Former England captain-turned-commentator Nasser Hussain finds it 'incredibly odd' that England didn't carry their tour of South Africa despite having an extended squad.

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According to Nasser, other teams had helped ECB save a lot of money by touring them this summer and England should have done the same to South Africa in this hour of need.

The ODI series between South Africa and England was postponed on Monday (December 7) on safety grounds after multiple instances of bubble breach, employed for the fixtures amid COVID-19 pandemic.

"There are questions to answer. For one, it does seem incredibly odd that an England squad who have not been affected by Covid at all during their stay in South Africa have upped sticks and gone home with three games left to play," Hussain wrote in his column for Daily Mail.

"Maybe down the line, the players might look back on this and think, 'Could we have played those games? Was it that bad?'

"After all, they only have to think back to the summer to remember what West Indies, Pakistan, Australia and Ireland did to make sure the English season could take place in full. It saved millions of pounds for the ECB.

"Then look at all the effort and money Cricket South Africa put into this short tour to make sure the lights could be kept switched on for international cricket.

"Could England, who brought an enlarged squad here to cope with this sort of situation, not have played those 50-over games? Could they have reacted differently in South Africa's hour of need?"

Hussain also expressed surprise that England didn't head home immediately after the tour was called off.

"There are some peculiarities here. Once England had said on Monday they would not fulfil the fixtures, I thought they would be out of here immediately on their charter flight. But they are staying in the bubble — that has been breached — until Thursday. Wouldn't it have been better to get out and play than stay in the affected hotel?"

Nasser Hussain, however, agrees with ECB’s director of cricket, Ashley Giles, that the players were not in the right frame of mind to play the remaining games.

"But, as Giles said, they cannot have been in the right frame of mind to play and the bottom line is that it has been affecting the players' mental health, while bubble fatigue after nine months of playing cricket in an unnatural environment is kicking in," he wrote.

"...if the ECB are rightfully saying the players' well-being is their primary concern then they had little option than to listen when the team told them this week they were feeling anxious and wanted out.

"It would have been double standards from Giles and Co if they hadn't reacted the way they've done this week."