Australia Postpone Tour to South Africa

Australia has postponed their tour to South Africa due to concerns over the current state of COVID-19 in the country where a new variant has emerged. Australia was set to play 3 Tests in South Africa in March. Due to the postponement of the series, Australia has also hurt their chances of qualifying for the final of the ICC World Test Championship which will be played at Lord’s later this year.

In an official statement released by Cricket Australia, their interim CEO Nick Hockley stated that “Due to the public health situation in South Africa, which includes a second wave and a new variant of the virus, and following extensive due diligence with medical experts, it has become clear that travelling from Australia to South Africa at this current time poses an unacceptable level of health and safety risk to our players, support staff and community.”

“We acknowledge the significant amount of work by CSA in planning for the tour, during which we made it clear that CA was prepared to take on additional cost and effort to make the series happen. This decision has not been made lightly and we are extremely disappointed, especially given the importance of continuing international cricket at this time, our valued relationship with CSA, and our aspirations to compete in the inaugural ICC World Test Championship.”

In January, South Africa finished a home test series against Sri Lanka which they won 2-0 without any COVID-19 related issues and recently the Pakistani women’s team toured the country for a limited-overs series. The postponement of the tour will cost Cricket South Africa approximately USD 2 million in broadcast revenue. CSA’s current chief executive stated that “It is indeed sad that after all the engagements and effort made to ensure a secure visit by our Australian counterparts, the tour has been derailed. CSA has incurred significant costs related to the planning stages and the cancellation of the tour represents a serious financial loss. In this challenging period for cricket and its member countries, we believe the stance taken by CA is regrettable and will have a serious impact on the sustainability of the less wealthy cricket-playing nations.”

With Australia not playing their series against South Africa in this World Test Championship Cycle, New Zealand have booked their place in the final. Australia can now only qualify if the India England series ends in a draw of any margin, India wins the series 1-0 or England win by a maximum of two tests.