MELBOURNE, May 5 (PTI): One of the marquee events in international cricket, the Test series between Australia and South Africa later this year has shrunk to an unprecedented two-match affair to accommodate the lucrative Champions League Twenty20 in India, according to a report.
The official itinerary of Australia�s October-November tour of South Africa is yet to be announced but according to �Daily Telegraph�, for the first time there will be room for only two Tests, along with two Twenty20 International matches and three ODIs.
�The billion-dollar cash cow, Twenty20, continues to strangle Test cricket and with it one of Australia�s greatest modern rivalries. In a sad indictment of the modern game and its lopsided priorities, Australia and South Africa will play only two Tests in a short series later this year,� the report said.
�Chief among the reasons for relegating this usually fierce competition to minor league status is the glorified domestic Champions League Twenty20 tournament in India during September and early October,� it said.
Cricket Australia, however, said that this tour was extra cricket slotted in among the standard four-year home and away cycles of three-Test series.
