New Zealand are all set to welcome the West Indies, Pakistan, Australia and Bangladesh men's cricket teams to tour during the summer season, as part of a packed programme of international cricket.
New Zealand Cricket (NZC) CEO David White told reporters in Auckland, "We are making tremendous progress. I was just on the phone to the West Indies, they're confirmed, Pakistan is confirmed, Australia and Bangladesh...so 37 days of international cricket."
Also in the preliminary stages of planning is welcoming a visit by the Australia Women's Team, made possible by the postponement of February's ODI World Cup.
"The White Ferns will tour Australia in September and then the Australia Women's team will tour New Zealand in February," said White. "We are just working through the content but probably five ODIs and three T20Is."
White said he is looking at a model similar to the one that has so far been successfully used by the England Cricket Board during their ongoing season.
With visitors to the country required to isolate for a period of 14 days on arrival, NZC are presently working with their government on figuring out the biosecurity measures that will have to be in place for when the touring teams arrive.
"We're working through that with the government agencies at the moment, a similar concept...the agencies have been really supportive, the government's been fantastic," White said.
However, White declined to release the tour schedules until the details have been worked out.
New Zealand's population of five million saw only 22 deaths due to the global virus, and with this week marking 100 days since the last case of community transmission, the Kiwis, who are are living a lifestyle free of social distancing, are able to enjoy spectating at sports events.
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Karim Sahib
