Australia-New Zealand behind closed doors, women's South Africa tour off

Australia will play their three upcoming one-day internationals against New Zealand behind closed doors because of coronavirus concerns.

The move was announced only hours before the start ofFriday's opening gameat the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The other two games will take place at the same venue in Sydney on Sunday, and at Hobart on 20 March.

Additionally, the Australia women's team will now not travel to South Africa for their scheduled series.

The Aussie team - fresh from their victory in the Women's T20 World Cup in Melbourne last weekend - had been due to play three ODIs against the Proteas as part of the ICC Women's Championship, and three Twenty20 internationals between 22 March and 4 April.

"We believe this is the right decision to minimise the risk of public exposure to the coronavirus, which the World Health Organisation declared a global pandemic on Thursday," said Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive Kevin Roberts.

Only accredited media and broadcast personnel will be allowed into the games - albeit with a "precautionary perimeter" between them and the teams.

CA is also "keeping options open" for subsequent series, such as their T20 series in New Zealand (24-29 March) which follows the ODIs against the same opposition.

(BBC)