Australia, South Africa cancel all cricket over coronavirus
Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa have called off all cricket amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Australia’s domestic Sheffield Shield on Tuesday was called off because of the coronavirus pandemic with New South Wales declared champions as all cricket nationwide was halted.
A day before on Monday, Cricket South Africa announced that all cricket activities had been called off for the next 60 days following the declaration of a state of disaster in the country because of the coronavirus situation.
The last round of the tournament of Sheffield Shield had already been cancelled to reduce travel and the final has followed suit to leave New South Wales, who led after nine rounds of the inter-state competition, as the winners.
Australia's three-match one-day international series against New Zealand, being played with no spectators, had been abandoned at the weekend with Australia 1-0 up after Wellington tightened border restrictions to combat a spread of the virus.
Cricket Australia chief Kevin Roberts recommended that all community cricket should stop and shut down the organisation's offices with staff working from home.
"By effectively cancelling the remainder of our season, Cricket Australia is playing its part in protecting fans, players, staff, volunteers and match officials during this unprecedented global health issue," he said.
"These are difficult decisions, but the right ones in the circumstances."
Australia has confirmed nearly 400 cases of coronavirus so far, with five fatalities.
South Africa calls off all cricket
Cricket South Africa announced on Monday that all cricket activities had been called off for the next 60 days following the declaration of a state of disaster in the country because of the coronavirus situation.
The announcement came less than four weeks before the scheduled end of the season.
Two of the country's main domestic competitions remained incomplete. The franchise one-day cup had reached the semi-final stage, while two rounds remained in the four-day franchise competition.
A scheduled tour by the Australian women's team had already been called off and an Over-50 men's World Cup tournament ended abruptly midway through the third round of fixtures on Sunday.
The South African men's team were on their way home from India after the cancellation of the remaining two matches of a one-day series. A planned arrival media conference on Wednesday was cancelled.
Cricket South Africa held a meeting on Monday following the announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday of a state of a disaster during which he announced a raft of measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, including a ban on gatherings of more than 100 people.
Jacques Faul, acting chief executive, said: "We at CSA take this pronouncement by the President and the cabinet very seriously and we will most certainly use our leverage to ensure that we minimise the impact of the virus in our spaces."