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]