Australia had earlier pulled out of a three-match Test tour slated for March-April 2021.
Cricket Australia (CA) has on Tuesday (March 9) confirmed that they are planning to reschedule Australia’s postponed three-Test tour of South Africa “as soon as possible” but only if the health situation and calendar allows.
Australia postponed the Test tour of South Africa scheduled for March-April citing an “unacceptable level of health and safety risk to players, support staff and the community”, which drew a lot of criticism from former cricketers across the world, especially Cricket South Africa (CSA).
Following the postponement of the tour, CSA Director of Cricket Graeme Smith launched a scathing attack on the CA for calling off the tour in the last minutes, claiming South Africa had made all the possible provisions and created bio-bubble as per the tourists demand despite facing financial problems.
Smith also lodged a complaint with the ICC against CA by saying the smaller member nations should also have their fair share of Test tours against the “Big Three” of India, Australia, and England.
Well now, CA’s interim CEO Nick Hockley revealed that the Australia board wants to mend their relationship with CSA and for which the "first step" is to come up with revised dates for the postponed test tour but said rescheduling the tour is “not a simple task”.
Hockley told Nine Network-owned newspapers, “We would like to reschedule it as soon as possible, providing it is safe to do so, and there is time available in the calendar.”
The CA CEO signed off by saying, “Now, that's not a simple task. Through the pandemic and quarantine periods, there is a lot of cricket that has been rescheduled. But we're right in the middle of constructive discussions and hopefully, those discussions will be resolved soon.”
(With Reuters Inputs)