West Australian cricket icon Kim Hughes has backed in the decision to again play top-level cricket on Australia Day after the Big Bash League final was scheduled to take place on January 26.

Fixtures released by Cricket Australia on Tuesday morning officially locked in the date for the competition’s decider, marking the first time a BBL game will be played on the national holiday since 2022.

Hughes — whose birthday falls on Australia Day and regularly featured in games played on the date throughout his career — told The West Australian the news was “fantastic”.

“People can have a few drinks or a barbie and watch the game. I think it’s absolutely brilliant,” Hughes said.

“My attitude is we’ve got four or five major days on our calendar — Melbourne Cup Day, the Boxing Day Test match, Anzac Day and Australia Day — which we’ve had for many, many years.

“It is a very, very special day. It’s Australia Day and we need to be proud of that — not just because it’s my birthday.”

On Monday, Olympic gold medallist and the country’s first Indigenous federal parliamentarian Nova Peris backed in the decision and said she wanted to see the national anthem sung.

“Division gets us nowhere. I have watched so much division in this country,” Peris told News Corp.

“As an Aboriginal woman whose mother was part of the stolen generation, I feel their pain and I have my pain ... (but) I carried the Australian flag because it was the country I represented.

“Over time this country has taken enormous steps to achieve reconciliation. It does not mean that injustices still don’t occur. January 26 is a contentious date.

“But there is no reason why the Australian flag, the Aboriginal flag and the Torres Strait Island flag could not fly together or why they could not have a minutes silence to acknowledge the fallen and then go on and sing the national anthem.”

In 2021, CA stopped referencing Australia Day in their messaging and marketing, prompting criticism from then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

“I think a bit more focus on cricket, and a bit less focus on politics would be my message to Cricket Australia,” Morrison said.

“I think that’s pretty ordinary but that’s what they’re putting on their press releases.”

The BBL’s executive general manager Alistair Dobson said January 26, which will be a Tuesday, had been chosen for both its status as a public holiday and the fact it will come after the scheduled conclusion of Australia’s first Test on their tour of India.

“We understand that day means different things to different people. We fully recognise that and we will work with the home club and an advisory group around First Nations issues,” Dobson told News Corp on Sunday.

“We have to ensure we build an appropriate recognition for everyone on the day.’’’

International cricket was last played on Australia Day in 2024, with a Test between Australia and West Indies at the Gabba having begun a day earlier.

In 2023, the country’s women’s side’s star all-rounder Ash Gardner — a Muruwari woman — went public with her displeasure over playing on what she called “a day of hurt and a day of mourning”.

“For those who don’t have a good understanding of what that day means it was the beginning of genocide, massacres and dispossession,” Gardner wrote on social media ahead of a T20 international against Pakistan in Hobart.

“When I take the field for this game I will certainly be reflecting and thinking about all of my ancestors and people’s lives who changed from this day.”

CA opted to schedule last season’s BBL final on January 25 and squeezed a four-game finals series into a six-day window.

Then-Sydney Sixers coach Greg Shipperd — whose side was forced to confront two cross-country trips inside the span of a week for a decider against Perth Scorchers — said he would have preferred to instead play on Australia Day, given his view the schedule rendered his side unable to train before the game.

“There’s bigger fish making those decisions, but . . . if it was a holiday, yes, we could’ve played tomorrow and given our team a break and freshen-up going into the game,” Shipperd said after his side’s loss.