The 2020 international cricket season took place from May to September 2020. 15
Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to:
* Test cricket
* Test match (indoor cricket)
* Test match (rugby union)
* Test match (rugby league)
* Test match (association football)
...
, 49
One Day International
A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...
s (ODIs) and 40
Twenty20 International
A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...
(T20Is) were scheduled to be played during this period, as well as 8
Women's One Day International
Women's One Day International (WODI) is the limited overs form of women's cricket. Matches are scheduled for 50 overs, equivalent to the men's game. The first women's ODIs were played in 1973, as part of the first Women's World Cup which was ...
s (WODIs) and 9
Women's Twenty20 International
Women's Twenty20 International (WT20I) is the shortest form of women's international cricket. A women's Twenty20 International is a 20 overs-per-side cricket match between two of the International Cricket Council (ICC) members. The first Twent ...
s (WT20Is). Additionally, a number of other T20I/WT20I matches were also scheduled to be played in
minor series involving associate nations. The season started with
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
leading the
Test cricket rankings,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
leading the
ODI rankings and Australia leading the
Twenty20 rankings.
The
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
continued to impact on international cricket fixtures.
Bangladesh's matches against Ireland were postponed on 21 March 2020. On 24 March 2020, the
International Cricket Council
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are List of International Cricket Council members, 108 national associations, with 12 List of Internation ...
(ICC) confirmed that all ICC qualifying events scheduled to take place before 30 June 2020 had been postponed.
On 9 April 2020, Australia's
tour to Bangladesh was postponed. On 20 April 2020, South Africa's
tour to Sri Lanka was also postponed. On 22 April 2020, the Dutch government announced that it had banned all events in the country, both sports and cultural, until 1 September 2020. Two days later, the
England and Wales Cricket Board
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is the Sports governing body, national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test and ...
(ECB) confirmed that no professional cricket would be played in England before 1 July 2020, with tours by the
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...
and
India's women both being postponed. On 12 May 2020, the ICC confirmed that the
2020 Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier, scheduled to take place in Sri Lanka, had also been postponed. The ICC announced that the qualifier had been moved back to 2021.
Two days later,
Cricket Scotland
Cricket Scotland, formerly known as the Scottish Cricket Union, is the Sport governing body, governing body of the sport of cricket in Scotland. The body is based at the National Cricket Academy, Edinburgh.
The SCU was formed in 1908, but unde ...
and
Cricket Ireland
Cricket Ireland, officially the Irish Cricket Union, is the national governing body for cricket on the island of Ireland (both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland), and oversees the national men's and women's cricket teams. It also org ...
confirmed the cancellation of summer fixtures, including New Zealand's tour against both sides and Pakistan's visit to Ireland.
June and July saw further disruption to international cricket due to the pandemic. The ICC confirmed that the
Scotland Tri-Nation Series and the
Uganda Cricket World Cup Challenge League B tournament had both been postponed.
The
Board of Control for Cricket in India
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the national governing body for cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at Cricket centre, Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The BCCI is the richest governing body of cricket in the world ...
(BCCI) confirmed that it had called off their tours to
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...
and
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
. Scotland's one-off T20I match
against Australia was cancelled,
New Zealand's
tour to Bangladesh to play two Test matches was postponed, and Bangladesh's
tour to Sri Lanka to play three Test matches were all postponed. The latter was later rescheduled to be played in
October 2020. On 30 June,
Cricket Australia
Cricket Australia (CA), formerly known as the Australian Cricket Board (ACB), is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in Australia. It was originally formed in 1905 as the 'Australian Board of Control for International Crick ...
confirmed that their planned home series
against Zimbabwe had also been postponed due to the virus. On 8 August 2020, Afghanistan's planned
tour to Zimbabwe for five T20I matches was called off. Also in August 2020, the Netherlands
tour to Zimbabwe was postponed, and India's
tour to South Africa was cancelled due to a clash with the rescheduled
2020 Indian Premier League
The 2020 Indian Premier League, also known as IPL 13 and branded as Dream11 Indian Premier League 2020, was the thirteenth season of the IPL, a professional Twenty20 cricket (T20) league established by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (B ...
. Finally, the last scheduled series to be cancelled was the South Africa women's
tour to England, which was due to take place in September 2020.
In June 2020, the ICC made several interim changes to the Playing Conditions due to the pandemic. A
substitute could be used for any player showing symptoms of COVID-19, but only in a Test match. Players were banned from using saliva to shine the ball, with five
penalty run
In cricket, a penalty run is a type of extra. It is a run awarded to one team for various breaches of the Laws by the other team, generally related to unfair play or player conduct. Many of these penalties have been added since 2000. Penalties a ...
s being awarded to the opposition for repeated transgressions. The requirement to use neutral match officials was temporarily lifted, along with an increase to the number of
DRS reviews a team can use, due to having less experienced
umpire
An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection.
