Test tour of South Africa postponed

Australia’s tour of South Africa has been postponed, leaving Tim Paine’s team to face the agony of all but certainly missing the inaugural World Test Championship final.

Justin Langer and Tim Paine were hoping to lead a Test tour to South Africa

Australia’s tour of South Africa has been sensationally postponed, leaving Tim Paine’s team to face the agony of all but certainly missing the inaugural World Test Championship final.

That nightmare only worsens because Australia may be left to rue the extraordinary reality that being docked points for a slow over rate on Boxing Day has ended up being the difference between securing a shot at history.

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.

Cricket Australia desperately wanted to tour South Africa and help out the embattled cricket nation, but it could not be saved in a stunning blow to world cricket and a financial catastrophe for the Proteas.

South Africa is in the grip of a mutant strain of COVID-19 and Cricket Australia’s medical experts advised the tour was unsafe, with interim CEO Nick Hockley informing his counterparts CA had no other choice but to pull out.

“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,” said Hockley.

“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.”

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

Cricket Australia may also have a decision to make over whether it now shoehorns Justin Langer into coach this month’s Twenty20 tour in New Zealand instead, or simply lets him rest.

Selectors last week named a squad for the series. There are no contingencies in place, meaning the series could not be moved to another location such as Perth or the UAE.

Australia needed to beat South Africa to qualify for the inaugural Test Championship final. 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 against England to eliminate Australia – meaning the Aussies need England to be competitive, without winning by more than 2-0 themselves.

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.