Australia, New Zealand and England to play T20 tri-series series in early 2018

Cricket Australia, New Zealand Cricket and the England and Wales Cricket Board have agreed to play a Twenty20 tri-series involving the three teams after the 2017-18 Ashes Test series down under. New Zealand and Australia will host England for the tri-series which will be the first of its kind series involving the three teams.

The T20 series will replace the Chappell-Hadlee ODI Trophy between Australia and New Zealand. The Trans-Tasman neighbors will co-host the round-robin matches. Each team will play the others twice before the final of the tournament that is scheduled for February 21, 2018, at the Eden Park in Auckland.

In the opening match of the series co-hosts Australia and New Zealand will clash at the Sydney Cricket Ground on February 3. Their next match will be played at the Eden Park on February 16. The Aussies play England in their first game on February 7 at Hobart and then on February 10 in Melbourne. New Zealand and England will meet each other first at Wellington on February 14 and then at Hamilton on February 18.

The Chappell-Hadlee Trophy 2016 was recently won by the hosts Australia. Despite coming into the series on a back of an embarrassing thumping (5-0) at the hands of the Proteas in the last ODI series they played in South Africa, Steve Smith & Co. managed to put up a better show against New Zealand and beat them quite comprehensively in all the three matches of the series.

In the Twenty20 International rankings at the moment, New Zealand is placed at the top with 128 ratings. England is at the fifth position with 115 rating points while Australia is on the other half of the table at No.6 as only one point separates them from the English team.