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The International Cricket Council (ICC) board has given the ANZ Stadium in Sydney permission to stage international matches at the ground.

The decision raises the possibility that the venue, which was the 2000 Olympic Stadium, could try to poach the Sydney Ashes Test from the famous SCG.

Domestic 20- and 50-over matches have been staged at the ANZ for several years and, although the ICC’s ruling is more likely to lead to the ground hosting one-day international games, it could apply to take the traditional New Year Test from the SCG.

Dave Gilbert, the Cricket NSW chief executive, told Cricinfo at the end of last year: "ANZ is focused on getting a major cricket match to its venue. I know Test cricket will be a difficult one to do at this stage – and you have to weigh up tradition and history and the drama at the SCG – but when I was a kid growing up at the SCG, rugby league Test matches and union Test matches were only ever at the SCG. Not anymore.

"If you're a 15-year-old kid, you've only ever known big sport events to be played at ANZ Stadium. That's not meant to be an inflammatory comment – it's a fact. If you take the heat and emotion out of it, as CEO of Cricket NSW, I have to do what is best for cricket to generate revenue to keep this game going, and this is what this process is about.”

A spokesman for ANZ Stadium said the venue's primary focus was to attract ODI and Twenty20 international cricket, but would not rule out a bid to poach Test matches from the SCG, reports Cricinfo.