 The South African Cricket Board has agreed to play in the two Test matches
proposed by the Indian Cricket Board. The South African Board (CSA) has, however,
asked for support in terms of reducing the travel and logistics from their Indian
counterparts.
The South African cricket board has said that they will play in the proposed
two test matches and three ODIs instead of the five ODIs originally planned
if the travel through the country from one venue to another was not taxing.
The proposed dates for the two test matches are February 4-8 and February 12-16.
This will be followed by the three ODIs which are on the 19th, 22nd and the
25th of February.
The South African Board has also kept the South African Players' Association
(SACA) in the loop, who have said that despite the tour being compressed, they
will like to go ahead with it. However, even their CEO Tony Irish expressed
concerns over the logistics. He said that despite the tour been compressed by
one or two days, they would be happy to compromise if the travel will not be
across the length and the breadth of the country.
He said, "There has been a process of consultation between SACA and CSA
on the schedule and though it doesn't comply strictly with the guidelines, we
are happy to compromise in order to ensure that Test matches and ODIs are played."
He also added, "The day of travel between the matches should not be too
long as we have only two rest and practice days. But if we are travelling between
one end to other then we will need an extra day of rest."
Earlier, there had been five ODIs planned by both the countries. However, the
Indian team then displaced South Africa as the number one side in the
world which led to a criticism of the board from various quarters for playing
in very few test matches in 2010. South Africa too had played in only six test
matches in 2009, which means that both the number one and the two sides wanted
to play in more games than they were next year.
It is not yet known what the ICC guidelines for the same are. There hasn't
been too much consistency on the number of days of break between test matches
on tours, and even if one were to dig out past statistics, one would find discrepancies
in the same across the world.
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