Cricket fans worldwide are a unhappy lot. Thursday's India vs Sri Lanka first T20 international at Lucknow's Ekana Cricket Stadium will be played minus fans due to COVID-19 restrictions. A similar fate looms on fans wanting to see ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2022 matches starting in New Zealand from March 4.
New Zealand have plenty of Asian expatriates. For them any series featuring their country of origin is a special occasion to celebrate. In recent times, Bangladesh fans could not see their nation scoring a historic Test win against New Zealand.
Likewise, Indian fans could not see their women's team scoring a six-wicket win against Kiwi women in a ODI match in Queenstown on Thursday.
But what Asian fans will surely miss is the Cricket World Cup 2022 blockbuster game between India vs Pakistan women at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui on March 6 from 6:30 AM IST.
According to the Women's World Cup organising committee, fans will not be allowed. Bangladesh supporters will also miss their team's opening game against South Africa in Dunedin on March 5.
RED ALERT IN NZ
The CEO of the World Cup organising committee Andrea Nelson said New Zealand are currently under red restrictions in their traffic light system, due to the spike in Omicron cases.
Nelson said: “We can operate currently in pods of 100. We're taking it week-by-week as we work our way through but in the first week, it is likely that there'll be some availability at some matches.
“If you go to tickets.cricketworldcup.com early next week, if you keep an eye on that there'll be some tickets available.
“Unfortunately, at some venues, we will have to cancel existing ticket holders and obviously, that's not something we want to do and we're working really hard to see how many people we can get into the stadium and maximise interest in the World Cup.
“Our players here on the ground will be following some pretty strict protocols to keep them safe, and to keep the tournament going.
“We have put measures in place such as charter flights domestically, exclusive hotel floors, and an environment where if you are interacting with the team, you need to isolate for a period of time before you enter in.
“That hopefully keeps the team environment as safe as possible and then we'll focus on once inside our stadiums keeping the public safe."
For ICC, it is important to complete the tournament, even if teams have to play with nine players in a match. COVID-19 has already played havoc with the cricket calendar and the T20 World Cup in Australia last year had to be cancelled.
SAFETY FIRST
“So firstly, we have allowed squads to increase in size. Whilst the official playing 15 is still set at 15 as would always have been the case, we've allowed squads to bring additional traveling reserves so that they can replace on a temporary basis, if needs be because of COVID, players in and out of the squad during the event," said ICC Head of Events Chris Tetley at a media interaction in Christchurch on Thursday.
“If it becomes necessary, we would allow a team to field nine players as an exception for this environment and if they had female substitutes from within their management team, we would enable two substitutes to play, non-batting, non-bowling, but to enable a game to take place,” added Tetley.
The Women's Cricket World Cup begins on March 4 in Tauranga and will culminate with the final in Christchurch on April 3 with each team playing the other seven once to decide the top four who will advance to the semi-finals.
Tetley said: “We would, were it necessary, reschedule fixtures, if it's possible. There's obviously a number of logistical constraints upon us but we'll be asking teams to show maximum flexibility.
“We'll be as flexible as possible if the need arises to ultimately fulfill our objective which is to get the games on, get a credible World Cup played and a world champion at the end of it all."
