Australia keen to rearrange Test tour of South Africa

Cricket South Africa were angered by Australia pulling their scheduled Test Tour this month but Nick Hockley wants it to be rearranged.

 
 

Australia are keen to reschedule their postponed tour of South Africa "as soon as possible".

A three-Test tour that was scheduled to start this month was pulled due to "an unacceptable level of health and safety risk to players, support staff and the community," according to Cricket Australia (CA), amid fears over a new variant of COVID-19.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) responded by seeking redress from the International Cricket Council (ICC) for costs incurred in preparation for Australia's visit.

Speaking on Tuesday, CA interim chief executive Nick Hockley told the Nine Network he was keen to see the matches rearranged as a means of mending relations with his South African counterparts.

"We would like to reschedule it as soon as possible, providing it is safe to do so, and there is time available in the calendar," he said, with Australia having also withdrawn from trips to Bangladesh, New Zealand and Zimbabwe during the coronavirus pandemic.

"Now, that's not a simple task. Through the pandemic and quarantine periods there is a lot of cricket that has been rescheduled.

"But we?re right in the middle of constructive discussions and hopefully those discussions will be resolved soon."

Should the series take place, Australia will play their first Test matches in South Africa since the 2018 ball-tampering scandal that led to then-captain Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft serving bans from cricket.

South Africa won the series 3-1.