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] The ICC announced that the qualifier had been moved back to 2021.[12] 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.[13][14]
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.[26] Players were banned from using saliva to shine the ball, with five penalty runs being awarded to the opposition for repeated transgressions.[27] 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.[28]
International men's cricket started with the first Test between England and the West Indies on 8 July 2020, with the West Indies winning by four wickets.[29] New Zealand's tour of the West Indies, also scheduled to start on 8 July 2020, was postponed after it clashed with the rescheduling of the West Indies tour of England.[30] South Africa's tour of the West Indies was also postponed due to the rescheduling of the England-West Indies series.[31] Ireland's tour of England, originally scheduled in September, was brought forward to 30 July 2020, after the ECB gave the go ahead for the series.[32] The fixture was also the first match in the 2020–2023 ICC Cricket World Cup Super League tournament, with England beating Ireland by six wickets.[33] The ICC began the use of technology to monitor front-foot no-balls for all matches in the World Cup Super League.[34] The ICC also started to trial the technology for the first time in a Test match, during Pakistan's Test series against England.[35]Australia's tour to England, originally scheduled to take place in July, was moved back to September, following the rearranged series between England and Ireland.[36] The only women's international cricket to take place was a five-match WT20I series between England and the West Indies. England Women won all of the matches, the first time they had won a bilateral series 5–0.[37]
The tour was postponed in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[57] In June 2020, a revised schedule was confirmed. The Test matches took place at the Rose Bowl and Old Trafford in July 2020.[58]
The tour was postponed due to a fixture clash following the rescheduling of the West Indies tour to England,[61] and was rescheduled for June 2021.[62]
England
India
South Africa
West Indies
Australia
New Zealand
Sri Lanka
Pakistan
Afghanistan
Bangladesh
Zimbabwe
Ireland
Netherlands
Oman
Scotland
Nepal
United Arab Emirates
Papua New Guinea
Thailand
United States
Namibia
Canada
Singapore
Qatar
Denmark
Malaysia
Vanuatu
Uganda
Hong Kong
Italy
Jersey
Kenya
Bermuda