The West Indies tour of Australia 2020/21 for the three-match T20I series has been officially postponed. While it was planned as the warm-up matches before the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2020, the T20I series has now been postponed due to the postponement of the Men’s T20 World Cup.
The three-match T20I series was scheduled on 4th, 6th and 9th October 2020 at Riverway Stadium (Townsville), Cazaly’s Stadium (Cairns) and Carrara Stadium (Gold Coast) respectively.
Those matches were scheduled based on the warm-up games of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2020, which Australia would host between 18th October and 15th November 2020.
But last July, the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2020 was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. While we will now experience the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 and 2022, India and Australia will host either of these tournaments.
Given the preference to host the warm-up three-match T20 series against the West Indies to coincide with the rescheduled T20 World Cup in Australia
So, the Cricket Australia (CA) and Cricket West Indies (CWI) have decided to postpone the T20I series. This series can be rescheduled after the International Cricket Council (ICC) reschedules the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia (either 2021 or 2022 edition).
The CA media release claimed, “In light of this development, and given the preference to host the warm-up three-match T20 series against the West Indies to coincide with the rescheduled T20 World Cup in Australia (which will take place in either 2021 or 2022), it has been agreed to postpone the matches.”
The Australian team is now getting ready for the limited-overs international series in England. They will play the three-match ODI and three-match T20I series in the England tour in September 2020. It will be their first international cricket assignment after March 2020.
On the other hand, West Indies recently completed the Test series against the hosts England where the Caribbean team lost the three-match away Test series by the 2-1 margin. Now, the Caribbean players are preparing for the CPL 2020 which will run from 18th August to 10th September 2020.
As Australia vs West Indies T20I series has been postponed, both the top Aussie and Caribbean players can participate in the IPL 2020 from the early October. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will host the IPL 2020 from 19th September to 10th November 2020.