SA vs ENG 2020: First ODI abandoned again after hotel staff test positive for COVID-19
South Africa's first ODI against England has been abandoned once again after two members of the hotel staff tested positive for COVID-19.
The two teams had earlier agreed to delay the start of the ODI as England awaited for the results of their latest round of COVID-19 tests. But the decision was made to call off the first ODI shortly after, leaving the three match series in serious jeopardy.
The game scheduled to take place in Paarl was abandoned just 30 minutes before the start of play.
The first ODI was earlier due to be played on Friday. But the game was postponed after a South Africa player tested positive for COVID-19. The final ODI was then scheduled for Wednesday, with England due to fly home a day later.
Now the status of all three games is in doubt. And it remains to be seen whether we will get any more cricket in this series.
Fourth COVID-19 related incident of SA vs ENG tour
This is the fourth COVID-19 related incident of England's tour of South Africa. A member of the South Africa squad had tested positive before the Proteas entered the bio-secure bubble.
Then another player return a positive test just days into the start of the camp. Another South Africa player tested positive on Thursday, resulting in the first ODI being postponed.
And now two members of the hotel staff have tested positive, forcing the first ODI to be called off again.
This is certainly not a good look for South Africa cricket, with the country also set to host Sri Lanka, Australia and Pakistan later this summer.
England had earlier won the three-match T20I series convincingly, with Dawid Malan displaying his world-class quality with the bat.