVID-19 pandemic will result in the latest ever finish to domestic one-day competition, with the tournament to run from February 15-April 11. Each state will contest five matches – reduced from seven in the last edition of the Marsh One-Day Cup in 2019 – before the top two advances to the final. The Marsh Sheffield Shield will run concurrently, making for a feast of state cricket in coming weeks. 

Each relevant state will make determinations about crowd attendance based on the public health situation at the time.

The season opener between NSW and Victoria at North Sydney Oval on Monday will be open to the public, with 1000 free tickets available. In line with COVID-19 protocols, those planning to attend must redeem their free ticket online prior to entry and sit in the area designated to them.

The new big names comes out for this series

The tournament is set to showcase some of the country’s leading players after Australia’s Test tour of South Africa was postponed. This means the opening match between NSW and Victoria could, subject to availability and fitness, feature the likes of Sean Abbott, Pat Cummins, Moises Henriques, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith, Marcus Harris and James Pattinson.

Queensland duo Marnus Labuschagne, Mark Steketee and Mitch Swepson could also take the field, along with Travis Head, Alex Carey (both South Australia), Test captain Tim Paine (Tasmania) and Cameron Green (Western Australia).

Several big names are expected to leave Australia before the end of the season to take part in the 2021 Indian Premier League – which will reportedly start on April 11 – while some members of Australia’s T20 squad currently in New Zealand are expected to return to their state sides once that tour finishes on March 7.

Matches will be playing at –

Games have again been fixtured to be played in all six major cities. Boutique grounds like Melbourne’s Junction Oval, Brisbane’s Allan Border Field, and North Sydney Oval will be used again, while matches will also be staged at some of Australia’s major venues, including the WACA, Adelaide Oval, the Gabba, and Hobart’s Blundstone Arena.