New Zealand’s tour of Australia postponed due to covid-19 pandemic

New Zealand tour of Australia has been cancelled due to covid-19 pandemic. The limited-overs series was slated to be played in February but to New Zealand’s strict quarantine requirements lead to postponed of the ODI series. There is no clarity as when the New Zealand squad will be back in the country.

Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket Board discussed in detail as to what can be possible scenarios for the future. The scheduled tour consists of three-match ODI series and one-off T20I between New Zealand and Australia. It was going to be played from 24^th January till 9^th February in Australia. After this postponed, both Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket Board are working ways to find a slot for this series in the upcoming cricketing season.

Chief Executive Officer Cricket Australia, Nick Hockley, said that it is sheer disappointment that we won’t be able to see trans-tasman complete in the three-match ODI series. We will work with New Zealand Cricket Board to reschedule the ODI series for the coming cricketing season. He also appreciated efforts shown by New Zealand Cricket Broad, who did their best to make sure this ODI series can be played.

After lack of clarity on return quarantine requirements, we felt that the series couldn’t be played between Australia and New Zealand. Cricket Australia will be hoping that the T20I series against Sri Lanka can be played according to the schedule.

On the other hand, New Zealand Cricket Broad David White said, “Due to new variant Omicron, the New Zealand government has changed a lot of number of protocols, which includes a 10-day strict compulsory quarantine period for all incoming passengers and travels.

Cricket Australia and New Zealand is working on proposal in terms of expanding the tour on which New Zealand squad might be able to get back to the country. Unfortunately, the news came that the government couldn’t provide any surety on this issue.