Faf has strategy to save T20 World Cup
Former SA skipper Faf du Plessis says quarantining players for two weeks before and after the Twenty20 World Cup could allow it to take place in Australia in 2020 despite the coronavirus pandemic.
The tournament is due to be played in October-November, but there is uncertainty after the cancellation of other big sporting events. Some countries have also closed their borders and grounded international flights.
“I read that travelling is going to be an issue for lots of countries,” Du Plessis said during a live conversation on Facebook with Bangladeshi opener Tamim Iqbal.
“Obviously Australia is not affected like other countries, but to get people from Bangladesh, SA or India where there is more danger with the virus, obviously it’s a health risk to them.
“But you can actually go in before the tournament [for] two weeks’ isolation and then play the tournament and afterwards, two weeks’ isolation.”
The game’s governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), on Tuesday postponed qualifiers for the 2021 women’s World Cup and the 2022 Under19 World Cup. Both were due to be held in July.
The ICC said in April that planning for the T20 World Cup was going ahead as scheduled.
The Covid-19 pandemic has claimed another international series scalp in the form of the Women’s ODI series between SA and the West Indies.
The postponed series was slated to take place later in May in Jamaica and Trinidad but the lockdowns have rendered travelling almost impossible for international fixtures.
It is the women’s team’s second event to be cancelled because of the outbreak after the Australia series fell victim earlier this year.
The series was scheduled before July’s ICC Women’s
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Cricket World Cup qualifying tournament‚ which has already been postponed.
SA have already qualified for the 2021 Women’s World Cup in New Zealand by finishing third in the ICC Championship.
“The health and safety of the players and coaching staff is of paramount importance to both CWI (Cricket West Indies) and Cricket SA, and with the current Covid-19 travel restrictions, it is impossible for us to consider both tours taking place as we had originally planned‚” CWI CEO Johnny Grave said.
The postponement of the A team series that was going to take place in Antigua in June may have ramifications for SA’s Test and T20 tour scheduled for late July and early August.