Cricket South Africa (CSA) was left infuriated by the decision of Australians pulling out of their much-talked-about tour to South Africa. A recent COVID wave in the country has made the government think about the safety and security of the players after which Cricket Australia came out with an official statement of them pulling out from the tour which was deliberately termed as postponed. The series was called off less than 24 hours after Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s president, told the country that the daily number of new cases of the virus had eased enough to suspend a ban on the sale of alcohol and public access to beaches, and to relax a nationwide nighttime curfew by two hours.
Meanwhile, Cricket South Africa too have expressed their anger after Nick Hockley, Cricket Australia’s Chief Interim Executive announced Australia’s willingness to postpone the tour. What it does is that it complicates Australia’s chance of making it to the finals of the World Test Championship. Meanwhile, New Zealand have already booked a berth in the final after Australia’s decision to back out from the tour.
CSA and CA were in talks for a length of time before finalising the tour and now the latter’s disinterest has irked the former. In their response, Cricket South Africa have just not used unparliamentary words and have expressed their anger using other words.
Also Read: Australia Announce Squads For South Africa Tour
CSA’s Statement After Cricket Australia’s Decision To Pull Out
ANNOUNCEMENT: Cricket South Africa was informed by Cricket Australia that their scheduled tour to SA will not be going ahead due to Covid-19 fears.
“We are extremely disappointed by the decision of CA,” Director of Cricket, Graeme Smith, stated. 🗣 pic.twitter.com/NW0ZfyMFbT
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) February 2, 2021
The CSA release quoted Graeme Smith, the director of cricket, as saying: “This was set to be the longest tour in a bio-secure environment (BSE), comprising a three-match Test series that was scheduled to begin with Australia’s arrival later in the month. So to be informed about the CA decision at the eleventh hour is frustrating.”
The cancellation of the Australia tour has put CSA’s international calendar into jeopardy. Pakistan are due in the country for a white-ball tour in April. This means till April, South Africa will play no cricket after their ongoing tour to Pakistan. In between, they will have a few players participating in the IPL this year.
Also Read: Australia’s Tour Of South Africa Postponed Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
