Former England skipper Michael Vaughan has taken a sharp dig at Australia after they postponed their tour of South Africa citing the pandemic. Incidentally, South Africa is battling a second wave of COVID-19 and a new variant of the virus.
The Aussies were scheduled to play a three-match Test series against South Africa later this month. However, CA’s interim chief executive Nick Hockley stated that traveling to the country will pose an unacceptable risk to the players.
“Following 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,” Hockley said in a statement.
Soon after CA issued the statement, CSA Director of Cricket Graeme Smith said that the hosts were extremely disappointed as the CSA was working tirelessly in recent weeks to ensure that they meet every single expectation of the CA.
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Michael Vaughan slams Cricket Australia
Meanwhile, reactions have been pouring in from all corners ever since the statement was released. Former England captain Michael Vaughan took to Twitter to ask if the Aussies would have taken a similar step if they were to tour India.
“The Aussies pulling out of the tour of SA is a huge worry for the game…Would they have pulled out of a tour to India is the question??!!” Vaughan said in a tweet.
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With most of the cricket boards suffering financial losses due to the pandemic, Michael Vaughan added that during this time of crisis, it was the responsibility of the Big Three to help countries who were struggling financially in the cricket world.
Incidentally, there was very limited cricket in 2020 and the bilateral series only started in the last few months after it was stopped in March 2020 when the virus started spreading.
“It’s so important in these times that the big three do everything they can to help out those without the financial clout …#JustSaying,” he added.
The Aussies pulling out of the tour of SA is a huge worry for the game … Would they have pulled out of a tour to India is the question ?? !! It’s so important in these times that the big 3 do everything they can to help out those without the financial clout … #JustSaying
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) February 3, 2021