The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...
s in a match.
International men's cricket started with the
first Test
''First Test'', is a fantasy novel by Tamora Pierce, the first book in the series ''Protector of the Small
The ''Protector of the Small'' quartet is a series of books written by Tamora Pierce that tells the story of Keladry of Mindelan, a h ...
between England and the
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...
on 8 July 2020, with the West Indies winning by four wickets. New Zealand's
tour of the West Indies, also scheduled to start on 8 July 2020, was postponed after it clashed with the rescheduling of the West Indies
tour of England. South Africa's
tour of the West Indies was also postponed due to the rescheduling of the England-West Indies series. Ireland's tour of England, originally scheduled in September, was brought forward to 30 July 2020, after the ECB gave the go ahead for the series. The fixture was also the first match in the
2020–2023 ICC Cricket World Cup Super League tournament, with England beating Ireland by six wickets. The ICC began the use of technology to monitor front-foot
no-balls for all matches in the World Cup Super League. The ICC also started to trial the technology for the first time in a Test match, during
Pakistan's Test series against England.
Australia's tour to England, originally scheduled to take place in July, was moved back to September, following the rearranged series between England and Ireland. The only women's international cricket to take place was a five-match WT20I series between
England and the West Indies. England Women won all of the matches, the first time they had won a bilateral series 5–0.
Season overview
Rankings
The following were the rankings at the beginning of the season.
On-going tournaments
The following were the rankings at the beginning of the season.
May
Bangladesh in Ireland and England
The tour was postponed in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and later rescheduled to take place in May 2022.
June
2020 Papua New Guinea Tri-Nation Series
The ODI series was postponed in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
New Zealand in Scotland
The tour was postponed in May 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Australia in Bangladesh
The tour was postponed in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
New Zealand in the Netherlands
The match was postponed in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2020 Netherlands Quadrangular Series
The series was postponed in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
New Zealand in Ireland
The tour was postponed in May 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
India women in England
The tour was postponed in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
South Africa in Sri Lanka
The tour was postponed in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was rescheduled in July 2021, to take place in
September 2021.
Australia in Scotland
The match was cancelled in June 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
July
Pakistan in the Netherlands
The tour was postponed in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2020 Scotland Tri-Nation Series
The ODI series was postponed in June 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
West Indies in England
The tour was postponed in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2020, a revised schedule was confirmed. The Test matches took place at the
Rose Bowl and
Old Trafford
Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...
in July 2020.
New Zealand in West Indies
The tour was postponed due to a fixture clash following the rescheduling of the West Indies
tour to England.
Pakistan in Ireland
The tour was postponed in May 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic,
with the fixtures rescheduled for the
following year.
South Africa in West Indies and United States
The tour was postponed due to a fixture clash following the rescheduling of the West Indies
tour to England, and was rescheduled for
June 2021.
West Indies in Netherlands
The tour was postponed in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and was rescheduled for
June 2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...
.
Ireland in England
Afghanistan in Zimbabwe
The tour was postponed in August 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
August
2020 Uganda Cricket World Cup Challenge League B
The List A series was postponed in June 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pakistan in England
Zimbabwe in Australia
The tour was postponed in June 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
New Zealand in Bangladesh
The tour was postponed in June 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
India in South Africa
The tour was postponed in August 2020 due to a fixture clash with the rescheduled
2020 Indian Premier League
The 2020 Indian Premier League, also known as IPL 13 and branded as Dream11 Indian Premier League 2020, was the thirteenth season of the IPL, a professional Twenty20 cricket (T20) league established by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (B ...
.
India in Zimbabwe
The tour was postponed in June 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
India in Sri Lanka
The tour was postponed in June 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic,
and was rescheduled for
July 2021.
September
South Africa women in England
The tour was postponed in August 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Australia in England
Netherlands in Zimbabwe
The tour was postponed in August 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
West Indies women in England
See also
*
Associate international cricket in 2020
The 2020 Associate international cricket season was from May to August 2020. All official twenty over matches between List of International Cricket Council members, Associate members of the ICC were eligible to have full Twenty20 International (T ...
*
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cricket
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruption to cricket around the world, mirroring its impact across all sports. Around the world and to varying degrees, leagues and competitions have been cancelled or postponed.
International Tournaments
In J ...
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:International cricket in 2020
2020 in cricket