New Zealand's 4th T20I against Australia shifted to Wellington, to be played behind closed doors

New Zealand's 4th T20I against Australia has been shifted out of Auckland as the city enters a 7-day lockdown from Sunday. The match was initially supposed to be played in Auckland but it will be moved to Wellington, which also will host the 3rd T20I of a 5-match series.

Both the 3rd and 4th T20I, scheduled for March 3 and 5, will be played behind closed doors in Wellington, New Zealand Cricket said. The itinerary of the New Zealand women's team home Twenty20 series against England will also be affected.

The move to relocate the T20I and move the games behind closed doors comes after New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the lockdown in Auckland after a new local case of the coronavirus of unknown origin emerged,



according to Reuters.

New Zealand Cricket will take a call on the final T20I and the women's T20I match against England in Mount Maunganui in the coming days after assessing the Covid-19 situation. The country's cricket board also announced that all ticket holders for the Auckland T20I will be refunded.

New Zealand are 2-0 up in the 5-match series against Australia. Aaron Finch's visitors will look to stop Kane Williamson's men from sealing an unbeatable 3-0 lead when they meet on March 3 in Wellington.

On the other hand, England women are leading New Zealand 2-0 in the 3-match ODI series. The 3-match T20I series will be played alongside the men's T20Is against Australia as double-headers in Wellington and Mount Maunganui.