Published: Dec 18, 2020, 01:28 PM (IST)
Edited: Dec 18, 2020, 01:28 PM (IST)
Cricket Australia has allayed fears over the the status of the India vs Australia, 3rd Test after fresh coronavirus outbreak in Sydney. The number of cases in the northern beaches reached 28 on Friday giving rise to concerns over whether the ongoing Test series will be affected by it.
While CA is closely monitoring the situation, the cricket board has said it’s not panicking.
“There’s been lots of discussion and meetings of our medical experts, but this is the reason why throughout the summer we’ve had our players in bubbles in the hub,” CA’s interim chief executive Nick Hockley told SEN Radio.
“We’re monitoring the situation; we’re not panicking at all, staying calm… … it’s really watch, wait and see and I think the governments around the country have handled the pandemic so well, so we’ll watch, learn and stay in touch,” he added.
He dismissed speculations that the third Test to be played at Sydney Cricket Ground is in doubt now.
“I don’t think so – this is the very reason why we have the hubs in place… whether it’s the WBBL players, the BBL players, the BCCI, our own Australia squads, they have been absolutely fantastic in dealing with all the protocols,” he said.
“Our medical experts have been working around the clock, we’re in very good communication with health authorities around the country. It’s one of the things we’ve had to navigate with getting cricket up safely,” he added.
However, a broadcaster of the series has been affected by the outbreak with Brett Lee, who was on commentary duties with Fox Cricket, deciding to return home.
Two Sydney-based members of the broadcaster have also returned home, while another two will work from hotel.
Three members of the SEN commentary team covering the first Test, have left Adelaide.
Hockley said CS has contingency plans in place.
“If the game can be played safely (in Sydney) then we’ll play it there. That’s our starting point, so it’s working with the health authorities to ascertain that,” he said.
“We started out thinking how to play the full series as safely as possible, and we’ll take the same approach over the coming days and weeks. We’ve got contingency plans around a whole range of different options, and we’ve had to be agile all the way through. We were encouraged that it was 17 cases yesterday and ten today, and we’ll see how that plays out over the next 72 hours,” he added.
