The English Cricket Board (ECB) is willing to pay the full bill for the return charter flight to Cape Town, should the England tour to South Africa go ahead.

The world champions are set to travel down south in November for three ODIs and three T20Is and intend to pay for their own travel expenses, given the financial mess Cricket South Africa finds itself in.

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That is according to the Daily Mail, who reports that the cost for the flights could be as high as £380,000 (R8,203, 576.02) for the team and staff members on board.

‘The visit of Eoin Morgan and his England white-ball side is hoped to net the board around £3.5m in TV revenue. But the entire trip, beginning with 10 days’ quarantine at the Vineyard Hotel in Cape Town from November 17 and taking in four matches at Newlands and two at nearby Paarl, could be in jeopardy following sports minister Nathi Mthethwa’s warning to CSA to get their house in order,’ read part of the report.

CSA appears to be very keen for the tour to go ahead, given the huge financial gains on offer, but will require permission from Minister of Sport Nathi Mthethwa with the UK rated as a high-risk Covid-19 country by the South African government.

Apart from that, Mthethwa’s patience with CSA also appears to have worn thin after he informed the organisation on Wednesday of his plans to intervene due to failed attempts by the CSA board to rectify a plan of recovery for the governing body.

Mthethwa gave CSA until 5pm on 27 October to provide representations on why his department should not intervene, stating ‘the ball is now firmly the court of CSA’.

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Government intervention could lead to a suspension from international cricket by the ICC as it is strictly against the body’s constitution.

The ICC, however, confirmed that it is monitoring the situation at CSA.

England toured South Africa during last season, winning the Test and T20I series against the Proteas, while the ODI series was shared.