Just wanted to comment in here again, as there was a bit of 'will we play Ireland' in the match day thread.
I think the answer is clearly and painfully 'no' as Sutherland will crap on about cost and how hard it is to get his contractually obligated television partners to turn up, but promise to play Ireland in a T20 match should we ever happen to have an extended layover in Dublin.
It just makes me realise, how much of a f**king trick we're missing here. We still only play test cricket in the seven capital cities main grounds. Why aren't we scheduling short tours (3 ODIs and 2 tests) in October, after footy season ends but before our 'main' series starts. It would be a great way to get people excited about the summer ahead, and a good way to get our players a bit of match fitness before the big tours of the year.
The arguments he would no doubt throw up against:
Player burnout - Irrelevant. This is when they'd be playing the domestic one-day cup and Sheffield Shield anyway. So there is no less cricket on the table.
Clashes with other sports - Footy season is over. Just try not to clash with the Melbourne Cup, Caufield Cup or Cox Plate and you'll be fine.
Broadcasters don't want to - You have a contract with them, dickhead. Given the number of international matches fluctuates every year, I dare say you would have built that fact into the contract. And are you seriously f**king telling me that with no football on broadcasters would go 'yeah, nah' to the Australian mens cricket team?
Costs of travel - You've answered this question yourself by minimising the costs associated with the domestic one-day cup. Try this schedule for size:
Australia vs. Ireland/Bangladesh/Zimbabwe/Afghanistan:
First ODI - Western Sydney (Blacktown D/N)
Second ODI - Wollongong (North Dalton Park)
Third ODI - Canberra (Manuka D/N)
First Test - Canberra (Manuka)
Second Test - Western Sydney (Blacktown International Sports Park)
Before anyone talks to me about Blacktown or Wollongong not being up to standard - Dunedin, Belfast and Christchurch are just pavilions with hills, The grandstands at Bulawayo and Harare give you tetanus just for looking at them and Malahide (Dublin) is literally just an open field with scaffolding grandstands set up around it. They would most definitely be of a standard to host matches of this scale. These are just a handful of grounds around the world that these venues are either equal to or beat in terms of quality - and it would give access to an entirely different group of fans. It would also dramatically reduce costs.
That is a tour that if you started it on the 5th of October (the Friday after the NRL grand final) would be over well before the end of the month, even allowing for a 2-day warm up match for the visitors between the ODIs and the tests.
There you go, Jimbo - that's how you play the smaller countries. It's plainly not 'too difficult' to organise. And I haven't even had my morning coffee yet.