SA vs ENG | First ODI to be played on Sunday as entire South African contingent tests negative

In what comes as a huge relief for CSA, ECB and all the players involved, Cricket South Africa have confirmed that the first ODI between South Africa and England will be played on Sunday, December 6, after the entire South African contingent returned negative test results for Covid-19. The game was originally scheduled to be played on Friday, December 4, but a South African player testing positive for Covid-19 hours before the match commenced meant that the contest had to be aborted and rescheduled at a later date.

Despite CSA assuring otherwise, many feared that the positive case could lead to several more infections, but it was confirmed earlier today that all the other players and staff in the South African camp tested negative in the latest round of tests.

"Cricket South Africa is pleased to announce that the entire Proteas team has returned negative results from the COVID-19 tests that were conducted yesterday evening in Cape Town,” a release from CSA stated.

CSA did not disclose the name of the player who tested positive, the third South African player to have caught the virus after two players were earlier pulled out of the T20I squads prior to the commencement of the tour due to them returning positive results. The ECB have expressed their concerns over the dire situation, but the clean chit provided by the latest round of testing could see the series go ahead without any further roadblocks.