Australia to tour New Zealand in February

Melbourne, Aug 27 - Australia will have a chance to win back the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy in February as their cricket team will travel across the Tasman Sea to play three One-Day Internationals (ODI) and two Tests against New Zealand.

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) and Cricket Australia (CA) on Thursday announced that the two teams, which reached the final of the World Cup in March, will take part in a 21-day tour., a sports website reported.

The ODIs will be played in Auckland (February 3), Wellington (6) and Hamilton (8) while the Tests will take place in Wellington (February 12-16) and Christchurch (February 20-24).

"It's going to be a great series. The Chappell-Hadlee Trophy is really special to us. Australia have so much talent and so much depth, they won't be an easy team to knock over," Black Caps captain Brendon McCullum said.

The two boards have made a commitment to stage six Chappell-Hadlee Trophy ODI series' over the next four years. Each series will have three matches - a total of 18 games - with New Zealand to host four series' and Australia two.

The last time Australia toured New Zealand in 2009-10, they drew the Twenty20 International series 1-1, won the ODI series 3-2, and completed two comprehensive Test victories.