South Africa women's team tour of West Indies postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic

Amidst the coronavirus global pandemic, several sporting events have been cancelled. Cricket, in particular, has been highly affected. After the postponement of many tours and series, a fresh report suggests that South Africa women’s team tour of West Indies has now been postponed. The ODI series was set to happen in Jamaica and Trinidad later this month.

Apart from this, Cricket West Indies (CWI) and Cricket South Africa (CSA) have also decided to postpone the men’s A team series as well. That series was scheduled to take place in June in Antigua.

The decision to postpone the five-match women’s ODI series comes right after South Africa received direct qualification to the next year’s Women’s World Cup. The series was supposed to take place before World Cup Qualifiers in July. However, due to the global pandemic, the tournament has also been postponed. This announcement arrived on Tuesday, after which CWI and CSA decided to postpone the tour.

South Africa women awarded direct qualification to WC 2021

Considering the current situation, several factors played a part in the postponement of the A team’s tour. The uncertainty of international travel, quarantine requirements and the health and safety of both teams were some factors taken into consideration.

CWI’s CEO Johnny Grave said, “The health and safety of the players and coaching staff is of paramount importance to both CWI and CSA and with the current COVID-19 travel restrictions it is impossible for us to consider both tours taking place as we had originally planned. We are continuing our discussions with CSA on the feasibility of hosting the men’s tour later this summer and will have further discussions in due course on new dates for the women’s and ‘A’ team tours.”

CSA’s interim CEO, Jacques Faul said, “It is a frustrating state of affairs in which cricket finds itself around the world but there are more important issues that have to be confronted and the wellbeing of our players and support staff must always come first.”

The Women’s World Cup will take place in February in New Zealand. Three teams from the qualifiers will make it to the summit tournament. The West Indies women’s team are currently holding the seventh place in the ICC Women’s ODI Championship.