SA, England players to undergo retesting on Dec 5 amid COVID-19 scare
Dec 04, 2020
Cape Town [South Africa], December 4 : Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Friday said that both South Africa and England players will be retested for coronavirus on Saturday after a home team player tested positive for the virus which resulted in the postponement of the first ODI.
The first 50-over game was scheduled to be played at Newlands on Friday but was postponed for Sunday. England had white-washed the Proteas in the shortest format after registering a thumping nine-wicket win in the third T20I.
"We met with the English medical teams and we kind of planned out a way that we will retest all of our players and hotel staff tomorrow. We will await the results and determine the course of action. On Tuesday, before the final ODI on Wednesday we will retest the team again," CSA's chief medical officer Dr Shuaib Manjra said in a video posted on Proteas' official Twitter handle.
CSA issued a statement and confirmed that the ODI series will commence on Sunday at Eurolux Boland Park, Paarl and the remaining two games will be played at Newlands, Cape Town on December 6 and 7 respectively.
"Cricket South Africa (CSA) and the England Cricket Board (ECB) would like to announce the postponement of the first One-Day International (ODI) of the three-match series to Sunday, 06 December 2020," CSA said.
"This decision results from a player from the Proteas team testing positive for COVID-19 after the teams' last round of scheduled testing performed on Thursday ahead of the ODIs.
"In the interest of the safety and well-being of both teams, match officials and all involved in the match, the Acting CEO of CSA, Kugandrie Govender as well as the CEO of the ECB, Tom Harrison, have agreed to postpone the first fixture to Sunday," it added.
