Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
COVID PUTS SA TOUR IN JEOPARDY
FOURTH positive test in Proteas squad could spell the end for England
ENGLAND’S tour of South Africa is teetering on the brink following a second positive coronavirus test that has removed a FOURTH player from the Proteas squad.
Cricket South Africa are in a live battle to prevent the spread of Covid-19 through their squad.
The unnamed player concerned has left the team hotel they are sharing with England in Cape Town. As a precaution, the home team have also cancelled today’s planned intra-squad warm-up match as they try to get a handle on a situation that could see the whole tour called off.
En gl and are st ay in g i n a separate part of the intra-squad warm-up match and provided a complete set of negative results following the second round of biobubble testing.
In a statement, Cricket South Africa confirmed they would be halting their training plans and the two players called up to the squad
to help with the match would no longer be needed.
They were originally added because a first positive test had resulted in three players moving into self-isolation, the positive returnee and two more who had been in close contact. None of the players are being named.
The news that another player has now been removed from the squad is a concern to the host board who will want to ensure the series can still go ahead as planned, starting next Friday, in a safe and bio-secure environment.
Both teams were due to be tested once more 24 hours before international opener.
But following the positive result the South African team will bring theirs forward to Tuesday, aiming for a clean bill of health before the first game.
Should further positive tests be returned following that round of the T20
testing the two-match T20 series, will almost certainly be canned.
England will forge ahead with their own plans for today’s intrasquad match with a spokesman confirming: “All Covid-19 tests administered from the England camp earlier this week all returned negative results.
“Our plans continue and the team are preparing to play our first intra-squad warm-up match as norm normal at Newlands.” England will play a 40-over game between themselves as the non-indian Premier League players tr y to get themselves match sharp for the series. Bowler Chris Jordan, who is just two wickets away from Stuart Broad’s England T20 record of 65, admitted: “It’s crept up on me a little bit.
“On a day-to-day basis, I just try to give everything I can to the team, and wickets are a part of that.”