COVID-19: Scotland ready to host NZ, Australia behind closed doors
Associate country scheduled to play ODIs, Twenty20 matches in June
London: Cricket Scotland is willing to host their scheduled matches against New Zealand and Australia behind closed doors if necessary.
The matches against New Zealand and Australia have not officially been postponed yet. However, it looks unlikely that they will go ahead as planned.
New Zealand is slated to play a T20I against Scotland on June 10 and then an ODI on June 12, while Australia is slated to play just one T20I against Scotland on June 29.
“We are planning our way through and waiting to see what happens with advice. That’s all we can do at this stage. New Zealand aren’t going to Holland, and we’re just waiting to be guided by what their board says before we make any final decision,” a cricket website quoted Gus Mackay, Cricket Scotland’s CEO, as saying.
“We have a temporary set-up at The Grange. If we got the go-ahead to play internationals behind closed doors, it’s something we’d consider and something we would be able to do. We do make money staging internationals, but if we had to play an international game behind closed doors it would definitely be feasible - the cost of temporary stands would be taken out of the equation,” he added.
The first leg of New Zealand’s European tour, an ODI series in the Netherlands has been already postponed last week following advice from the Dutch government.
Australia’s T20I in Scotland was due to be played immediately before their six-match limited-overs series in England, which looks likely to be pushed towards September.
The domestic cricket season in Scotland has been indefinitely suspended.
Euro T20 Slam’s inaugural season is slated to take place this summer following last year’s postponement, but its status is in doubt due to the coronavirus.