New Zealand confirm home series vs West Indies, Pakistan, Australia and Bangladesh
New Zealand Cricket has confirmed that Pakistan, Australia, Bangladesh and the West Indies will tour during their home season, despite the coronavirus pandemic.
New Zealand Cricket has affirmed that Pakistan, Australia, Bangladesh and the West Indies will tour during their home season, despite the coronavirus pandemic.
David White, chief executive of NZ cricket, expressed that the upcoming tours would proceed with managed isolation arrangements being worked out for the visiting teams.
"The White Ferns will tour Australia in September and afterwards the Australia Women's team will tour New Zealand in February. We are simply working through the content but probably five ODIs and three T20Is.
Although David White did not confirm the schedules of the tours informing that they would follow the bio-secure bubble model like in England.
"We are making tremendous progress. I was simply on the telephone toward the West Indies, they're confirmed, Pakistan is confirmed, Australia and Bangladesh... so 37 days of international cricket," White said.
International cricket resumed in July with England hosting the West Indies for a three-match Test series. England is now hosting Pakistan in a three-Test series in a similar bio-secure environment like the previous series.
However, New Zealand has not played any international game since their ODI series in Australia was cancelled in March in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. They played the first ODI in an empty stadium before the series was called off.
New Zealand is planned to host both West Indies and Pakistan for Tests and T20Is, Bangladesh for ODIs and T20Is and Australia for a short series as per the current FTP.
Under the current Future Tours programme, West Indies and Pakistan were down to visit for Tests and T20Is with Bangladesh slated for ODIs and T20Is and then Australia for T20Is, although the final structure of the seasons remains to be confirmed given the postponement of the Men’s T20 World Cup. The Tests against West Indies and Pakistan are part of the World Test Championship.