Cummins lauds planning amid Covid-19 headaches

Australia vice-captain Pat Cummins is lauding the contingency planning of cricket hierarchy as more state borders shut on his home city of Sydney.

Cricket Australia on Saturday pre-empted Victoria’s decision to close its border for people from Sydney, moving injured test players David Warner and Sean Abbott to Melbourne early.

The rest of the Australian squad will soon join them after taking a 1-0 series lead against India with an eight-wicket win in the first test in Adelaide.

Cummins said the Covid-19 outbreak centred in Sydney’s northern beaches has been a talking point among players.

‘‘Of course, we have been chatting about that – fingers crossed it doesn’t escalate too much,’’ Cummins said. ‘‘But Cricket Australia have been amazing with our medical staff.

‘‘They have thought of every contingency and been red-hot on our discipline with mask wearing and isolation before coming into the bubble.’’

The closures of the Victorian and South Australian borders yesterday to people from greater Sydney already has the potential to cause headaches for CA.

The governing body will likely decide in the coming days what to do with the third test in Sydney from January 7, and whether to swap the schedule around or move the match.

Options could include playing back-to-back tests in Melbourne for Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, or playing both the third and fourth test in Brisbane.

The Gabba is scheduled to host the final test of the series from January 15.

Alternatively, CA could opt to make Brisbane the third test and Sydney the fourth, or move the SCG match to Manuka Oval in Canberra.

Much of that could also be impacted on whether Queensland closes its border to those from Sydney.

Meanwhile, there are already likely to be challenges with the BBL.

Both the Perth Scorchers and Hobart Hurricanes are scheduled to travel from Sydney to Melbourne for games in mid-January, and would now require exemptions.

Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews yesterday suggested the border closure would not be a short-term scenario.

Beyond that, CA is still closely monitoring the situation of the virus in South Africa.

A tour is slated there for February, with England’s trip there abandoned a fortnight ago.

The South African group has since had more positive cases.

‘‘I know Cricket Australia and the medical staff will be starting their planning right now for that South Africa tour,’’ Cummins said. ‘‘[It’s] not an ideal situation, especially for the English team who went over. All I can say is when we went to England earlier this year, it was incredible the lengths the ECB went to, to ensure our safety.’’