Out of season, out of the ordinary: Australia meet Bangladesh in rare home winter tests

MELBOURNE, Aug 12 : Australia begin a massive year of test cricket in unusual surrounds on Thursday, hosting Bangladesh for the first time since 2003 in a two-match series in the country's tropical north.With stadiums further south occupied by Australian rules football, Darwin's Marrara Oval will stage its first test since 2004 before the Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay becomes the nation's 12th test venue on August 22.Unlike the festive atmosphere of an Australian home summer, the country's first winter tests in more than two decades will have a different feel, despite familiar heat and sunshine.Marrara Oval holds about 15,000 spectators while the venue in Mackay, a coal and sugar port about 1,000 km north of Brisbane, accommodates around 10,000. Commercial realities and a crowded inte