Tour off but Black Caps’ summer takes shape

New Zealand Cricket is bullish about opening a full home international season in mid-November, with four men’s sides touring and the Women’s World Cup going ahead as scheduled in February.

Dormant since mid-March when their tour of Australia was abandoned, the Black Caps’ tour of

Bangladesh scheduled for August was the latest series to be canned this week.

West Indies, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Australia are all pencilled in to tour New Zealand in 2020-21 under the International Cricket Council’s Future Tours Programme. ‘‘I’m very confident we’re going to have a full season of international cricket,’’ said NZC chief executive David White.

The international schedule won’t be finalised until after the ICC annual conference on July 17, when a decision is expected to be made on the men’s Twenty20 World Cup, scheduled for Australia in October-November. All signs point to it being postponed, with the mega-wealthy Indian Premier League increasingly likely to slot into that time frame.

Talks were under way for England to tour New Zealand but White said that would not be happening. A draft schedule has West Indies and Pakistan playing two tests apiece, and limited overs matches, followed by Bangladesh and Australia for limited overs series only.

Assuming the IPL is given the green light in closed stadiums, reports in India say it will run from September 26 to November 8.

White said if the IPL goes ahead, NZC would keep the window open for Black Caps to play in it, then schedule the first international for later in November.

The White Ferns will be first in action for the 2020-21 season, with Cricket Australia already having announced trans-Tasman women’s T20 and ODI series in Sydney and North Queensland between September 27 and October 10. As it stands the Women’s World Cup is scheduled to run from February 6 until March 7, with Christchurch’s Hagley Oval hosting the final.