Bay of Plenty cricket fans are out of luck as the Blackcaps and White Ferns will not be coming to Mount Maunganui this weekend.

The men's team were due to take on Australia whilst the women were set to face England at the Bay Oval, on Sunday, March 7.

However, it has now been confirmed that the T20 double-header will now be played on the same date and time at Sky Stadium in Wellington.

Auckland's change to Covid alert level 3 is a key reason behind the decision.

'The change has been forced on NZC because of logistical complications arising from the transfer of this Friday's second double-header from Auckland to Wellington,” says a statement from New Zealand Cricket.

'The current alert level 2 protocols in Wellington mean all three double-headers – on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, will be played behind closed doors.”

Tickets purchased for matches affected by Alert Level restrictions will automatically receive full refunds to the card or bank account number from which they were paid.

'We are obviously really disappointed,” says Bay Oval general manager Kelvin Jones.

'Disappointed for the fans, everyone involved, the food vendors, service providers. We are just disappointed we won't have 10,000 people here enjoying a fantastic game of cricket.

'But it is what it is. It is not the end of the world. We just put into perspective. We have been really fortunate to have a fantastic summer until now we have avoided any Covid issues so in many ways we should count ourselves lucky.”