Sri Lanka, Australia and Pakistan to follow suit of England to tour South Africa
SA set to host many nations
|With England set to tour South Africa, with the series starting on November 27, Cricket South Africa announced a bumper home season with Sri Lanka, Australia and Pakistan touring. All matches will take place in a bio-secure bubble and will be closed to the public for the entirety of it.
Even though the entire Cricket South Africa board resigned from their positions, raising the chaos level to an all-time high, the board have managed to put together an impressive set of home summer with an already-announced England kick-starting the proceedings. Sri Lanka, Australia and Pakistan have already said yes to the itinerary, with Sri Lanka playing the Boxing Day Test.
Once the England series comes to an end on December 9, Sri Lanka will play two Tests from December 26 to January 7. While Australia will be playing a three-match Test series in February and March, which will be Steve Smith and David Warnerās return to South Africa for the first time since the Newlands scandal, Pakistan will be around for three ODIs and three T20Is, ending in April after which most of the South African players will take part in the IPL.
"Gratitude... to the boards of England, Sri Lanka, Australia and Pakistan for their agreement to these tours and assisting us in bringing to the South African public under the 'new normal' that COVID-19 has presented us,ā Kugandrie Govender, CSA's acting chief executive, said in a release, reported Cricbuzz.
"[The schedule] comes as a result of many hours of dedication, negotiation and hard work by individuals behind the scenes to ensure that our fans have an exciting line-up of cricket to look forward to throughout the summer and, although the matches will be played behind closed doors, we will have enough entertainment to make them feel as though they are a part of match-day activities," he added.
Almost after a century, Johannesburg will host the New Year Test and will be played at the current Wanderers. Previous matches of the particular celebratory event of the South African summer staged in Johannesburg was in 1906, 1910 and 1914 and were played at the old Wanderers. Boxing Day Test will be played in Centurion.
