Covid-19 outbreak forces postponement of India Women’s tour of England
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The ECB have confirmed that India women’s tour of England, which was scheduled to kick off on June 25, has been indefinitely postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak in the country. With ECB suspending cricket in the country till July 1, the Windies’ tour of the UK was also earlier postponed.
The Indian women’s team will have to wait further before donning the blue jersey and carrying forward their amazing run so far in 2020 as the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed that the tour, which was scheduled to begin on June 25, has now been indefinitely postponed due to the Covid-19 outbreak situation in the United Kingdom. India women were scheduled to play 3 T20Is and 4 T20Is against the English side between June 25 and July 9, but the never-ending Covid-19 situation in England has forced the board to temporarily suspend the series.
Chief Executive Officer of the ECB, Tom Harrison said that the board values public health over everything else in these unprecedented times and confirmed that there will be no cricket played in the country until it's completely safe to do so, provided the British government gives the go-ahead.
"As much as we remain hopeful that we can deliver some cricket this summer, we are in the midst of a worldwide crisis and our priority - over and above the playing of professional sport - will be to protect the vulnerable, key workers and society as a whole," Tom Harrison, ECB Chief Executive Officer, said, reported News18.
"That's why, simply put, there will be no cricket unless it's safe to play. Our schedule will only go ahead if Government guidance permits.”
Harrison also confirmed that the board is looking at rescheduling the matches as late as possible in order to give the best chance for the matches to go ahead. The 48-year-old also revealed that the Vitality Blast might be moved to the last available slot in order to accommodate a really short County season.
"Our plan is to reschedule international matches as late as possible in the season to give the best chance of play. The Vitality Blast will also now occupy the latest possible season slot to offer as much time as possible to play a County short-form competition.
"Our role as a national governing body during a crisis of this scale requires us to carefully plan alongside cricket's stakeholders and supporters to attempt to overcome COVID-19's impact on this season.”
Earlier, Cricket West Indies (CWI) also announced that they were postponing their tour of England, that was scheduled to begin in July, with the tour comprising a total of three Test matches.
