*Official* Australia in South Africa Tests 2021

[honestbharani]

The conditions promised for the Aussie players (having an entire resort to themselves with trips to dams and wild-life parks, FFS) seems like a million times better than what the players had to put up with in the latter half of the BG trophy. I guess it came down to this new strain of virus and the fact that CA taking the 100% safe option. I really dont think the risk profile would have been very high given the kind of bubble they were promised, including the RSA team staying in a seperate hotel with lesser facilities. Its more a worry of the unknown which means they kinda made up their minds irrespective of what CSA was gonna offer, which kinda sucks, even if it is understandable from an Aussie PoV.

 

[the big bambino]

The conditions promised for the Aussie players (having an entire resort to themselves with trips to dams and wild-life parks, FFS) seems like a million times better than what the players had to put up with in the latter half of the BG trophy. I guess it came down to this new strain of virus and the fact that CA taking the 100% safe option. I really dont think the risk profile would have been very high given the kind of bubble they were promised, including the RSA team staying in a seperate hotel with lesser facilities. Its more a worry of the unknown which means they kinda made up their minds irrespective of what CSA was gonna offer, which kinda sucks, even if it is understandable from an Aussie PoV.

From this distance CA seems to have been uncompromising - unreasonable really. Someone mentioned SL touring when cases were higher. And would we have pulled out of an Ashes in similar circumstances? Hmmm. Makes India's complaints (which were fairly lame imo) seem reasonable in light of CA's actions here.

All the same I have contempt for SA cricket after our last tour and despise them with passion. So screw them even if it means we miss the WTC final.

 

[Senile Sentry]

It is a fact that Aussies have always shown a reluctance to play teams other than those start with the letters E or I and look for excuses to avoid FTP commitments at the slightest excuse possible. I read somewhere that it has been 4.5 years (yes years) since Aus played against WI other than in the World Cup. They don't want to play against the budding teams either. In these 4.5 years they have played India like 42 times and eng 32.

However, here, given that Aus knows they are going to miss out on a final spot in all probability, I dont think that is the case and genuinely out of concern for their players, which is understandable. CA is no BCCI and doesn't have the clout, will or resources to ensure a close watch and supervision over bio bubbles in regions away from home (Here's looking at smooth conduct of IPL in UAE.

I am sure Aus will make it up in the near future with a tour to SA. Cricket will be poorer otherwise considering the sheer quality of matches these two teams have produced together.

 

[cnerd123]

don't need to make excuses for CA. It's obvious the players are scarred from the Indian series and the psyche of their fans can't cope with another humiliating defeat. They were scared that things would go so badly that they would have another sandpaper-gate scandal on their hands. No one wants to see Tim Paine crying at a press conference.

 

[honestbharani]

No one wants to see Tim Paine crying at a press conference.

@Spikey to comment.

 

[Spark]

Was genuinely looking forward to this series. A shame.

 

[Daemon]

Didn't they tour England during peak COVID? Is the situation in SA a lot worse than it was in England back then?

 

[Bahnz]

When Australia toured England, the pandemic had really died down if memory serves (just a few hundred new cases a day at the time). SA is worse than that right now, but the current trend is definitely that infections have been declining significantly for weeks. Tough to know where things will be in March though.

EDIT: just looked it up, England was experiencing several thousand cases a day in early September, so really no difference. I think the real concern is around the infectiousness of the SA strain and the potential difficulty of getting players back home if anyone gets infected.

 

[cnerd123]

Also the SA bubble was breached a few times when England attempted to tour there, leading to the ODI series getting scrapped completely. Can understand why CA will be skeptical about if the Tests would even proceed once they get there.

No excuses tho. Just weak stuff from a weak team.

 

[Senile Sentry]

When Australia toured England, the pandemic had really died down if memory serves (just a few hundred new cases a day at the time). SA is worse than that right now, but the current trend is definitely that infections have been declining significantly for weeks. Tough to know where things will be in March though.

EDIT: just looked it up, England was experiencing several thousand cases a day in early September, so really no difference. I think the real concern is around the infectiousness of the SA strain and the potential difficulty of getting players back home if anyone gets infected.

Oh dang, didn't remember they did tour Eng. Wow, that is weird

 

[stephen]

Didn't they tour England during peak COVID? Is the situation in SA a lot worse than it was in England back then?

It was about 12000 new cases a week in the UK at the time. Right now it's around 13000 or so new cases per week in the UK. Also it's a much longer tour and there's the risk of the new variant.

 

[TheJediBrah]

No excuses tho. Just weak stuff from a weak team.

Bro, you don't need to try so hard, we get it. Wasn't really funny the first 2 times either.

 

[honestbharani]

Bro, you don't need to try so hard, we get it. Wasn't really funny the first 2 times either.

Proving once again that third time is the charm.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Proving once again that third time is the charm.

Quantity > Quality

 

[Dendarii]

Also the SA bubble was breached a few times when England attempted to tour there, leading to the ODI series getting scrapped completely. Can understand why CA will be skeptical about if the Tests would even proceed once they get there.

Except that happened in a completely different part of the country. Australia would have been at the same venue Sri Lanka used, and there were no problems there. Nor have there been any with the tour by the Pakistan Women's team.

Added to that, Sri Lanka and Pakistan were here during the worst of the second wave and there's been a definite improvement. Some of the harsher restrictions were lifted the day before CA made their announcement, so their decision to pull out doesn't paint them in the best light.

 

[Heboric]

Not really relevant to the overall picture but the way Aus players were treated on the last tour, and with all the **** that went on like CSA overturning of Rabada's suspension, crowd abuse etc. I don't really feel sorry for CSA in the slightest

Nah that time I have no sympathy for the Australia team, they act all tough guys and when someone stands up they thow there toys around. Plus even Dolph Ziggler would be proud of Steve Smiths overselling...

 

[TheJediBrah]

Nah that time I have no sympathy for the Australia team, they act all tough guys and when someone stands up they thow there toys around. Plus even Dolph Ziggler would be proud of Steve Smiths overselling...

Irrelevant but ok

 

[Senile Sentry]

Cricket South Africa rejected formal Australia offer to host Test series

CA's chief executive said he understood CSA's strong reaction to the tour being called off

www.espncricinfo.com

 

[Senile Sentry]

CA offered to host the tests at Perth

This board is an absolute joke

 

[honestbharani]

To be fair, since RSA have never apparently lost there, I can see why they think its a reasonable offer but obviously CSA does not gain much anyways and they might as well play in RSA once the situation improves. It might have been a different story had RSA had a chance of making it to the WTC finals though.