Cape Town, December 4: The first one-dayer between South Africa and England at Newlands on Friday (December 4) has been postponed to Sunday due to a Covid 19 positive case in the SA team.
Both the teams arrived at the venue for the first ODI, but returned to the hotel an hour before the toss. The ESPNCricinfo reported that the health protocols were breached during the recent T20I series that England won 3-0. All the players and support staff will undergo Covid 19 tests soon. The officials hope that if the tests return negative then the series can resume on Sunday.
A Cricket South Africa statement confirmed the development: "This decision results from a player from the Proteas team testing positive for Covid-19 after the teams' last round of scheduled testing performed on Thursday ahead of the ODIs.
"In the interests of the safety and well-being of both teams, match officials and all involved in the match, the acting CEO of CSA, Kugandrie Govender as well as the CEO of the ECB, Tom Harrison, have agreed to postpone the first fixture to Sunday," the statement read.
New Schedule of ODI series
Ist ODI: December 6, Paarl
2nd ODI: December 7: Cape Town
3rd ODI: December 9: Cape Town