Cricket: Australia’s world champs will play all six white-ball games against New Zealand in Brisbane
A six-match white-ball series between the World Cup-winning Australian women’s team and New Zealand will be played in Brisbane after plans to take the games on tour were shelved.
A six-match white-ball series between the World Cup-winning Australian women’s team and New Zealand will be played entirely in Brisbane after plans to take the games on tour were shelved.
The teams will clash in three T20 and three more ODIs in September and October with all matches to be played at Allan Border Field.
The original schedule had the T20s at North Sydney Oval followed by the ODIs taken around various venues in Queensland, but a hub has now been created to enable the tour to take place.
New Zealand’s squad will undergo a 14-day quarantine when they arrive in Brisbane, and on returning to New Zealand there will be 14 days of managed isolation.
But those Kiwi players with WBBL deals will be released to their clubs after the tour.
“The team is extremely thankful to all those involved in making this tour a reality,” New Zealand captain Sophie Devine said.
“We hope the upcoming ODI and T20I matches can excite and entertain people in what‘s been a tough time for everyone.”
Just in case everyone forgot that this happened earlier this year..... 👇ðŸ¼ðŸ‘‡ðŸ¼ https://t.co/i6EEf1Wtvq
— Alyssa Healy (@ahealy77) August 13, 2020
The revised schedule comes as Cricket Australia said a conflict between the WBBL and the staging of the women’s T20 Challenge series in India was a “one-off” anomaly that was unlikely to happen again.
Australia’s stars have been denied a chance to play in India’s three-team round-robin during the early November window in which the second stand-alone WBBL will also be held.
India’s best players will also be prevented from appearing in the WBBL because of the duplication and the quarantine restrictions that continue to prevail.
But CA’s interim CEO, Nick Hockley, claimed the scheduling difficulties that have arisen amid the global pandemic made for exceptional circumstances.
“This year is an atypical year with everything going on,” Hockley said today.
“The reality is you have the whole IPL infrastructure in Dubai (relocated due to COVID-19 restrictions in India), and that’s been postponed and moved to a different timeslot.
“Hopefully, it’s a one-year anomaly given a lot has been disrupted this year.”
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