Australia’s cricket tour of South Africa called off; shot at World Test Championship final killed off

Cricket Australia says the decision to cancel the Test tour of South Africa was made after a contingency plan was offered to the embattled cricket nation.

Australia’s tour of South Africa has been postponed due to player safety. Picture: Getty Images

South Africa refused a lifeline offered by Cricket Australia to salvage the doomed series by moving it to Perth.

Australia has copped a fierce rebuke from Cricket South Africa boss Graeme Smith over the decision to pull out of the tour at “the 11th hour” in a decision that will devastate an already financially stricken cricket board.

But interim CA chief executive Nick Hockley revealed South Africa were offered a contingency to host the matches in Australia and declined the offer.

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Hockley also confirmed Cricket Australia will not ask the International Cricket Council to delay the Test Championship Final in June to allow Australia time to make the series up, despite the fact its cancellation will likely rule Tim Paine’s side out of qualifying for the inaugural showpiece against New Zealand at Lord’s.

In the other key development, Cricket Australia has decided to leave the entire Twenty20 touring party due to leave to New Zealand on Monday unchanged, resisting the temptation to shoehorn in coach Justin Langer and other leading stars.

Cancelling the Test tour of South Africa means the two series no longer overlap, but Australia will stick with a second string T20 line-up.

The cancelled tour of South Africa means Tim Paine’s team is likely to miss out on the inaugural World Test Championship final.

Cricket Australia desperately wanted to tour South Africa and help out the embattled cricket nation.

Hockley said Australia joined South Africa in sharing their disappointment that the tour has been called off, but made it clear CA had done all they could to still save the series after receiving medical advice that travelling to South Africa was an “unacceptable risk.”

“We’ve done an enormous amount of work with Cricket South Africa,” Hockley said on Wednesday.

“We’ll work through over the coming weeks and months when we may be able to reschedule the series. We did offer to host the series here but Cricket South Africa made that very clear that they’ve got lots of other commitments and quarantine periods and the like that wasn’t feasible.

“Certainly we made the formal offer to host. Cricket South Africa and we respect it entirely, made their position very, very clear.

“So we’ll work through when we may be able to reschedule the tour, which we really want to do over the coming weeks and months.”

Hockley denied accusations that Australia has prioritised playing series against superpowers England and India during the pandemic, with series against South Africa, Bangladesh and Afghanistan now all falling by the wayside.

The interim boss said the medical risk in South Africa was “significantly, significantly” worse than any other tour Australia has been tabled.

“We play every ball on its merits. We have learned a fortune since we started. We have the best medical advisers,” he said.

“Unfortunately at this current time in South Africa, we’ve just been presented with a risk profile that is significantly, significantly greater than anything we’ve encountered to date.

“With health and safety, we’ve found the level of risk to be unacceptable at this point in time and that’s unique to the current situation in South Africa and it’s very, very disappointing.

“We share their disappointment. We’ve all worked through this to make the tour happen. We all understand the importance of international cricket continuing. We’ve gone to great lengths to get to England.”

As revealed exclusively by News Corp, Cricket Australia received key medical advice that the team should not tour, and on Tuesday night it was officially confirmed that the three-Test series due to start on March 3 will not go ahead.

South Africa has endured a tumultuous second wave of COVID-19 this summer, recording thousands of new cases every day throughout December and January.

During England’s recent tour of South Africa, multiple fixtures were postponed after players and hotel staff tested positive for the virus.

The country has been battling a mutant strain of the virus and currently has a positivity rate with its testing of 10 per cent.

Despite the prevalent health concerns, CSA expressed its “immense disappointment” at the series postponement, claiming “the safety of players is always paramount.”

“Over the past few months, CSA held many detailed discussions with CA regarding COVID-19 protocols,” CA said in a statement.

“These discussions included assessing and managing the COVID-19 risks and consulting with a range of leading medical experts.

“CSA worked hard to meet the changing demands of our Australian counterparts.”

South African great and CSA Director of Cricket Graeme Smith said the organisation was “extremely disappointed” in CA’s “frustrating” decision.

“CSA has been working tirelessly in recent weeks to ensure that we meet every single expectation of CA,” Smith said.

