International cricket in 2020

International cricket
in 2019–20 | in 2020–21

The 2020 international cricket season took place from May to September 2020.[1][2] 15 Test matches, 49 One Day Internationals (ODIs) and 40 Twenty20 International (T20Is) were scheduled to be played during this period, as well as 8 Women's One Day Internationals (WODIs) and 9 Women's Twenty20 Internationals (WT20Is). Additionally, a number of other T20I/WT20I matches were also scheduled to be played in minor series involving associate nations. The season started with Australia leading the Test cricket rankings, England leading the ODI rankings and Australia leading the Twenty20 rankings.[3]

The COVID-19 pandemic continued to impact on international cricket fixtures.[4] Bangladesh's matches against Ireland were postponed on 21 March 2020.[5] On 24 March 2020, the International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed that all ICC qualifying events scheduled to take place before 30 June 2020 had been postponed.[6] On 9 April 2020, Australia's tour to Bangladesh was postponed.[7] On 20 April 2020, South Africa's tour to Sri Lanka was also postponed.[8] On 22 April 2020, the Dutch government announced that it had banned all events in the country, both sports and cultural, until 1 September 2020.[9] Two days later, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed that no professional cricket would be played in England before 1 July 2020, with tours by the West Indies and India's women both being postponed.[10] On 12 May 2020, the ICC confirmed that the 2020 Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier, scheduled to take place in Sri Lanka, had also been postponed.[11] The ICC announced that the qualifier had been moved back to 2021.[12] Two days later, Cricket Scotland and Cricket Ireland confirmed the cancellation of summer fixtures, including New Zealand's tour against both sides and Pakistan's visit to Ireland.[13][14]

June and July saw further disruption to international cricket due to the pandemic. The ICC confirmed that the Scotland Tri-Nation Series and the Uganda Cricket World Cup Challenge League B tournament had both been postponed.[15] The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed that it had called off their tours to Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka.[16] Scotland's one-off T20I match against Australia was cancelled,[17] New Zealand's tour to Bangladesh to play two Test matches was postponed,[18] and Bangladesh's tour to Sri Lanka to play three Test matches were all postponed.[19] The latter was later rescheduled to be played in October 2020.[20] On 30 June, Cricket Australia confirmed that their planned home series against Zimbabwe had also been postponed due to the virus.[21] On 8 August 2020, Afghanistan's planned tour to Zimbabwe for five T20I matches was called off.[22] Also in August 2020, the Netherlands tour to Zimbabwe was postponed,[23] and India's tour to South Africa was cancelled due to a clash with the rescheduled 2020 Indian Premier League.[24] Finally, the last scheduled series to be cancelled was the South Africa women's tour to England, which was due to take place in September 2020.[25]

In June 2020, the ICC made several interim changes to the Playing Conditions due to the pandemic. A substitute could be used for any player showing symptoms of COVID-19, but only in a Test match.[26] Players were banned from using saliva to shine the ball, with five penalty runs being awarded to the opposition for repeated transgressions.[27] The requirement to use neutral match officials was temporarily lifted, along with an increase to the number of DRS reviews a team can use, due to having less experienced umpires in a match.[28]

International men's cricket started with the first Test between England and the West Indies on 8 July 2020, with the West Indies winning by four wickets.[29] New Zealand's tour of the West Indies, also scheduled to start on 8 July 2020, was postponed after it clashed with the rescheduling of the West Indies tour of England.[30] South Africa's tour of the West Indies was also postponed due to the rescheduling of the England-West Indies series.[31] Ireland's tour of England, originally scheduled in September, was brought forward to 30 July 2020, after the ECB gave the go ahead for the series.[32] The fixture was also the first match in the 2020–2023 ICC Cricket World Cup Super League tournament, with England beating Ireland by six wickets.[33] The ICC began the use of technology to monitor front-foot no-balls for all matches in the World Cup Super League.[34] The ICC also started to trial the technology for the first time in a Test match, during Pakistan's Test series against England.[35] Australia's tour to England, originally scheduled to take place in July, was moved back to September, following the rearranged series between England and Ireland.[36] The only women's international cricket to take place was a five-match WT20I series between England and the West Indies. England Women won all of the matches, the first time they had won a bilateral series 5–0.[37]

  1. ^ "Schedule for inaugural World Test Championship announced". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  2. ^ "Men's Future Tours Programme" (PDF). International Cricket Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 July 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  3. ^ "Australia No. 1 Test and T20I team after rankings update". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  4. ^ "List of all the cricket series affected by coronavirus: full coverage". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  5. ^ "Cricket Ireland and Bangladesh Cricket Board agree to postpone series". Cricket Ireland. Archived from the original on 21 March 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  6. ^ "COVID-19 update – ICC qualifying events". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  7. ^ "Bangladesh-Australia Test series postponed amid Covid-19 threat". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  8. ^ "South Africa's June tour of Sri Lanka postponed". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  9. ^ "All international matches in the Netherlands postponed". Royal Dutch Cricket Association. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  10. ^ "ECB announces further delay to the professional cricket season". England and Wales Cricket Board. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  11. ^ "ICC Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier postponed". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  12. ^ "Venue for postponed 2020 ICC Men's T20 World Cup confirmed". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  13. ^ "Summer Internationals against New Zealand postponed due to COVID-19". Cricket Scotland. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  14. ^ "New Zealand and Pakistan fixtures postponed as CI Board meets to discuss impact of COVID-19". Cricket Ireland. Archived from the original on 23 May 2020. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  15. ^ "Two more series on the Road to India 2023 postponed". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  16. ^ "BCCI calls off India's tours to Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  17. ^ "Scotland v Australia T20 game cancelled amid coronavirus pandemic". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  18. ^ "New Zealand's August tour of Bangladesh postponed". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  19. ^ "Bangladesh postpone Sri Lanka tour due to Covid-19 pandemic". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  20. ^ "Bangladesh v Sri Lanka three-Test series to begin on October 24". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  21. ^ "Zimbabwe's three-match ODI tour to Australia postponed". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  22. ^ "Zimbabwe's T20I series against Afghanistan called off due to coronavirus". Times of India. 8 August 2020. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  23. ^ "Zimbabwe Cricket hopes to salvage Pakistan tour". The Chronicle. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  24. ^ "No India-South Africa T20I Series Ahead Of IPL 2020 As BCCI Advances Tournament By A Week". Cricket Addictor. 25 July 2020. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  25. ^ "South Africa Women not to tour England in September 2020". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  26. ^ "Coronavirus substitutes allowed in Tests". BBC Sport. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  27. ^ "ICC approves use of substitute if player shows Covid-19 symptoms in Tests". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  28. ^ "Interim regulation changes approved". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  29. ^ "Statement from Manu Sawhney - Chief Executive, ICC on resumption of international cricket". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  30. ^ "Bangladesh Test series against New Zealand postponed". The Cricketer. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  31. ^ "South Africa tours to West Indies put back". Barbados Today. 14 May 2020. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  32. ^ John, Kenny (6 July 2020). "England v Ireland ODIs get green light". Raidió Teilifís Éireann. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  33. ^ "England v Ireland: Hosts wrap up six-wicket victory on ODI return". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  34. ^ "TV umpires to call front-foot no-balls in ODI Super League". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  35. ^ "TV umpire to call front-foot no-balls in England-Pakistan Test series". ESPN Cricinfo. 5 August 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  36. ^ "Uncapped trio make Australia's UK touring party". Cricket Australia. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  37. ^ "The hits from a golden English cricket summer amid testing times". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 2 October 2020.