Kevin Pietersen slams Australia, England for hypocrisy after refusal to tour South Africa

Ar controversy is brewing in world of cricket, with Cricket Australia anuncing a last-minute cancellation of ir upcoming tour against South Africa early on February 2. Australia vs South Africa series has been in works for some time w, with captain Tim Paine talking about it during series against India in January. This sudden reversal is earning Cricket Australia ire of fans, players and Cricket South Africa alike. CA's lengthy anuncement, detailing  reasons behind this decision, has also received much flak and is being called out for being hypocritical and against spirit of equality among cricket playing nations.

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Kevin Pietersen calls out CA for Australia vs South Africa cancellation

domination of India, Australia and England - Big 3 of ICC - in cricket world has received much attention over past few years. Allegations on countries have ranged from unfairness in allocating ICC tournaments to members to snubbing smaller countries for bilateral series. This topic has taken on even more importance w most of all, with less fortunate members of ICC struggling to sustain mselves through pandemic. 

One of first series held outside of three countries, England's tour of South Africa ended rar poorly, with visitors pulling out of series halfway through after COVID-19 cases swept across both teams. Since n, CSA have successfully hosted Sri Lankan cricket team as well as conducted ir domestic season in a bio-bubble. CA's reasoning n, that y did t feel confident eugh to travel to country due to spre of virus and its new variant, has been called out by several people, including former England cricketer, Kevin Pietersen. 

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In an angry tweet, that echoes feelings of Cricket South Africa, SA-born batsmen questioned wher Australians would have taken a similar decision if tour in question h been against a richer board, like BCCI. He also called out ECB for ir hypocrisy in handling COVID3-19 situation in SA (where y pulled out of tournament) and pointed out how different it was from ir reaction to all-rounder Moeen Ali testing positive for virus in Sri Lanka (where y did t leave series midway).

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CSA have also responded to move harshly, with CSA Director Graeme Smith revealing that board has alrey spent a considerable amount of money in trying to implement all of CA's demands for tour. se demands included separate hotels for both teams, quarantine periods and bio-bubbles for hotel staff and an alteration of South Africa's current tour of Pakistan - rules far beyond any series held until w. Australia's decision will also affect ir ICC World Test Championship standings, making it almost impossible for side to make it to finals this summer. 

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Im Credits: AP & RCB website