PREMIER PLAYS BLAME GAME OVER SKIPPER
CRICKET Australia has hit back at South Australian premier Steven Marshall’s attempts to distance his government from the bombshell call to scratch Pat Cummins.
Marshall has claimed Cricket Australia ruled its captain out of the Adelaide Test before he was even interviewed by health authorities.
As reported by News Corp, eyebrows have been raised in some quarters that Cricket Australia didn’t try to work harder with Government authorities to see if Cummins could have played in the second Test after being deemed a close contact.
Marshall refused to say whether SA Health would have let Cummins – who by Thursday morning had already returned a negative Covid test – play but passed the buck by declaring SA’S investigation had not been completed.
“I think this was a decision that was made by Cricket Australia. Let’s be very clear about it,” said Marshall on Friday.
“They put their statement out before we had actually conducted the interview with Pat. So the issue is I think that Cricket Australia probably formed the opinion that they didn’t want to have a chance for the entire two teams to be deemed as close contacts and ruin the entire Test series…
“I don’t think it was anybody’s interest to have a potential person who infected playing Ashes because it could potentially throw the entire series out. That was a decision that was made before we’d even conducted the interview.”
But CA chief executive Nick Hockley refuted Marshall’s assertion, adamant CA’S decision came following a full briefing from SA Health where he was left under no illusions Cummins would be forced into isolation. “I think the Premier’s reference is that normally they go through quite a detailed process of contact tracing,” Hockley told SEN.
“The work we did was engage Health immediately. And needed to understand the situation very (quickly). We called an emergency meeting with our contacts at SA Health and they confirmed Pat would be treated as a close contact, so it was much a collective decision we had that confirmation through from SA Health.
“We knew (Cummins was a close contact) ahead of time through our discussions with SA Health.”
Cricket Australia felt the risk posed to the entire series was too great if Cummins was infected and therefore felt it had no choice but to make him a sacrificial lamb. Marshall defended South Australian rules that require close contacts to isolate for seven days, yet allow interstate arrivals to roam freely before they receive their Covid test results.
It was the combination of those two factors which conspired against Cummins and Australia.
The chastening thing for Cummins was that had he been sitting outside at the restaurant – as were Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon – he would not have been deemed a close contact and could have played.
Cricket Australia’s biosecurity rules allowed players to sit indoors at restaurants despite the severe ramifications of being deemed a close contact.
Australian star David Warner said players were at the mercy of local government rules and said all they could do was be smart about their choices when in public.
“I think the decision is based on the Government here in South Australia … that’s the rules,” he said.