The South African cricket team were scheduled to host the Australian team in February last year but due to the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic the series had to be postponed ultimately. The Cricket South Africa (CSA) now announced new dates for two bilateral series that will take place in the next year- 2023.
Cricket South Africa Director of Cricket Graeme Smith recently announced the new dates for the England series (which was originally scheduled to be played in December 2020) and the Australia series (which was originally scheduled to be played in 2021). South Africa will now host the English team and the Aussies in 2023.
The new dates
According to Smith, the series against the England team is expected to take place around February-March next year and the Proteas will host the Aussies in August 2023.
“England, I think, is around Feb-March next year and then Australia is in August 2023 to replace the [Test series postponed in 2021]. That will be announced sometime soon,” Smith was quoted while talking to SuperSport.
The pandemic has caused enormous trouble to almost every single sporting event in the world and South Africa cricket has been no exception from that aspect. While talking about rescheduling the fixtures, Smith admitted that it has been challenging to find dates for cricket matches.
It is a 'challenge'
“With series lost in Covid and the challenge is you have eight white-ball events in eight years now, you have got IPL extending – trying to fit your calendar cycle in is a great challenge for everybody. So you need to review, you need to stay with the times. And you need to make sure we keep putting South African cricket on the map.
“Our team – both men and women – needs to be performing well and be recognised and people want to play us. But we need to make sure when things are happening in world cricket South Africa is at the forefront,” the 40-year-old former South Africa skipper explained.
The South African Test team under the leadership of Dean Elgar fought bravely and defeated India in the three-match Test series 2-1. After losing the first Test, the hosts were under severe pressure but the Proteas eventually managed to comeback in a convincing fashion and clinch the Test series.
