As the deadly coronavirus outbreak continues to hamper the world sporting calender, the New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has decided to switch to a four-day working week while the national side’s upcoming tours of the Netherlands, Scotland, Ireland and the West Indies also remain in serious doubt.
Reflecting on the same, NZC executive David White said though there are obviously doubts about the side’s visit to Bangladesh and New Zealand A’s tour to India, it will be too early to rule them out completely.
Meanwhile, White confirmed that the New Zealand’s women cricket team’s tour of Sri Lanka, which was slated to begin later this month, has been postponed.
“Clearly, this situation is extremely disappointing for everyone involved in sport but, given the bigger picture, and the terrible toll COVID-19 is taking worldwide, we need to look after not only our own people but the greater community good,” the NZC official statement quoted White as saying.
“Cricket in New Zealand has been fortunate in that we were very much at the end of our home summer programme when this crisis struck.However, with the lockdown now in full force, we’re mindful of the difficulties facing our cricket community. Our current focus is very much on ensuring the future sustainability of cricket in New Zealand,” he added.
The NZC also revealed that its staff and management had agreed to essentially exhaust their leave entitlements over the balance of the financial year (to July 31) by switching to a four-day working week.
“We take our duty of care as an employer seriously and, at this juncture, want to avoid any changes to our employee headcount or remuneration levels.However, we’ll continue to closely monitor the effects on the wider cricket family,” he stated.
New Zealand were slated to play three T20Is and as many ODIs against Ireland in June-July, one-off ODI and lone T20I against Scotland in June and three ODIs and three T20Is in the West Indies in July.
Source: Zee News