British & Irish Lions tour thrown into chaos as three B dailymaverick.co.za - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailymaverick.co.za Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Springbok squad will be vaccinated against Covid-19 in time for a bumper international season, which will strengthen the integrity of the biosecure bubble they’re soon to enter.
Following extensive due diligence with medical experts, it has become clear that traveling from Australia to South Africa at this current time poses an unacceptable level of health and safety risk to our players, support staff, and the community, Hockley said in a statement. We acknowledge the significant amount of work by CSA in planning for the tour, during which we made it clear that CA was prepared to take on additional cost and effort to make the series happen, he added. CSA is particularly disappointed given that South Africa recently hosted Sri Lanka in a bio-secure environment (BSE) at Centurion, with no breaches of protocol. Currently, the Pakistan Women s team are touring the country in a secure BSE in Durban, a statement from CSA read.
Credit:Getty
The postponement of the tour means Langer and his charges will have to wait a while longer for the chance to discuss matters in person, but it has given all parties more opportunity to reflect outside of the onerous conditions of hub life.
CA interim chief executive Nick Hockley said Langer has âour full supportâ but acknowledged the sideâs failure to defeat an undermanned India would be examined.
âWeâre in a high-performance business, a high-performance organisation, weâre continuing reviewing,â Hockley said.
âSome of the commentary Iâve seen around JL in the media, itâs a matter for within the team and the squad. All Iâll really say is JLâs leadership, his passion, he wears his heart on his sleeve, but heâs a great leader.
If the Australians were expecting a sympathetic response from South Africa, it was not forthcoming in a Cricket South Africa (CSA) statement which noted the board s immense disappointment . We are extremely disappointed by the decision of CA, Director of Cricket, Graeme Smith, said in the statement. CSA has been working tirelessly in recent weeks to ensure that we meet every single expectation of CA. This was set to be the longest tour in a (bio-secure environment) 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.