The Pakistan bowling consultant was scheduled to leave the squad after the first Test anyway, but has had to change his plans
Philander was, in any case, scheduled to leave for South Africa at the end of the first of two Tests, but, as a PCB media statement said at the end of the third day’s play on Sunday, he has had to change his plans because of the worsening Covid-19 situation. Concerns around a new variant, called Omicron, has already disrupted the cricket schedule in South Africa, and could impact it further in the coming days.
News of the Omicron variant became public on Tuesday, November 23, and cases in the Gauteng province of South Africa, where the Netherlands series was taking place, have increased several-fold since. Although South Africa is reporting around 2000 new cases a day, there are concerns this will rise exponentially and stricter regulations are due to be introduced soon. South Africa is currently on Level 1 of 5 of its restrictions, the most lenient since the pandemic began, and the Netherlands ODI was the first time since March 2020 that cricket was played in front of a limited crowd.