Pandemic Stops Play – Will Australia Be Caught Out By Its Decision To Withdraw From 2021 Tour To South Africa?

On 17 February 2021, Cricket South Africa (CSA) lodged a dispute with the International Cricket Council (ICC) following the decision by Cricket Australia (CA) to postpone Australia’s three-Test tour of South Africa (which was scheduled to happen from 3 – 25 March) as a result of COVID-19.

On 2 February 2021, CA announced[1] that it had "no choice" but to postpone the tour due to the public health situation in South Africa in relation to COVID-19.

The cancelled tour formed part of the ICC’s inaugural World Test Championship (WTC), which is set to conclude with a final in Southampton in June 2021. CSA is reportedly seeking compensation[2] for its losses caused by the cancellation of the series, together with the World Test Championship points that would have been up for grabs had the series gone ahead.

Intriguingly, England had an opportunity to send their Ashes rivals into the World Test Championship final if they had beaten India in the final test of their recent series. However, a defeat for England confirmed a New Zealand v India final, and left Australia in third place and South Africa in seventh place in the World Test Championship.

In short, if the dispute between CSA and CA is not resolved amicably, the ICC’s Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC) will appoint an independent arbitration panel to hear the case. If the panel determines that CA was wrong to withdraw from the tour, then it could award some or all of the points for the series to South Africa thus affecting both South Africa and Australia’s position in the final World Test Championship standings.

This article examines:

• How proceedings under the ICC Dispute Resolution Committee work; and
• Are there any relevant precedents for a case like this?