COVID-19: South Africa women's tour to West Indies postponed

Johannesburg, May 14 (IANS) South Africa women's upcoming ODI series against the West Indies, scheduled to begin at the end of the month in Jamaica and Trinidad, has been postponed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.Besides, Cricket West Indies (CWI) and Cricket South Africa (CSA) have also agreed to postpone the men's ‘A' team series scheduled to commence in Antigua in June.The five-match women's series was scheduled prior to the World Cup Qualifier in July, however following South Africa's automatic qualification and in response to the ICC's announcement on Tuesday of the postponement of the Women's Qualifier tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic, CWI and CSA on Wednesday agreed to postpone the tour. Additionally, both the cricket bodies also agreed that due to the uncertainty of international travel, quarantine requirements and the health and safety of both teams that the ‘A' team tour should also be postponed.CWI's CEO Johnny Grave said, "The health and safety of the players and coaching staff is of paramount importance to both CWI and CSA and with the current COVID-19 travel restrictions it is impossible for us to consider both tours taking place as we had originally planned.""We are continuing our discussions with CSA on the feasibility of hosting the men's tour later this summer and will have further discussions in due course on new dates for the women's and ‘A' team tours."CSA's acting CEO, Jacques Faul said, "It is a frustrating state of affairs in which cricket finds itself around the world but there are more important issues that have to be confronted and the wellbeing of our players and support staff must always come first." The West Indies women currently sit in seventh position in the ICC Women's Championship. The top three teams from the Qualifier will qualify to the World Cup 2021 due to take place in February in New Zealand.
--IANS aak/bbh/