International cricket in 2020

The 2020 international cricket season is scheduled to take place from May to September 2020.[1][2] Currently, 15 Test matches, 49 One Day Internationals (ODIs) and 40 Twenty20 International (T20Is) are scheduled to be played during this period, as well as 8 Women's One Day Internationals (WODIs) and 4 Women's Twenty20 Internationals (WT20Is), are scheduled to be played during this period. Additionally, a number of other T20I/WT20I matches are scheduled to be played in minor series involving associate nations. The season started with Australia leading the Test cricket rankings, England leading the ODI rankings and Australia leading the Twenty20 rankings.[3]

The COVID-19 pandemic continued to impact on international cricket fixtures.[4] Bangladesh's matches against Ireland were postponed on 21 March 2020.[5] On 24 March 2020, the International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed that all ICC qualifying events scheduled to take place before 30 June 2020 had been postponed.[6] On 9 April 2020, Australia's tour to Bangladesh was postponed.[7] On 20 April 2020, South Africa's tour to Sri Lanka was also postponed.[8] On 22 April 2020, the Dutch government announced that it had banned all events in the country, both sports and cultural, until 1 September 2020.[9] Two days later, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed that no professional cricket would be played in England before 1 July 2020, with tours by the West Indies and India's women both being postponed.[10] On 12 May 2020, the ICC confirmed that the 2020 Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier, scheduled to take place in Sri Lanka, had also been postponed.[11] Two days later, Cricket Scotland and Cricket Ireland confirmed the cancellation of summer fixtures, including New Zealand's tour against both sides and Pakistan's visit to Ireland.[12][13]

In June 2020, the ICC made several interim changes to the Playing Conditions due to the pandemic. A substitute could be used for any player showing symptoms of COVID-19, but only in a Test match.[14] Players were banned from using saliva to shine the ball, with five penalty runs being awarded to the opposition for repeated transgressions.[15] The requirement to use neutral match officials was temporarily lifted, along with an increase to the number of DRS reviews a team can use, due to having less experienced umpires in a match.[16]

June saw further disruption to international cricket due to the pandemic. The ICC confirmed that the Scotland Tri-Nation Series and the Uganda Cricket World Cup Challenge League B tournament had both been postponed.[17] The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed that it had called off their tours to Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka.[18] Scotland's one-off T20I match against Australia was cancelled,[19] New Zealand's tour to Bangladesh to play two Test matches was postponed,[20] and Bangladesh's tour to Sri Lanka to play three Test matches was postponed.[21]