Former English cricketer, Kevin Pietersen immensely criticized Cricket Australia (CA) for deciding to postpone their Test tour of South Africa and asked if the Australian board would have done the same on an India tour. The former England captain laos had had questions for the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) decision to pull out midway through a tour to South Africa last year due to COVID-19 concerns but going ahead with a Test tour to Sri Lanka.
Tweeting about the same, Kevin Pietersen wrote: ” No way @CricketAus would have not played India in a Test tour. It’s a really dark time in the world of cricket with CA cancelling their tour of @OfficialCSA. @englandcricket also pulled out of SA due to Covid issues, but players test positive in SL and tour goes on?!”
https://twitter.com/KP24/status/1356905987274379267?s=20
On the other hand, former English skipper, captain Michael Vaughan also questioned Australia’s decision as he tweeted, “The Aussies pulling out of the tour of SA is a huge worry for the game … Would they have pulled out of a tour to India is the question ?? !! It’s so important in these times that the big 3 do everything they can to help out those without the financial clout … #JustSaying”.
The Aussies pulling out of the tour of SA is a huge worry for the game … Would they have pulled out of a tour to India is the question ?? !! It’s so important in these times that the big 3 do everything they can to help out those without the financial clout … #JustSaying
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) February 3, 2021
On Tuesday, CA announced the postponement of their tour to South Africa citing “unacceptable” risk to player safety in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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In the official statement, CA interim CEO, Nick Hockley said, “It has become clear that traveling from Australia to South Africa at this current time poses an unacceptable level of health and safety risk to our players, support staff, and the community. However, we have been consistent since the start of the pandemic that the health and safety of our people is always our number one priority.”
Late last year, England had pulled out of a limited-overs tour of South Africa after a spate of COVID-19 cases in the South African contingent.
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However, the Test tour to Sri Lanka, which was itself postponed earlier in 2020 when the pandemic struck, went on despite Moeen Ali testing positive for the virus. England is in India for a complete tour which is scheduled to commence with the first of four Tests in Chennai on February 5.