“This was set to be the longest tour in a BSE comprising a three-match Test series that was scheduled to begin with Australia’s arrival later in the month. So to be informed about the CA decision at the eleventh hour is frustrating.”

Former South Africa captain Graeme Smith was scathing in his criticism of Cricket Australia. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Hockley said CA would not complain to the ICC about coronavirus robbing them of a chance of booking a place in the World Test Championship Final.

“I think we all knew the rules going on. I think this is what’s made this decision really, really hard,” said Hockley.

“We’ve done everything we possibly can to make the tour go ahead but at the end of the day we had to listen to the overwhelming medical advice. We won’t be pursuing that with the ICC, but this is just another reason why not being able to tour is so disappointing.”

Hockley had earlier informed his counterparts CA had no choice but to pull out of the tour.

“Due to the public health situation in South Africa, which includes a second wave and new variant of the virus, and following extensive due diligence with medical experts, it has become clear that travelling from Australia to South Africa at this current time poses an unacceptable level of health and safety risk to our players, support staff and the community,” Hockley on Tuesday.

“We acknowledge the significant amount of work by CSA in planning for the tour, during which we made it clear that CA was prepared to take on additional cost and effort to make the series happen.

“This decision has not been made lightly and we are extremely disappointed, especially given the importance of continuing international cricket at this time, our valued relationship with CSA, and our aspirations to compete in the inaugural ICC World Test Championship.

“However, we have been consistent since the start of the pandemic that the health and safety of our people is always our number one priority and unfortunately despite best efforts to agree a biosecurity plan, the risks are simply too great at this time.

“As difficult and disappointing a decision as this is, especially for Justin, Tim and the team, we have a duty of care to our people and their health and safety can’t be compromised.

“We look forward to playing the series against CSA at a date to be confirmed in due course and we send CSA and the people of South Africa our very best wishes for a successful rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine and a return to normality soon.”

Australia had already named a squad for the South Africa tour, which included David Warner. Picture: AFP

Abandoning the series due to medical safety concerns, instantly removes any doubt over Paine captaining Australia in next summer’s Ashes.

Selectors last week named a squad for the series, which was crucial to Australia’s hopes of qualifying for the Test Championship but Cricket Australia would not compromise on the safety of its players and staff, and could not guarantee their wellbeing on the road.

There are no contingencies in place, meaning it appears unlikely the series could be moved to another location like Perth or the UAE in the same timeslot.

Australia needed to beat South Africa to achieve their two-year goal of qualifying for the inaugural showpiece.

But they now have to rely on the mathematics of England’s tour of India to be any chance of sneaking into a June decider against New Zealand at Lord’s.

Essentially, India only needs to win two Tests and draw one of the other two Tests against England to eliminate Australia — meaning the Aussies need England to be competitive, without winning by more than 2-0 themselves.

CA interim chief Nick Hockley says Australia had no choice but to pull out of the South Africa tour on medical advice. Picture: Getty Images

Despite their chastening loss at home to India — Australia would have already qualified for the final had match referee David Boon not smashed them with a points penalty for having a slow over-rate at the MCG during the Boxing Day Test.

Australia obliterated New Zealand last summer, yet the Black Caps have leapfrogged them into the final in a painful reminder of how costly the Indian series has been.

The South African tour being shifted out of the calendar has killed off the potential for an epic rematch against India at Lord’s, but as disappointed as Australia will be, in an a funny way it might give the side a more settled feel leading into next summer’s Ashes.

Cricket Australia has already given Paine their strongest backing and without another Test series between now and the Ashes, the 36-year-old keeper will be locked in as leader with no risk of any speedbumps on the horizon.

It could also be an intriguing change in landscape for Langer, after a week where whispers have come out of the Australian dressing room about his coaching methods.

With South Africa off, Langer may not get in front of his group again until the lead-in to October’s World Twenty20 in India, although there is now a possibility he could join the touring party headed for New Zealand next week instead — because a schedule clash between two Australian teams has been averted.

Originally published as Australia’s cricket tour of South Africa called off; shot at World Test Championship final killed off