Nick Hockley, Cricket Australia's (CA) Interim CEO, on Wednesday confirmed that the T20I squad for the New Zealand series would not be changed just because the Test series against South Africa has been postponed.
Australia's three-match Test tour of South Africa was postponed on Tuesday due to an 'unacceptable' coronavirus risk. The Australian board said that traveling from Australia to South Africa at this current time would have had an unacceptable level of health and safety risk to the visiting players.
"We were pretty clear when we announced the two squads they would be the two squads. The reality is the T20 squad has started its pre-departure protocols to enable it to move safely into New Zealand. We always knew logistically we'd have to pick two separate squads," ESPNCricinfo quoted Hockley as saying.
"We've given ourselves every chance to make South Africa happen. Unfortunately that hasn't transpired. What that means is we're committed with the T20 squad that's announced and we won't be changing it," he added.
As the series between Australia and South Africa was postponed, the ICC on Tuesday confirmed that New Zealand has now become the first team to qualify for the finals of the World Test Championship (WTC). India, Australia, and England are the other three teams that will be fighting it out to battle against the Kiwis in the summit clash.
David Warner, Steven Smith, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc were a part of the Test squad for the series against South Africa and as a result, these players were not a part of the T20I squad.
Australia will travel to New Zealand on February 7 and then the side will quarantine in Christchurch for 14 days ahead of the upcoming T20I series.
T20I squad for series against NZ: Aaron Finch (capt), Matthew Wade (vc), Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Del Sams, Tanveer Sangha, D'Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa.
( With inputs from ANI )
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