Coronavirus pandemic: Cricket Australia cancels final round of Sheffield Shield season

Cricket Australia on Sunday announced that the final round of the domestic tournament Sheffield Shield has been canceled in order to avoid the spread of novel coronavirus. 

The matches which are impacted by the decision include--South Australia vs Queensland clash (March 17), Western Australia vs New South Wales (March 17) and Victoria vs Tasmania (March 19).

Meanwhile, the decision regarding the final clash of the Sheffield Shield will be made in due course, the country's cricket board has confirmed. 

Besides this, the Australian Under-19 women's cricket team's tour of South Africa for the Women’s Emerging tri-series has also been canceled in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. 

The matches which will be impacted by the decision are as follows:

• Australia Under 19s vs England Women Academy--April 15
• Australia Under 19s vs SA Emerging--April 17
• Australia Under 19s vs England Women Academy--April 21
•  Australia Under 19s v SA Emerging--April 23
• Australia Under 19s v England Women Academy--April 27
• Australia Under 19s v SA Emerging--April 29 
• Final--May 1.

On Saturday, Australia's remaining two One-Day Internationals (ODIs) of the three-match series and the upcoming three T20Is against New Zealand was also postponed till further notice. 

The decision to call back the Black Caps players from Australia was taken after the New Zealand government recently issued new travel restrictions which enforced a mandatory 14-day self-isolation period for all those entering the country from Australia. 

The two sides were due to play second and third ODI on Sunday and March 20, respectively while the three-match T20I series between Australia and New Zealand was slated to take place from March 24 in Dunedin. 

The virus outbreak, which was first reported in December 2019 from Wuhan city of China, has so far affected over 100 countries and claimed the lives of more than 5,000 people and has affected more than 1,32,000 persons globally.