The South African women’s tour of England has been cancelled due to international travel regulations put in place for the country’s sportspersons in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The South African women’s team, which last played in the T20 World Cup semifinals in Australia in March, was scheduled to play four ODIs and two T20Is in a bio-secure environment in England.
“It is frustrating that another opportunity for our Momentum Proteas to play against top quality opposition has again had to be cancelled but as always the safety of our players and support staff is the prime consideration,” Director of Cricket Graeme Smith said in a statement.
Cricket South Africa (CSA) has informed its England counterpart ECB that “they will not be able to accept the invitation to tour the UK in September 2020. This decision was taken due to the current international travel regulations in place for South African national teams”.
Last month, CSA had announced a 24-woman squad to begin training in Pretoria ahead of the series.
“They were expected to meet on August 16 at the Powerade High Performance Centre in Pretoria for their second training camp but will now continue one-on-one training at their respective Provinces. A revised training schedule will be announced in due course,” the Board said.
This is the third tour involving South Africa to be affected by the pandemic.
Australia was scheduled to travel to South Africa in March; however, the tour was cancelled as a preventative measure before the Proteas’ visit to the West Indies was postponed in May.
The Indian women’s team had pulled out of the proposed tour of England due to the pandemic last month. The Indian side was originally slated to play a bilateral series against England in June but it got postponed.
