England’s rescheduled ODI opener against South Africa ABANDONED after coronavirus scare saw two hotel staff members test positive just hours before start of play
- England’s one-day tour of South Africa took another dramatic twist on Sunday
- The rescheduled series opener was abandoned following a coronavirus scare
- Two members of England dedicated team hotel staff returned positive results
England’s tour of South Africa was plunged into turmoil on Sunday morning when the delayed first one-day international was cancelled because of more positive Covid-19 tests.
Two members of the staff at the Vineyard Hotel, where both teams are based in what is supposed to be a bio-secure bubble, were revealed to have tested positive for the virus to follow a third South African player also testing positive.
That meant that both the England and South Africa teams did not make the 45-minute journey from their Cape Town base to Boland Park in Paarl where they were due to finally get the series underway.
England’s ODI series opener against South Africa has been abandoned after a Covid-19 scare
The first game was postponed on Friday after the player, believed to be Heinrich Klassen, fell ill and returned a positive test, leading to another round of testing for the home side that all came back negative.
That appeared to have given the green light for the 50-over series to take place, with the postponed game re-arranged for Monday, but that dramatically changed on Sunday morning when it became clear there was more trouble.
Even though South Africa insisted all staff, who have been living on-site at the Vineyard Hotel, had been given the all-clear it emerged that two members of staff working at different parts of the hotel had returned positive tests.
The start of play was scheduled for 8am GMT in Paarl before the positive coronavirus results
And the seriousness of the situation was emphasised by the fact that the hotel insisted they had not been out of the bubble since November 16.
The England team, who have all been negative up to now, were tested again on Saturday night and were waiting for their results.
But it is impossible to see how the tour can now go ahead and it seems certain it will be abandoned, plunging Cricket South Africa into more chaos.
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