Cricket South Africa writes to International Cricket Council seeking financial redress l after Australia withdraw from three-Test tour due to coronavirus concerns; Cricket Australia interim CEO says "unacceptable" level of risk led to decision
Tuesday 9 February 2021 09:49, UK
Cricket South Africa (CSA) has written to the International Cricket Council seeking redress following Australia's withdrawal from a three-Test tour over Covid-19 concerns.
Cricket Australia (CA) said the team would not travel on the advice of medical experts, despite South Africa's government lifting a number of COVID-19 restrictions and a sharp decrease in the number of cases in the country in recent weeks.
CSA said its disappointment arose from the fact that they had accepted every safety demand of the tourists, and that they were not consulted by the visitors before the uniliteral decision was made not to tour.
They also said CA's decision devalues the ICCs World Test Championship.
"There's got to be some understanding of how we manage the impact to less-wealthy nations," Stavros Nicolaou, the chairman of CSA's interim board told ESPNcricinfo.
"Unilateral decisions of this nature are punitive to less-wealthy cricket-playing nations and there has to be some discussion around redress.".
CA interim chief executive Nick Hockley defended the decision to postpone the South Africa trip, saying the "weight of medical advice and our duty of care to players and staff meant we were really left with no alternative".
Meanwhile, South Africa head coach Mark Boucher blamed mental fragility and failure to impress at key moments for the Proteas' 2-0 Test series loss against Pakistan.
Chasing a daunting 370 for victory in the second Test in Rawalpindi, South Africa were well-placed just after lunch on the fifth day on 241-3 but lost their last seven wickets for the addition of only 33 runs to lose by 95 runs.
Boucher - whose side were beaten by seven wickets in the first Test in Karachi - said: "The way we played in big moments really cost us. Our match awareness of when to tighten the screws was lacking. That is the reason why we lost the game.
"We didn't bat well, didn't field well but our bowling stood out. We created opportunities (in the field), we just didn't take them. That cost us, in this game alone, about 150 runs."
"I think it's more mental. There's lots of scars from past tours to the subcontinent. It's stupid ways to get out in really important moments of the game."
Watch the first T20 international between Pakistan and South Africa live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10.25am on Thursday.
