Black Caps’ tour to Australia postponed

The Black Caps’ upcoming white-ball tour to Australia has been postponed due to the lack of certainty over when they will be able to return to New Zealand.

Originally scheduled to depart on Monday next week, the team would have returned on 9 February.

But with no MIQ spots allocated to them, the extension to trans-Tasman border restrictions meant that was no longer possible.

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) said, alongside Cricket Australia (CA) they proposed extending the length of the tour so the Black Caps would come back at a time “more manageable for the MIQ process”.

However, the government told the national body on Wednesday they had no capacity to meet the request.

NZC chief executive David White said the tour was initially scheduled last year, after the government signalled its intention to relax MIQ restrictions relating to the trans-Tasman border.

“As we now know, the advent of Omicron prompted a change of heart from the Government, resulting in a hard 10-day mandatory isolation period being imposed on all incoming travellers.

“NZC and CA had explored a proposal to expand the tour and to push out the date on which the squad might return to New Zealand, in the hope that might be more achievable for the Government.

“But we received advice this morning that they could not provide certainty over this, either.”

NZC said they were discussing with CA when the three one-day matches and one T20 game could be rescheduled.