Feb 9 (Reuters) – Cricket South Africa have written to the International Cricket Council (ICC) seeking redress following Australia’s withdrawal from a three-test tour of the country next month that will have potentially dire financial consequences for the host nation.

Cricket Australia said the team would not travel on the advice of medical experts, despite South Africa’s government lifting a number COVID-19 restrictions and a sharp decrease in the number of cases in the country in recent weeks.

CSA said its disappointment arose from the fact that they had accepted every safety demand of the tourists, and that they were not consulted by the visitors before the uniliteral decision was made not to tour.

They also said CA’s decision devalues the ICC’s World Test Championship.

“There’s got to be some understanding of how we manage the impact to less-wealthy nations,” Stavros Nicolaou, the chairman of CSA’s interim board told ESPNcricinfo.

“Unilateral decisions of this nature are punitive to less-wealthy cricket-playing nations and there has to be some discussion around redress.”

Australia also pulled out of series against West Indies, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and New Zealand since the pandemic started, but did manage to play England (away) and India (home), their two most lucrative tours.

CA chief executive Nick Hickley last week defended the decision to postpone the South Africa trip, saying the “weight of medical advice and our duty of care to players and staff meant we were really left with no alternative”.

(Reporting by Nick Said Editing by Gareth Jones)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Click For Restrictions – https://agency.reuters.com/en/copyright.html