Black Caps’ Europe tour wiped out
The Black Caps’ tour of Europe is officially off after Irish cricket bossess admitted it was ‘‘not feasible’’ due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
The Black Caps were due to play five games against Ireland after arriving in Europe next month for a tour that also included 20-over and 50-over matches fixtures against Scotland and Holland.
‘‘It had become fairly obvious following the recent series of government announcements in the Republic and UK that the New Zealand series was not feasible,’’ Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom said.
The cancellation comes as no surprise to New Zealand Cricket.
Chief executive David White told Stuff in April that the trip during JuneJuly through Scotland, Ireland, the Netherlands and West Indies was in ‘‘serious doubt’’, while the White Ferns’ scheduled tour of Sri Lanka starting in April has already been postponed.
Calling off the first two tours is understood to save NZC around $1 million.
NZ Cricket has guaranteed its top players their full wages until July 31.
NZC’s financial hits will increase if it has to postpone inbound tours. The first of those are scheduled to be Bangladesh and West Indies in October before the men’s Twenty20 World Cup in Australia later that month.
‘‘It [T20 World Cup] is incredibly important, and if that is moved then the rest of the international calendar will be adjusted accordingly. We will have to rejig our international programme,’’ White said.
‘‘It’s no secret our big revenue streams come from international cricket, broadcast, sponsorship etc. If we’re not playing international cricket prior to Christmas that’s going to be a challenge.’’
New Zealand hosts the Women’s World Cup starting next February and White also hoped that was far enough in the future to proceed as scheduled.