The Blackcap’s white-ball tour of Australia has been postponed until further notice due to New Zealand’s border controls, quarantine requirements and the resulting uncertainty over when the squad would be able to return home.
Australia and New Zealand were due to play a Chappell-Hadlee ODI series containing three matches and a one-off T20I between January 30 and February 8.
It’s the third successive summer that the Trans-Tasman rivals have had white-ball fixtures postponed amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
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NZC CEO David White said in a statement: “As we now know, the advent of Omicron prompted a change of heart from the NZ Government, resulting in a hard 10-day mandatory isolation period being imposed on all incoming travellers.
“NZC and CA had explored a proposal to expand the tour and to push out the date on which the squad might return to New Zealand in the hope that might be more achievable for the Government. Unfortunately, we received advice this morning that they could not provide certainty over this.”
Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley is “extremely disappointed” that the tour won’t be going ahead as scheduled.
It means no men’s one-day internationals will played in Australia this summer as things stand.
“We are extremely disappointed that we won’t be able to play the scheduled matches against New Zealand as planned, however we will continue to work with New Zealand Cricket to reschedule the series,” Hockley said in a statement.
“We thank NZC, who made every effort to make the series happen, however because they were unable to get certainty over return quarantine arrangements, it is simply just not possible at this time.
“We know fans will be disappointed and thank them for their understanding given the unique circumstances that the global pandemic presents for everyone.
“We look forward to welcoming Sri Lanka to Australia next month and will confirm the schedule for that series as soon as possible.”
Australia is scheduled to play five T20Is against Sri Lanka in February.