The deadly COVID-19 pandemic has forced Australia to decide against touring South Africa.
The Australians were going to play three Test matches against the Proteas in February and March.
“Due to the public health situation in South Africa, which includes a second wave and a 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,” Nick Hockley, interim chief executive officer of Cricket Australia, said in a statement in 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 Works Test Championship.”
Hockey added that they look forward to playing against the Proteas at a date, which is going to be confirmed by CSA.
