BCCI and ECB have been supportive of tours unlike Cricket Australia, reckons Graeme Smith
CSAâs Director of Cricket, Graeme Smith has reckoned that India and Englandâs cricketing boards have been supportive of future tours with South Africa unlike Australia, which didnât accept any terms. He also added that complaint against CA with the ICC is a message clear and loud.
While Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa were keen on having the Test series at the start of the year, the turn of events has toppled all those efforts put in by the South African cricketing board. CA pulled out of the tour in the eleventh hour, citing safety concerns regarding COVID, which has irked CSA, to the extent, that they have filed a complaint against them with the ICC.
However, ahead of the new scheduling for the country, Smith has revealed that his discussion with India and England have been progressive and also hinted that there is a real possibility that a tour to the two countries could be finalised over the next few months.Â
"Myself and Sourav go a long way back, and we've had a number of conversations. India in particular have been very supportive of us. Hopefully in the next cycle we'll have a number of tours against India that are pretty close to being finalised, actually. [ECB chief executive] Tom Harrison and the ECB have been brilliant as well,â Smith said, reported Cricbuzz. Â
âEven the way Tom handled the situation from behind the scenes [in December] with England was good. Those matches have already been rescheduled [though not announced]. There's been a joint resolution and an understanding of that," he added.
On Cricket Australia, Smith insisted that it has always been a âdifficultâ negotiation with them as both the countries are not on the same page. He reckoned that these things have to be improved and they have to be challenged for taking such last-minute decision for the importance of âworld cricketâ. Â
"Australia has been the one that's stood out in terms of difficulties. We never found the same sense of working together that we did with the other two. So there's things that need to be improved and we've got to ask some hard questions of them and challenge them. That's important for world cricket."
"It's important that the members get together and support each other and try and find ways to get as much done as we possibly can. That added to the disappointment of Australia. Everyone we've worked with has had that mindset and understood that. My sense is that Australia didn't, and that's what let us down. No matter what we offered them I doubt we would have been able to get them over the line," he concluded.Â