Cricket Australia have vowed not to put players, officials or fans at risk as they prepare a cautious approach to smoke haze at the Sydney Test. The third Test between Australia and New Zealand at the SCG starting Friday will be played amid smoke from the nation’s unfolding bushfire crisis.

Saturday is forecast to be most challenging with increased smoke haze and high temperatures expected to cause poor air quality. The match will remain under the control of the ICC, but CA will have heavy involvement and have been communicating with match referee Richie Richardson and the ICC over smoke protocols. Umpires will make the call on whether the match continues in the event of poor conditions, but CA will provide data on air quality and visibility ratings. Doctors will be told to provide officials with feedback from players, particularly if they are having difficulty breathing or experience sore eyes.

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“We won’t be putting the players’ health at risk, nor will we be putting the health of match officials, fans at the match or our own employees at risk,” CA boss Kevin Roberts said. “That is something we will be monitoring consistently through the five days’ play. It’s a day-by-day proposition. We’ve been working closely with the ICC and working with the environment department in NSW as well.”

Part of the challenge is the range in guidelines, with the NSW government determining a reading of 200 as hazardous and the ICC having that level at 300. Australian officials have previously implemented a heat policy in first-class cricket, and will aim to have more framework around air quality implemented for next season.

“It’s fair to say it’s a collaborative exercise and we will continue to take advice from the experts,” Roberts said.

First-class matches have been stopped overseas for smog, but no international game has been held up by bushfire smoke in recent memory. CA have already implemented a number of processes into Sheffield Shield and Big Bash matches this year, with extra information inserted into pre-game medical briefings. One Big Bash game in Canberra last month was abandoned due to smoke, while a Second XI game in Sydney was also delayed earlier this summer.

Crucially, CA will take the approach that playing time can be made up later and the health of players must be paramount.

“If we have smoke delays that even go collectively for as long as a day then we can still fit in the amount of overs over the course of the match,” Roberts said. “We need to be treating this like rain delays, but smoke delays. That was a simple piece of wisdom to come out of (preparations). It was incumbent of us to understand the risks, what alternatives we have to deal with those risks.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Liam Hatcher covers his mouth as bushfire haze hangs over the SCG during a Sheffield Shield match this month. Photograph: Craig Golding/AAP

Play can be extended by half an hour on the day of any delay, and by half hour on any subsequent day to make up time.

Australia’s one-day series against New Zealand in March will be used to raise funds for bushfire ravaged towns. Cricket Australia confirmed on Thursday that money raised from the two matches at the SCG would go to the Red Cross.

Signed playing gear from the Boxing Day Test will also be auctioned off for victims of the fires, which have engulfed NSW throughout the summer. This week’s pink Test at the SCG will include a minute’s applause to be observed before play to honour firefighters and emergency services. The McGrath Foundation will also remain as the chief charity partner for the Test, as has been the case since 2009 as it raises money for breast cancer nurses.

Several Sydney grade matches have already been affected this summer, with paramedics called twice to at least one match for two non-asthmatic players. More than 100 fires are currently burning in New South Wales, with air quality a concern for Sydney residents.

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New Zealand bowler Will Somerville, who has lived in Sydney for most of his life, said any concern over the match were inconsequential to those who have been affected by the fires.

“It’s bloody horrible, shocking, and it’s been going on for so long,” Somerville said. “I don’t know what more to say. There’s talk about smoke delaying this game but who cares, it doesn’t mean anything compared with what people are going through.”

The Australia coach, Justin Langer, expressed similar sentiments, saying “a lot of people are suffering … our hearts go out [to them]”. Langer added that he would leave it up to others to monitor air quality and whether it was fit to play.

“The reality is this is a game of cricket,” Langer said. “It will be the first time I’ll ever say this in my life, I hope it rains a bit during the Test, because Sydney needs it.”