Indian women’s cricket team’s home ground has been relocated due to the Covid-19 threat for the six scheduled matches against New Zealand.
After the New Zealand Cricket (NZC) announced a revised schedule to limit the risk of a COVID-19 breakout, the Indian women’s team will play all six of its upcoming matches against New Zealand at Queenstown. The Indian women’s team, which is already in New Zealand, is now scheduled to play all five ODIs and a T20I, starting February 9 at John Davies Oval in Queenstown. One-off T20I at Napier’s McLean Park would have been followed by the first ODI two days later, both crucial matches for India as they prepare for the World Cup in March-April.
There were two ODIs scheduled on February 14 and 16, and two ODIs scheduled for February 22 and 24 in Queenstown, respectively.
In addition, the South Africa men’s team will remain in Christchurch for the whole duration of their visit, playing both of their scheduled Tests at Hagley Oval instead of decamping to Wellington for the second match, as originally anticipated.
Three T20 matches between Australia and New Zealand will be held in Napier (subject to MIQ availability), while the Netherlands men’s visit will be split between Mount Maunganui and Hamilton (two ODIs).
All matches have been kept on originally-scheduled days. The changes in the venues are aimed to cut down on domestic travel and the increased likelihood of exposure to the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
“These risk mitigations are based on avoiding known Covid-19 hotspots and include limiting air travel, limiting accommodation transfers and, essentially, operating in safer environments,” NZC chief executive David White said in a statement.
If we have more domestic flights and hotel movements, “we know there is a bigger danger that a match or maybe an entire series could be put at risk,” he said.
According to White, the goal is to examine the idea of permitting numerous pods, each with no more than 100 people, in settings that adhere to regulatory regulations.
