The COVID pandemic struck its fiercest blow yet to Canberra sport on Saturday, with the Capitals and Meteors having key matches cancelled in the space of hours.
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Three Meteors players have now tested positive for the virus, which has forced the postponement of Sunday's already rearranged fixture with the NSW Breakers.
Meanwhile, multiple cases in the Melbourne Boomers camp rendered Saturday's match against the Capitals in Traralgon unplayable.
The Capitals flew to Melbourne on Friday, before embarking on the three-hour drive to Traralgon.
They'd just completed a light shooting session on Saturday morning when they were informed a member of the Boomers squad had tested positive for the virus.
That number quickly ballooned to four, forcing the Capitals to drive back to Canberra from Traralgon on Saturday afternoon.
MORE COVID NEWS:
After a COVID scare early in the season, the Capitals are now the only WNBL club not stuck in health and safety protocols.
They're due to play the Sydney Flames on Friday in Canberra, a match that has been postponed twice already due to COVID, but even that fixture is clouded in uncertainty given the rate of infections coursing through the WNBL.
The two teams were due to play on Wednesday night in Canberra, which was to be veteran Kelly Wilson's 400th WNBL match, but that was called off less than three hours before tip-off due to a COVID positive in the Flames camp.
Two Meteors players missed Thursday's thumping loss to NSW at Manuka Oval after testing positive to the virus this week.
As of Saturday, a third player had tested positive while multiple teammates, still awaiting a result, had developed symptoms.
The Meteors were originally scheduled to play Victoria in Canberra this Sunday and again on Tuesday. Victoria requested a postponement of those two matches until March to reduce its potential exposure to the virus while travelling to the capital.
Cricket ACT was then able to rearrange its second fixture with NSW, originally slated to be played on January 14 at North Sydney Oval, before Saturday's cancellation.
There will now be no more Women's National Cricket League matches for five weeks until after the Ashes series, which begins later this month.
Canberra will host a four-day Test match between Australia and England later this month, and the first of three 50-over fixtures in early February.
Cricket Australia is desperately trying to manage the logistics of preparing for an Ashes series amid the surging COVID wave tearing through the country.
Complicating preparations for that series is the World Cup in March in New Zealand, for which selectors plan to select a 17-strong squad.
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