Cricket South Africa (CSA) has announced fresh dates for its innovative Solidarity Cup on Wednesday. The Solidarity Cup was originally slated to start from June 27 last month but it was postponed due to the growing cases in the country.
However, the CSA has finally announced that new fixtures for the 36-over match will now start from July 18, and the matches will be played at SuperSport Park in Pretoria.
Earlier, CSA was forced to postpone the tournament as it didn’t get the approval from the Sports Ministry of the country for training and match-day protocols.
The inaugural Solidarity Cup will have three teams captained by AB de Villiers (Eagles), Kagiso Rabada (Kingfishers), and Quinton de Kock (Kites) respectively. The 3TCricket format will have all the teams compete in a single game on July 18 which happens to be Nelson Mandela International Day.
Jacques Faul, the Chief Executive of CSA commented on the new fixtures as he said, “It’s very exciting to get live cricket, featuring our top players, back on our TV screens again.”
“I can’t think of a more appropriate day on which to hold this game than Nelson Mandela Day when its prime objective is to raise funds for those who have been badly affected by the coronavirus.”
The motive behind hosting the event is to raise funds for charity and also to demonstrate the message of the Citizens in Solidarity during this COVID-19 pandemic.
Nomkhita Nqweni, interim CEO of the Solidarity Fund said,
“This message is to reinforce all the very necessary, appropriate behaviours in the time of this pandemic and also, to remind all of South Africa of our ability to work together, to find unique solutions in a time of crisis.”
The players will now shortly return to the field for training for preparation after getting a green flag from the Sports Ministry and the apex cricket body.
