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Doubts are growing that Australian coach Justin Langer, Pat Cummins and Tim Paine will tour South Africa amid Covid-19.
Kane Williamson and his Black Caps cricketers are assured of a World Trials Championship final in the UK in June after Australia’s three-trial cricket tour of South Africa was postponed on Tuesday.
Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley said that the Covid-19 situation in South Africa, hit by a second wave and a new variant of the virus, “poses an unacceptable level of risk to the health and safety of our players,” support staff and the community. “
Australia needed to win two events in South Africa and prevent their hosts from winning one, to secure their place in the WTC opening decider, scheduled for June 18-22 at the Rose Bowl at Lord’s or Southampton.
But now they cannot pass New Zealand, which looks destined to face India in the decider, unless the latter collapses spectacularly against England in their next four-test series in India.
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* ‘Amazing game of cricket’ – Kane Williamson’s reaction to Australia v India stunner
* What Gabba’s victory in India means for the Black Caps and the World Trials Championship
* ‘Continuing’: Tim Paine plans to continue as Australian test captain despite loss in the India series
After 2-0 series wins at home over the West Indies and Pakistan, New Zealand moved to 70 percent of total points contested under the revised scoring system amid the pandemic.
After their loss to India in Brisbane, Australia ranks third with 69.2 percent, while India leads with 71.7. Points were taken from Australia for a time overtime which was crucial in their final total.
New Zealand’s WTC calendar is complete and cannot fall below 70 percent, but India can if they suffer losses to England in the four-round series that begins this weekend.
New Zealand is scheduled to play two rounds in England before the WTC final, at Lord’s and Edgbaston in the first half of June.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Sydney Daily Telegraph reported that the tour was in “serious trouble” due to security obstacles.
Kai Schwoerer / Getty Images
With a 2-0 sweep in the test series over Pakistan, the Black Caps gave themselves a great opportunity to reach the WTC final in June.
The Telegraph article said that Cricket Australia had not given up on the tour, which was set to run between Centurion and Johannesburg with testing on March 3, March 12 and March 21.
But he continued: “They [CA] You must be convinced by the biosecurity measures that Cricket South Africa is proposing, and there are also logistical complications associated with the team’s return to Australia after the series is over.
“The tours go against government travel and safety advice and there are concerns about what would happen if, in the worst case, an Australian player got sick.
“Could that individual return to Australia? Would the whole team have to wait until the results were negative? “
The Australian national teams named two squads last week, one for South Africa and a Twenty20 squad to play against the Black Caps in five games starting February 22 in Christchurch.
Captain Aaron Finch and his second row team are scheduled to fly to New Zealand on Sunday to begin their 14 days of managed isolation.
A cancellation from South Africa could also mean that some of the test stars increase Australia’s ranks in the T20 series in New Zealand.
