CSA has faith in Covid-19 protocols despite negative England

CAPE TOWN: Considering the postponement of the One-day International series against England, Cricket South Africa (CSA) is assured in its Covid-19 protocols, with interim board chairman Zak Yacoob describing the visitors as having a pessimistic mindset.

At the behest of England, Yacoob said the delay of the three match series had caused CSA reputational harm and cautioned the body would protect itself against ‘lies’ as to the reasons behind the cancellation.

In a joint statement with CSA on Monday, the ECB reported that the decision to cancel the tour was over worries about the touring party’s ‘physical and mental health.’

Inside the bio-secure area, Covid-19 was contracted by an undisclosed South Africa player and two hotel staff members. Initially, two members of the touring party in England have returned positive test results, but these were later cleared as negative.

The irony is that they the England team] were very negative,” Yacoob told reporters on Thursday, referring to the attitude of the tourists. We went through our procedures and we thought they were really successful. There may have been a question with psychiatric issues where individuals may have been worried over false negatives [in the England team].

We do not wish to blame the English, but we absolutely want to suggest that the suggestion that they went away when there was an error on our part is utterly false.

My understanding of cricket politics is that the three most powerful nations Australia, England and India want to do things their way: Zak Yacoob

In fact, we were too lax about their willingness to do things that they could not do in our strict opinion (such as allowing players to golf). We will protect ourselves if they tell lies about us.

England’s summer of cricket went off with the players kept in snug bio-secure bubbles without a hitch.

In South Africa, at the behest of the ECB, players were permitted to play golf from their hotel because of concerns that another month of co-operation would have a negative impact on their mental health.

The ECB was contacted to respond to the comments made by Yacoob.

The saga has brought into question South Africa’s future tours, with Sri Lanka set to play in the nation for two tests, the first starting on Boxing Day and Australia set to arrive in February and March for three tests.

Yacoob says that he is ’95 percent’ confident that the Sri Lanka series will go ahead, but adds that when it comes to Australia, it is less obvious.