New Zealand’s white-ball tour of Australia has been postponed indefinitely amid the uncertainty over the visitors’ home return due to COVID-19 protocols, the cricket boards of both countries confirmed on Wednesday (January 19).

The limited-overs series, comprised three ODIs and one-off T20I, was scheduled to be held from January 30 to February 8.

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) and Cricket Australia (CA) said they were discussing when the fixtures could be played.

“As we now know, the advent of Omicron prompted a change of heart from the NZ government, resulting in a hard 10-day mandatory isolation period being imposed on all incoming travellers,” NZC Chief Executive David White said.

“NZC and CA had explored a proposal to expand the tour and to push out the date on which the squad might return to New Zealand in the hope that might be more achievable for the government.

“Unfortunately, we received advice this morning that they could not provide certainty over this.”

CA said fans who have bought tickets would be refunded and it will confirm the schedule for the team’s T20 Internationals against Sri Lanka next month as soon as possible.

Australia are slated to host Sri Lanka for five T20Is from February 11 to February 20.

“We know fans will be disappointed and thank them for their understanding given the unique circumstances that the global pandemic presents for everyone,” CA CEO Nick Hockley said.