The New Zealand cricket team has called off the ODI and T20I series against Australia due to the New Zealand government’s hard 10-day quarantine rule.
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The coronavirus pandemic has once again resulted in a cricket series being postponed. Australia vs New Zealand series, which included three ODIs and a Twenty20 International, has been indefinitely suspended. The reason – the New Zealand government’s hard 10-day quarantine rule on return. The omicron variant has seen a surge in Australia while New Zealand has controlled it at Managed Institutional Quarantine (MIQ) facilities.
New Zealand was slated to play three ODIs and a Twenty20 International from January 24 to February 9. The ODIs were scheduled to be held in Perth, Hobart, and Sydney. The lone T20I was in Canberra. In 2020, the Kiwis and Australia played one ODI in Sydney before cricket came to a grinding halt due to the pandemic.
New Zealand Cricket and Cricket Australia then released a statement stating that they were discussing the future dates for the series. “As we now know, the advent of Omicron prompted a change of heart from the NZ government, resulting in a hard 10-day mandatory isolation period being imposed on all incoming travelers. ZC and CA had explored a proposal to expand the tour and to push out the date on which the squad might return to NZ in the hope that might be more achievable for the government. Unfortunately, we received advice this morning that they could not provide certainty over this,” NZC CEO David White said.
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With this series being postponed, Australia now faces Sri Lanka in five Twenty20 Internationals from February 11. The tickets that were bought for the series against New Zealand will be refunded. Cricket Australia has said they will confirm the dates and venues for the Sri Lanka series in due course.
“We know fans will be disappointed and thank them for their understanding given the unique circumstances that the global pandemic presents for everyone,” Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley said.
New Zealand and Australia had a Trans-Tasman bubble that allowed travel between the countries without any hindrance. But, the outbreak of the Delta variant in the New Zealand community forced the shutdown of the bubble. With cases surging in Australia, especially in Sydney, New Zealand shut down travel to all countries. The latest omicron variant has forced New Zealand to tighten the regulations further.
With this postponement, Ross Taylor will play in his final ODIs against the Netherlands. His Twenty20 International retirement is all but confirmed now. Australia has seen over 73,000 cases in the last 24 hours. New Zealand, on the other hand, has seen 43 coronavirus cases in the community in the last 24 hours.
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