With India looking set to play the first Test against South Africa, not before the first week of January, Cricket South Africa (CSA) is now on the lookout for a new opposition to play the traditional Boxing Day Test.
India’s series against Sri Lanka is set to end on December 24, and with the BCCI adamant on having a warm-up game for the team along with around a 10-day gap so that the players can adapt to the conditions, Virat Kohli & Co. are completely out of frame to play the Boxing Day Test. In fact, India will also not be able to play the New Year’s Test on the traditional date of January 2. Reports are suggesting the first Test will start at Newlands a few days later.
However, with the Boxing Day fixture being such a lucrative one due to the holiday season, CSA is keen to host the game.
“We will have content for Boxing Day, but we’re not yet in a position to announce that. We need to secure it first,” CSA chief executive Haroon Lorgat said on Tuesday (September 19).
Lorgat also said CSA would prefer a Test match over a limited-overs fixture on Boxing Day.
“First prize is a Test match. We would love Boxing Day and New Year to remain as Test content,” he said. “I know in the past there have been one-day matches and there has been discussion internally to consider one-dayers, but personally I would love to see a Test match played.”
Lorgat further said that CSA would announce the schedule for the India series in the coming days.
“We are pretty close to signing off (on the dates) with India,” Lorgat said. “I’m hoping we can make some announcements towards the latter half of this week. It’s less than ideal – we would have loved that schedule to have been announced a long time back, but it is what it is.”