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Melbourne: Australia's triangular one-day cricket series, which has been played since the 1979-80 season, has been scrapped in favour of two five-match series against the visiting New Zealand and South African sides.
The decision, which had been expected, was confirmed when Cricket Australia (CA) announced its domestic international programme yesterday.
CA chief executive James Sutherland said he expected the two five-match series to generate immense public interest, even if the fourth and fifth matches were dead rubbers.
"There is huge demand for the Australian public to watch the Australian team play, no matter where they play," Sutherland told reporters.
"That level of anticipation no matter where the series is alive or not is there, (especially) when you consider the (Australian) team only comes once or twice to each capital city.
"The anticipation for each match will be there and I'm sure that ticket sales will reflect that. Hopefully those series will be well fought and go to the wire, but we can't control that."
The triangular series, which had witnessed a drop off in interest particularly with matches not involving Australia, was first played between West Indies, Australia and England during the 1979-80 season.
Australia had generally dominated the competition, though it had lost the finals of the last two series to England and India.
CA is looking into the idea of establishing its own Twenty20 tournament in response to the success of cash-rich competitions in India.
Sutherland said the use of overseas players and the possibility of private investment in teams were all part of discussions with the competition tentatively set to begin in time for the 2009-2010 season.
Australia already has a Twenty20 competition involving its first class teams but Sutherland said given the interest created from franchise-based competitions in India, it was considering developing its own tournament along similar lines.
"We are currently looking at a revamped Twenty20 domestic competition that will significantly enhance the competition in this country," Sutherland told reporters yesterday.
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