The Africa Cricket Association (ACA) has indefinitely postponed the ACA T20 Africa Cup Final which was to be staged in Nairobi, Kenya from March 20 to 28, 2020.

In a Media Release by the ACA on Monday, March 9, signed by Chairperson, Jackie Janmohamed and CEO Cassim Suliman, the decision to postpone the tournament till further notice, was taken by the Board in consultation with all the Health Ministries of the various participating countries in the 1 week tourney to safeguard the country (Kenya) against the possible entry of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), while respecting the decision of the government.

A portion of the statement Release says Kenyan Government has banned all meetings, conferences and events of international nature after they investigated 23 of 31 suspected cases but all tested negative with the Global Epidemic is visible within the African Continent.

‘As part of the government-wide effort to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. The Kenyan Government has stepped up preparedness measures through heightened surveillance system at all points of entry, health facilities and communities across the country to ensure that there is no importation of COVID-19 into the country. Information from the World Health Organization (WHO) indicate that as at 5th March 2020, 95,333 confirmed cases have been reported globally and 3282 deaths majority from mainland China.

Kenya has investigated twenty-three (23) alerts involving thirty-one (31) suspected cases that have all tested NEGATIVE for COVID-19. Two of the cases investigated recently were both in Nairobi.’

Ghana have been paired with Nigeria, Uganda and Malawi in Group A for the T20 finals. The Team has been feverishly training for the past 2 months, hoping to bring back the ultimate in the tourney which also has host Kenya, Cameroon, Botswana, and Mozambique in Group B.

Meanwhile, Head Coach of Team, Kodam Kofi Anefie tells TalksenseSports the postponement will help them to re-strategize, with information that they will keep training.

“I don’t see it as bad news for me but I see it as nature. This is something we can’t control and our safety is better than cure. It is for our own good because we don’t know what might happen. This is not in any way giving us more time to train because we have already done 8 weeks of training and we are prepared. It will allow us to re-organize and plan the way forward.”

The ACA on behalf of the Board of Directors apologized for the inconvenience the situation might have caused all participating countries and promised to keep all updated on the event accordingly.