Australia is once again experiencing lockdowns and border closures because of the COVID 19 pandemic. This has become the reason why cloudiness is once again looming over the international summer of cricket in Sydney that is set to start in less than two months.
The Sheffield Shield and Marsh One-Day Cup are scheduled to return in full swing. There will be 31 and 22 matches for each event and these numbers have already been reduced because of the pandemic as well last year. The same thing goes for the Women’s National Cricket League or the WNCL which will also only have 29 matches.
With that, many cricket fans are happy to know that cricket matches are back on once again. However, the uncertainty is still keeping everyone on their toes. It’s a matter of waiting game whether the matches they are longing to watch and wager on will still take place.
In the meantime, fans are monitoring the situation and are still studying the possible bets that they can place. They check places like TheTopBookies reviews of the online cricket betting sites where they can choose from the best bookmakers in India and place their bets. Stadiums are either not allowed to be filled or still have to be empty during the matches and so, staying home and betting is what helps most of them.
What Cricket Australia Has to Say About the Possible Issues that the Pandemic Could Bring
2020 has already been a tough year not only for Cricket Australia but for the whole of cricket and even the sports industry. There were plenty of sports events that had to be suspended or canceled and many compromises had to be made.
However, the sports industry still found ways to thrive during a pandemic and so does cricket. Still, if the country just can’t permit it, matches could be canceled at any given point. This is what Cricket Australia is currently struggling with.
The head of the cricket operations for SA spoke to ESPNcricinfo about how they are conscious of the situation. Peter Roach said, “We do know last year, we successfully extended a little into April, so there are opportunities before we default to having to play in a hub.
“What we are conscious of is that it does have a negative effect on our players and staff. It’s a long season and one of the learnings from last year was that come to the end of BBL that the appetite for a lot of cricket was challenged.”
Australia is also set to host the men’s and women’s Ashes series and the men’s teams from Afghanistan, New Zealand, and Sri Lanka this season. However, what they are concerned about is the multi-format women’s series leagues where they will go against India.
Roach also talked about this with cricket.com.au and said, “It’s certainly on our radar but what we do know is things can move quickly. We’ve got a bit of a roadmap to know if things keep going the way they are in NSW and it’s not a sharp U-turn, we’ll have to make those decisions sooner rather than later.
“We do have options up our sleeve; the options are fewer than they would be later in the season as it’s hard to play in a couple of states that early in the year. But we’ve got some options we’ll look at in the coming weeks.”
What’s Set to Still Continue
So far, there are no official announcements that any of the upcoming cricket tours and matches in the country will be affected by the current situation. When it comes to the tours that the Australia team will have outside the country, things are also looking up.
it is also certain that Australia’s tour of Bangladesh will even continue despite the surge of COVID-19 cases in the country. This has been a subject of speculation as the country had to implement a strict lockdown for the Islamic festival, Eid al-Adha.
However, there are already sources that confirmed this week that Australia’s first visit to the country since 2017 will push through and will be officially confirmed by the Bangladesh Cricket Board in the coming days.
Of course, the matches will still have to be held in a bio-secure setting. According to reports, the Australian squad will be taking a charter flight from the Caribbean to Dhaka where they will be playing all five matches. These will be held at the Sher-e-Banglá National Stadium.