New Zealand tour of Australia indefinitely postponed due to COVID threat

 New Zealand tour of Australia indefinitely postponed due to COVID threat

Kane Williamson, Aaron Finch (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

Just as when it seemed that cricket has returned to normalcy after the COVID threat, the virus is back wreaking havoc in the sporting world. The virus has accounted for several series in the last couple of months and it now has a new victim. In an unfortunate turn of events, the New Zealand tour of Australia, comprising three ODIs and a T20I, has been indefinitely postponed.

New Zealand government recently implemented a new COVID-19 rule which mandated anyone entering the country to quarantine for 10 days, which forced the New Zealand Cricket (NZC) to pull out of the tour. While Cricket Australia (CA) offered to extend the length of the tour till the restrictions ease out, New Zealand cricket stayed firm on not going ahead due to uncertainty.

“As we now know, the advent of Omicron prompted a change of heart from the government. NZC and CA [Cricket Australia] had explored a proposal to expand the tour and to push out the date on which the squad might return to New Zealand, in the hope that might be more achievable for the government. But we received advice this morning that they could not provide certainty over this, either,” said NZC chief David White as quoted by sacricketmag.com.

CA chief Nick Hockley was disappointed over the development but said that he understands the plight of NZC. Both boards are now working towards rescheduling the series in near future.

“We are extremely disappointed that we won’t be able to play the scheduled matches against New Zealand as planned, however we will continue to work with New Zealand Cricket to reschedule the series. We thank NZC, who made every effort to make the series happen, however, because they were unable to get certainty over return quarantine arrangements, it is simply just not possible at this time,” said Nick Hockley.

Rinish William

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