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Cricket Australia has shifted a Sheffield Shield clash from Melbourne to Sydney because of concerns about border closures.
Cricket Australia has rejigged its Sheffield Shield schedule, shifting next week's Victoria-NSW match from Melbourne to Sydney.
The sides, who are squaring off this week at the SCG, were slated to clash at the MCG from February 25-28.
But border uncertainty sparked by Melbourne's recent lockdown means Victoria will now remain in Sydney.
The rescheduled fixture will be played at Bankstown Oval in Sydney's west.
The latest COVID-19 curveball came as CA released a snapshot of its viewership figures for the summer.
An average audience of 202,139 for the women's Big Bash League made it the fourth most-watched domestic sports league in Australia - behind the AFL,NRL and men's Big Bash League.
The combined broadcast audience for all of the men's BBL season was 44.82 million, the highest in league history and an increase of 5.9 per cent.
Some 28 of 31 sessions of Test cricket had an average audience of one-million plus, with the gripping Border-Gavaskar contest proving the highest-rating Test series ever on Australian subscription television.
The impressive numbers come as the sport's free-to-air broadcaster Seven continues to push for a discount.
Friday's change in the Shield fixture was prompted by NSW's scheduled trip to Adelaide in two weeks.
South Australia is currently blocking anybody who has been to Melbourne from entering the state.
As such, CA could not confidently bank on the Blues' squad being able to enter SA and play at Adelaide Oval.
Victoria's star-studded women's squad, headed by national captain Meg Lanning, has also been forced to play in Sydney because of border closures.
Victoria will face ACT on Sunday then South Australia on Tuesday, with both one-day games being staged in Blacktown.
Victoria batter Elyse Villani, who last week scored 135 not out and 80 in a pair of one-dayers against NSW, has been forced to self-isolate because she was at Melbourne Airport Terminal Four - listed as a potential exposure site for COVID-19 - on February 9.