England’s tour to South Africa has finally received the government’s green signal. The tour would primarily be a white ball one and it comprises 3 T20’s and 3 ODI’s to be played between November 27 and October 9.
Thanks to Covid-19 and the bio-bubble protocols, the 3 lions team would be touching the shores of South Africa by mid-November (most probably on November 16th) and they would largely be based out of two venues down there, one being Newlands, Cape Town, and the other one being Boland Park, Paarl.
There would no spectators as per the norm and all the players as well as the support staff would remain under the bio-secure bubble to avoid any complications and contract infections of Covid-19. The squad would undergo quarantine but they would be allowed to use certain parts of the hotel to train themselves. The squad details are expected to be finalized by early next month.
This tour is expected to boost the CSA’s financial model as it has been suffering from economic hardship over a considerable period. This tour is expected to bring in $4.3 million approximately for CSA.
The CSA Acting Chief Executive, Kugandrie Govender was quoted saying, “This is a wonderful boost for Cricket and although all the matches will have to be played behind closed doors, I am sure that our Proteas fans will rally behind South Africa’s favorite team as they always do, but just on alternative digital and social media platforms.”
He also believed that England being the current world champions would add tremendous value to both the series and would also motivate the South African players to give their best to challenge the reigning world champions.
This series against England would be the first time where the South African (Men’s) cricket team be back in action following the pandemic hit, which cut short their tour to India back then.
It should be a thoroughly engrossing series with two proud nations locking horns against each other amidst the gloom of the global pandemic. As ECB’s chief executive Tom Harrison stated, “We owe it to the sport that we do everything we can to keep international competition progressing during the pandemic.”
The show (game) goes on, it definitely should!
