CA unveils dramatic changes to domestic schedule to gear up for 2015 Cricket World Cup

Australian domestic tournament, Ryobi Cup will be a month-long competition held entirely at Sydney suburban grounds, as part of a dramatic revamp of the domestic schedule unveiled by Cricket Australia recently.

According to news.com.au, the new fixture for the 2013-2014 domestic season has been created with the intention of splitting up the summer by different formats, so players aren't forced to regularly switch between first-class, one-day and Twenty20 mode.

The move could have been taken to improve Australia's preparation for the 2015 World Cup.

Under the new schedule, the one-day competition will be played entirely in the month from September 29 to October 27, followed by the start of the Sheffield Shield season on October 30, three weeks before the first Ashes Test at the Gabba on November 21, the report said.

The first-class game will then take a hiatus from December 21 to February 7, when the bright lights of the Big Bash League take centre stage, the report added.

After that, the remaining Sheffield Shield games will be played, with the final held at the end of March, the report further said.

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said that playing the Ryobi one-day cup in a tournament format in October would provide a strong start to the cricket season, adding that it was the best way of preparing cricketers for One Day internationals and the World Cup in early 2015.