Boards to share COVID calender pain: Finch

Tuesday, 30 June 2020:

Aaron Finch has called on the international cricket community to weather short-term pain and prioritise the "good of the game" as it maps out a schedule through the COVID-19 pandemic.

A three-match ODI series between Finch's team and Zimbabwe, scheduled to be held in August in northern Australia, has been indefinitely postponed.

The requirement of quarantine periods and costly biosecurity measures meant the week-long series had long been considered unlikely to go ahead.

Finch described Tuesday's confirmation as "unfortunate", adding everyone tried their best to get the Australia-Zimbabwe series up and running.

Cricket Australia remains committed to hosting India this summer and staging a lucrative four-Test series, but Finch is still unclear whether he will lead his country in a home Twenty20 World Cup that is slated to start in October.

Clarity on whether that World Cup will be delayed or scrapped, which is expected to come in July, and new dates for the Indian Premier League will allow boards to start filling their respective calendars with more certainty.

Short tours, such as Zimbabwe's deferred trip plus Afghanistan's mooted one-off Test in Australia this summer, loom as a major financial challenge while quarantine periods remain necessary around the world.

"Whether it's Australia, India, England, South Africa, whichever country; we've all got to get around each other and do what's best for cricket," national captain Finch told reporters.

"That might mean a little bit of short-term pain or not ideal scenarios for a particular country.

"We've just all got to get together and make it work for the good of the game.

"We all want to be playing as much as we can, wherever we can ... but there is going to be a lot of give and take, a lot of compromise."

Finch is upbeat his team will make their coronavirus comeback in September, when Australia intend to visit England for a limited-overs series.

However, that tour is yet to be locked in as CA officials watch West Indies and Pakistan's preceding trips to England with interest.

"It's a little bit up in the air," Finch said.

"I'm preparing to go to England to play, whether that happens we'll wait and see.

"We just have to be really conscious of being ultra flexible; there might be a tour that comes up on relatively short notice."

CA noted in a statement that a combination of factors, including "concern for the health and safety of players, match officials, and volunteers", led to a mutual decision to postpone the Australia-Zimbabwe games.

"We are committed to working with Zimbabwe Cricket on alternative dates to reschedule", CA chief executive Nick Hockley said.

Zimbabwe Cricket's acting managing director Givemore Makoni agreed "deferring the tour was the only option".






AAP