Amidst pandemic, the Australian authorities are all set to allow its spectators in the stadiums for sporting events in July, which in turn may boost the chances of having the ICC T20 World Cup later this year.
Apart from this, the South Australia and Queensland governments have said that they will reopen their borders as there are positive signs of competitive sport, including cricket, making a comeback down under with domestic travel restrictions easing.
However, at this moment, the permission to allow 10,000 spectators for a sporting event is applicable only to venues having a capacity of less than 40,000 spectators. As a result, this excludes the big stadiums like Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), Adelaide Oval, Gabba, and Perth.
“This is going to be looked at over the next few weeks. For the larger ones [venues] I would venture that it would be the subject of a discrete approval for each venue that would be worked out with the Chief Health Officer in each state or territory,” the Australian Prime Minister said in an interview with ESPNcricinfo.
"The decision of staging the ICC T20 World Cup will take time as it means including 15 nations touring Australia. Although, with crowd getting into the picture, it will be interesting to see whether the fans are allowed to be at Ground Zero for the Big Bash and the Test series vs India at the back end of this year," said Morrison.
“So by the time you get into July there may be that type of opportunity for the rules that apply to those under 40,000 carry over to those above 40,000. These will be practical, commonsense issues, work through by the medical expert panel over the next few weeks and I think they will give a great instruction," claimed Morrison.
This news comes as New Zealand opened their stadiums to fans, after they announced they are COVID-19 free.
A full fixture list for 2020-21 season and the first match of the men’s team was against Zimbabwe. But as things stand, the women’s cricket team will start off the home season in the late September with a series against the New Zealand, Cricket Australia announced earlier this month.
Cover picture credits: Yahoo
