England will return to South Africa in 2023, Australia Test series window found

Cricket South Africa director of cricket Graeme Smith confirmed on Friday that the English white-ball squad would return to fulfill the trip which was abandoned for Covid-19 reasons in December 2020

England will visit South Africa in early 2023 for a short one-day international series.

Cricket South Africa director of cricket Graeme Smith confirmed on Friday that the English white-ball squad will return to fulfil the trip which was abandoned for Covid-19 reasons in December 2020.

The Proteas will host England for three ODIs in February and March, while a window for the rearranged Test series against Australia - which was called off in February 2021 - has been found in August 2023. 

"With series lost in Covid, the challenge is you have eight white-ball events in eight years now, you have got IPL extending - trying to fit your calendar cycle in is a great challenge for everybody," Smith told SuperSport.

"So you need to review, you need to stay with the times. And you need to make sure we keep putting South African cricket on the map.

^{England's ODI tour against South Africa was called off in December 2020}

"Our team - both men and women - needs to be performing well and be recognised and people want to play us. But we need to make sure when things are happening in world cricket South Africa is at the forefront."

The insertion of the Test series in August 2023 will come as a blow to the ECB, as it will likely sit on top of at least part of its window for The Hundred.

The new competition saw its first season delayed by a year because of the pandemic and then was hit by mass withdrawals of overseas stars in 2021. 

It remains to be seen whether availability will improve this year, but the prospect of two major nations competing throughout August in 2023 - even if it is in red-ball cricket - will at least partially limit the number of world-class players able to take part.

South Africa does not typically host cricket in August. 

Meanwhile, Smith noted the ongoing difficulties in keeping international cricket functioning, commercial contracts fulfilled and the players and backroom staff healthy and happy.

"Cricket is a challenging landscape at the moment," Smith said. "If I just think about our national team now: 52 days in the bubble against India, 10 days coming up in New Zealand for quarantines then the Test match there, home for Bangladesh, two months in IPL, full England tour, India again, [T20] World Cup.

"So how you manage players, management in terms of the stresses that they are facing in these biosecure environments, the amount of cricket we got to play to catch up [with] losses and various other things, so it's a planning nightmare. And hopefully we will get that concoction right and we will see success."