Pholetsi Moseki, CSA’s acting CEO, confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that Sunday’s fixtures had been postponed due to Covid-19 fears
The final round of matches in the CSA four-day franchise series, South Africa’s premier domestic competition, have been postponed and will be rescheduled in 2022.
Pholetsi Moseki, CSA’s acting CEO, confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that Sunday’s four fixtures had been postponed as a safeguarding measure in light of rising Covid-19 cases in the country over the past few weeks. “Ultimately these games being played outside a bio-secure environment made it difficult for us to continue with them,” he said.
This is the third group of matches that have been pushed back after Division 2 fixtures between December 2 and 5, and between December 16 and 19 were also postponed.
So far this season, domestic cricket has not been played in a bio-secure bubble environment but ESPNcricinfo understands this will change for the one-day and T20 competitions. Last summer, both white-ball tournaments took place under bio-secure conditions.
South Africa is currently in a fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic, which accompanied the discovery of the Omicron variant last month. Cases peaked at over 26000 earlier in the week but are now on the decline. The country remains at alert Level 1 of 5, with the least stringent restrictions since the start of the pandemic.
Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo’s South Africa correspondent