Australia Postpones South African Tour Due to Coronavirus; Graeme Smith ‘extremely disappointed’ | Cricket news

Australia postponed its test tour of South Africa in March due to health concerns regarding the coronavirus pandemic, leaving Cricket South Africa director of cricket Graeme Smith “extremely disappointed”.

South Africa is battling a second wave of COVID-19 and a new variant of the virus, and Cricket Australia Acting Executive Director Nick Hockley said traveling to the country posed an “unacceptable” risk for the tour.

However, Smith was frustrated that the decision was made “at the last minute,” saying: “We are extremely disappointed by CA’s decision. CSA has been working tirelessly over the past few weeks to ensure that we meet all expectations of AC.

“Being informed about the CA’s decision at the last minute is frustrating.”

Hockley had previously said in a statement: “After extensive due diligence with medical experts, it has become clear that traveling from Australia to South Africa at this current time poses an unacceptable level of health and safety risk to our players, support staff and the community. .

“We acknowledge CSA’s extensive work in planning the tour, during which we made it clear that CA was prepared to take on additional costs and efforts to make the series a reality.

“This decision has not been made lightly and we are extremely disappointed, especially given the importance of continuing international cricket at this time, our valuable relationship with CSA, and our aspirations to compete in the inaugural ICC World Trials Championship.

“However, we have been consistent since the beginning of the pandemic that the health and safety of our people is always our number one priority and, sadly, despite our best efforts to agree on a biosecurity plan, the risks are simply too big at the moment.

“As difficult and disappointing as this decision is, especially for Justin, Tim and the team, we have a duty to care for our people and their health and safety cannot be compromised.

“We look forward to playing the series against CSA on a date to be confirmed in due course and we send our best wishes to CSA and the people of South Africa for a successful launch of the COVID-19 vaccine and a return to normalcy soon.”

In a press release, Cricket South Africa also spoke of “immense disappointment” at the series postponement, adding: “Player safety is always paramount and over the past few months, CSA had many detailed discussions with CA on Covid- 19 protocols.

“These discussions included assessing and managing Covid-19 risks and consulting with a variety of leading medical experts, including SA’s COVID Ministerial Advisory Committee. CSA worked hard to meet the changing demands of our Australian counterparts.

“CSA is particularly disappointed as South Africa recently hosted Sri Lanka in a biosecure environment (BSE) at Centurion, with no protocol violations. Currently, the Pakistan women’s team is touring the country in a secure BSE in Durban.

“Other than those two successful BSEs, CSA has continued its One-Day Momentum Cup at a BSE in Potchefstroom and no positive cases have been reported.

“Additionally, it should be noted that President Ramaphosa last night announced a relief from lockdown restrictions in response to the 75 percent reduction in new Covid-19 infections since the peak of the second wave in December 2020.”

CSA Medical Director Dr Shuaib Manjra said there was not much more his organization could have done to appease Cricket Australia, saying: “The protocols we had proposed to CA were unprecedented.

“Firstly, we had agreed that our own Proteas team would enter the BSE 14 days before the Australian team’s arrival, thus altering their planning during the current tour of Pakistan.

“Among some of the other key fixes that were made was that all four areas (two hotels and two locations) had a protocol to implement strict BSE with no contact with anyone outside of this area.

“We subsequently agreed to two independent EEBs and granted Australia full and exclusive use of Irene Country Lodge, which we share with Sri Lanka, with a minimum of staff present on site.

“In terms of the arrangements, the Proteas had to move into a separate hotel entirely. Also, all hotel staff, match officials and even bus drivers had to enter the BSE 14 days before Australia’s arrival.

“In addition, CSA had also committed to importing an Australian tracking system at great cost to ensure proper tracing of close contacts in the event of a positive test. The tourism team would also have VIP access through airports, after of government intervention to secure this privilege.

“These are just a few of the protocols CSA was going to implement. We really had gone the extra mile to make sure the tour continued.”

Pholetsi Moseki, CSA Acting Executive Director, said: “It is truly sad that after all the commitments and efforts made to ensure a safe visit from our Australian counterparts, the tour has gone off the rails.

“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 that the position taken by CA is regrettable and will have a serious impact on the sustainability of the less wealthy nations that play cricket.”

Without the tour, it means New Zealand has qualified for the World Trials Championship final scheduled for Lord’s later this summer, where they will play either India, England or Australia.