Cricketing prodigy Jade Allen has been denied a chance from sharing her talent with the world.
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Jade, 16, was announced late last week as a member for the Cricket Australia Women's Under 19 squad for a tour of South Africa.
Cricket Australia announced on Friday it was suspending the scheduled women's ODI and Twenty20 tour of South Africa, while proud Dad, Dave Allen said unfortunately the Under 19s tour has been pulled completely from the schedule on Sunday.
"It hasn't been postponed, it's been cancelled outright, we got the e-mail yesterday," he said.
The e-mail from Cricket Australia reads: "The health and safety of our players and staff is our primary concern.
"With this in mind, I regret to inform you the upcoming Australian U19's tour of South Africa has been cancelled. I realise you will be disappointed, rest assured this decision was not taken lightly. In discussion with the South African and English Cricket boards, the tour has been cancelled not suspended. It will therefore not be rescheduled to a later date."
Dave said Jade was respectably disappointed about the news, but said she was being realistic about the current COVID-19 situation globally.
"She's obviously disappointed, but she's been very pragmatic about it," Dave said on Monday morning.
"She's being realistic with everything that's happening in the world that things are going into lockdown."
With Victoria announcing a State of Emergency on Monday morning and Canberra following soon after, Dave said Jade will join sporting people from across the country in an extended period of uncertainty.
The family had some idea the tour might have been impacted when squad captain Hannah Darlington and Rachel Trenaman were in town across the weekend as part of a NSW Breakers visit.
"We were chatting to them and they were saying it wasn't looking good," Dave said.
The early indication somewhat lessened the blow for Jade, who will now wait to see the fate of her Sydney Uni team's semi-final draw this weekend.
"Rachel is in Jade's side for Sydney Uni and they just don't know [if play will go ahead]," Dave said.
"It's a very fluid situation and there is a lot of uncertainty - it's very hard to make decisions when the parameters can change within 24 hours."
Meanwhile, the Far South Coast Cricket Association competition has been unaffected with just the first division grand final remaining on the calendar. Kameruka claimed the division two premiership on Saturday.