“Lunch will still be served. The food has already been made. Someone should eat it.” – a Newlands official informs the press that, despite the game being called off, the feast remains immovable.
TELFORD VICE | Cape Town
IT was a fine day for cricket at Newlands on Friday — 25 degrees Celsius, a breeze, a cloudless blue sky — but not a ball was bowled in what was to have been the first ODI between South Africa and England. The ambulance parked outside the gate might have been a clue why, were it not for the fact that it is always there on match day.
The game was called off, CSA said in a release that landed just more than two hours before the scheduled start, because a player in South Africa’s squad had tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday.
“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 release said.
Sunday’s game will be played in Paarl, as per the original schedule. What would have been Friday’s match has been been moved to Monday, and is still at Newlands. England’s tour, which began with a T20I series they won 3-0, concludes with the third ODI at Newlands on Wednesday.
The latest positive test is the third recorded by the South Africans since CSA announced the first on November 18. Two other players were forced to isolate after being in close contact with him.
That was after the England squad arrived. No members of their party have contracted the disease while in the country, but it no doubt troubles the visitors that they are sharing a hotel with the home side. Theories that the English were displeased by Thursday’s developments and Friday’s consequences took flight. Perhaps that’s why the idea of a joint press conference on Friday was abandoned.
The virus and injuries have whittled South Africa’s squad from 24 to 17. The players will be tested again on Friday. More positive results would raise questions about whether the series can go ahead at all.
At what should have been toss time on Friday, a commentator stood alone on the pitch, no doubt informing his audience of the developments. The scoreboard read: “1st ODI: Match has been postponed”.
Up in the pressbox, an official said: “Lunch will still be served. The food has already been made. Someone should eat it.”
Fifteen minutes before the match didn’t start as planned, Andile Phehlukwayo and David Miller, accompanied by bowling coach Charl Langeveldt and the team’s security officer, all of them masked, emerged from the dressingroom and made their way across the ground towards the nets. Less than five minutes after that they were on their way back across the ground. It seems not even the nets wanted to play ball on Friday.
Midway through what would have been the first over, lunch arrived, as promised. Fish ’n chips. Delicious.
First published by Cricbuzz.
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