Black Caps to execute India evacuation plan
Frontline Black Caps bowler Trent Boult is ‘‘absolutely’’ committed to rejoining the test team in England next month, as he prepares to return home to his family from India with his cricketing compatriots.
New Zealand Cricket chief executive David White confirmed evacuation plans for players, coaches, umpires and commentators from the Covidstricken nation yesterday, after the Indian Premier League was suspended and players excused.
Captain Kane Williamson, Kyle Jamieson and Mitchell Santner, plus Black Caps physiotherapist Tommy Simsek, will remain in a Delhi hotel bubble until Tuesday when they’re permitted to fly to England to prepare for two tests then the World Test Championship final against India scheduled for June 18. Williamson’s wife Sarah, who is English, and their young daughter are already in the UK.
Boult, meanwhile, will join 16 other New Zealanders from the IPL on two charter flights from Delhi which are scheduled to land in Auckland tomorrow. Indian media reported Boult’s Mumbai Indians team arranged the flights for its overseas players and others.
After completing the mandatory 14 days of managed isolation, Boult would spend a week at home with wife Gert and their two young children, before he flew to England, White said. It means Boult will miss the first test against England at Lord’s, starting June 2, and potentially the second at Edgbaston on June 10. The New Zealand-based test players fly out on May 16 and 17.
‘‘Trent’s good. He’s got a young family and he was keen to come back and see his family and we’re totally supportive of that,’’ White said. ‘‘He’ll do two weeks in MIQ then spend a week with the family and train at the Mount, then reassemble with the team.’’
Asked if Boult was having second thoughts about heading to England, White said: ‘‘No, quite the opposite. He’s got a plan in his mind and he absolutely wants to get back for possibly the second test, and definitely the test match championship final.’’
Strength and conditioning coach Chris Donaldson also opted to return home from the IPL to his family before flying to England next month.
Another three Black Caps at the IPL not in the test squad – Lockie Ferguson, Jimmy Neesham and Finn Allen – signed with teams in England’s Twenty20 Blast which starts next month, but also opted to return home rather than travel straight to England.
Since the IPL was postponed indefinitely on Tuesday night, after positive cases in three of the eight teams, NZC worked frantically behind the scenes with India’s BCCI, the IPL franchises and the England and Wales Cricket Board to arrange flights out for the New Zealanders.
Eight of the 11 England cricketers at the IPL were already back home on Wednesday. Non-UK citizens require a government exemption to travel from India, which had been granted for Williamson and company from next Tuesday (May 11). They must complete 10 days of quarantine before joining up with their Black Caps team-mates in London.