Scotland's T20I against Australia cancelled due to COVID-19 threat

Australia was scheduled to play Scotland on June 29 at ‘The Grange’ in Edinburgh, before taking on England in a limited-overs series.

Scotland's Mark Watt (left) celebrates with teammate Michael Leask during a match against Zimbabwe in Nagpur (File photo).

Scotland’s one-off T20 International against Australia, scheduled for June 29, was on Wednesday cancelled due to the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the country’s cricket board announced.

Australia was scheduled to play Scotland on June 29 at ‘The Grange’ in Edinburgh, before taking on England in a limited-overs series.

“Due to the ongoing restrictions in place for international sport due to COVID-19, Cricket Scotland, together with the ECB and Cricket Australia, has agreed to cancel the men’s T20I against Australia due to be played at The Grange on 29th June,” Cricket Scotland said in a statement.

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Australia (CA) are in talks to reschedule the series to be played in a biosecure environment.

However, Scotland Cricket said due to the costs and logistics involved in staging a one-off fixture in a secure environment the match in Edinburgh would not be possible.

“Whilst the ECB and Cricket Australia are in joint discussions regarding the rescheduling of Australia’s tour, it has been agreed that a fixture against Scotland will not be possible should the tour take place later in the summer due to the costs and logistics involved in staging a one-off fixture in a secure environment.”

Gus Mackay, CEO of Cricket Scotland, said: “Whilst this is disappointing news for us all in Scotland, we have explored all potential options and concluded that it is no longer possible to play the men’s T20 international against Australia.”