Crowds will be banned from Australia’s one-day cricket series against New Zealand with the series to be played behind closed doors because of coronavirus, while the upcoming women’s tour of South Africa was put on hold until further notice.

Cricket Australia took the drastic step on Friday, just hours before the men’s series opener at the SCG. Another match is due for the SCG on Sunday, before another game in front of an empty stadium at Blundstone Arena in Hobart next Friday.

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The suspension of the women’s tour next week makes it the first major international cricket series affected since the outbreak of the virus.

“We have taken strong action today in the face of an unprecedented public health issue,” Cricket Australia boss Kevin Roberts said. “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.

“We understand that these changes to our schedule will impact many, but we hope our community will understand that the public health and safety issues caused by the coronavirus must take priority over sport at this time. This is not an issue specific to cricket.”

Australia’s men also have a tour of New Zealand planned for later this month, with no decision made on that trip yet. Those tours are the only Australian international matches in the short-term future, with the Indian Premier League also in serious doubt for later this month.

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The women’s tour was scheduled to take in ODI matches in Durban (22 March), Pietermaritzburg (25 March) and East London (28 March) and the T20Is were due to be played in East London (31 March) and Benoni (3 and 4 April).

CA said will continue to monitor the situation at home and overseas before making a decision on women’s international matches beyond that tour.

