The 3TeamCricket tournament will take place on July 18 on former president Nelson Mandela's birthday.

The novelty tournament that consists of three teams of eight players each was supposed to take place on June 27.

However‚ that was red-flagged by sports‚ arts and culture minister Nathi Mthethwa‚ who had said in a Parliamentary Sports Portfolio committee meeting that Cricket South Africa's application was being processed and not approved.

Under the Level 3 lockdown regulations‚ cricket is deemed to be a non-contact sport and they were granted a return to training and play.

Cricket finally received government approval to go back to training on June 26 and CSA has already assembled a 44-man squad that went back to training on Monday.

The three teams will be competing for the Solidarity Cup and the game will take place at SuperSport Park in Centurion.

CSA acting chief executive officer Dr Jacques Faul said they were happy to be back in play and have enough time to prepare.

"It is still nearly three weeks away‚ so it also gives our players more time to prepare properly and to minimise the chance of injuries‚" Faul said.

“I would like to thank the government and our own medical team once again for everything they have done to make a return to training and playing possible."