Australia Women tour of South Africa cancelled in the wake of Covid-19

In the wake of the alarming situation caused by the pandemic that is the novel coronavirus, Australia Women’s tour of South Africa has been postponed, becoming the first cricket tournament to be suspended. The newly crowned T20 World champions Australia were set to travel to South Africa for the very first time and were scheduled to play three One-day Internationals and as many T2oIs from March 22, but the tour will no longer go ahead as the world grapples with COVID-19.

The majority of the sporting events around the world including the NBA and La Liga have been postponed while cricket events like the India-South Africa and Australia-New Zealand ODI series are being played behind closed doors. And, so the suspension of the Australia women tour of the rainbow nation has become the first such instance, as far as cricket is concerned.

This would have been Australia Women’s first-ever tour of South Africa

Australia won the T20 World Cup by beating the Women in Blue in front of the boisterous 86,174 crowds at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where one of the fans, who attended the event, was tested positive for Coronavirus. Australia has now confirmed around 122 cases of the virus, as of Wednesday, which is significantly more than that of South Africa- 17.

The three-match ODI series was a part of the ICC Women’s ODI championship but its cancellation will not have any effect on the overall standings of both sides. Australia was the first team to qualify for next years’ 50-over World Cup in New Zealand while the Proteas Women too confirmed their spot after they beat the White Ferns’ in the three-match ODI series in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup.

Both of these sides met in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup where Australia- despite a valiant effort from Laura Wolvaardt- kept their nerves in control to set-up a date with the Women in Blue for the summit clash at the MCG. Speaking of South Africa, their men’s team is in India where the next two ODIs of the three-match series will be played behind closed doors in Lucknow [March 15] and Eden Gardens, Kolkata [March 18].