(ESPNCRINFO) – Cricket South Africa (CSA) (organisers) are “extremely disappointed” and “frustrated” at Cricket Australia’s decision to pull out of their Test tour in March, saying they couldn’t have done more to appease the touring team.
“We are extremely disappointed by the decision of CA,” Graeme Smith, CSA’s Director of Cricket, said in a strongly-worded statement. “CSA has been working tirelessly in recent weeks to ensure that we meet every single expectation of CA.
“This was set to be our longest tour in a bio-secure environment (BSE) comprising a three-match Test series that was scheduled to begin with Australia’s arrival later in the month. So to be informed about the CA decision at the eleventh hour is frustrating.”

Smith was intricately involved in organising the Australia tour in which CSA organisers were willing to put in place their strictest restrictions of the summer.
That included a longer quarantine period than South Africa’s players have had to deal with before – quarantine for other members of staff including hotel staff and transport staff, purchasing an Australian track-and-trace system and obtaining government-sanctioned VIP treatment for the touring party.
“The protocols we proposed to CA were unprecedented,” Dr Shuaib Manjra, CSA’s chief medical officer said. “Firstly, we had agreed that our own Proteas team would enter the BSE 14 days prior to the arrival of the Australian team, thus altering their planning during the current tour of Pakistan.”

South Africa are currently on their first tour to Pakistan since 2007, a series which includes two Tests and three T20Is. All but four members of the Test squad will return home after the second Test finishes on February 8 with a second-string T20I squad to arrive in Pakistan tomorrow to play the three matches.
But Australia’s cancellation of their tour to South Africa means that these arrangements will not be changed though the Test squad no longer has to prepare for Australia, who would have played their first Test series in South Africa since 2018.
They will return home early, as planned, but will not need to enter two-week quarantine as they would have done if the three Tests would be going ahead as scheduled.

For South Africa’s previous home series this season against England and Sri Lanka, players entered the BSE without quarantining but had to socially distance until they had returned three negative COVID-19 tests. Both those series took place with the squads staying at one hotel albeit confined to different areas. For the Australia’s visit though, CSA organisers were due to make use of separate facilities for each squad, thus adding to the cost of hosting the tour. “We agreed to two separate BSEs and had granted Australia full and exclusive use of the Irene Country Lodge – which we shared with Sri Lanka – with a minimum staff present on site,” Manjra said. “In terms of the arrangements, the Proteas were to move to a separate hotel altogether. Furthermore, all hotel staff, match officials and even bus drivers were to enter the BSE 14 days prior to Australia’s arrival. In addition, CSA had also committed to importing an Australian tracking system at great cost to ensure proper tracking of close contacts in the event of a positive test. The touring team was also going to be granted VIP access through the airports – after government intervention – to ensure this privilege.”