SA tour in doubt after Covid fears in England camp
ENGLAND’S tour of South Africa could be abandoned if two ‘unconfirmed’ cases of Covid-19 in their camp are verified.
The first of three one-day internationals had already been postponed on Friday after a third Proteas player tested positive and it was scrapped entirely yesterday morning when it emerged two members of the England party and two members of staff at the teams’ shared hotel in Cape Town had joined the growing outbreak.
The series had been due to continue with a doubleheader at Newlands today and Wednesday, but the game now won’t take place today.
England’s medical staff are understood to believe there is a possibility of so-called ‘false positives’ and have sent the swabs for independent analysis.
Should they come back all clear the best-case scenario would be two matches, tomorrow and Wednesday, before the planned departure on Thursday.
That would still require the agreement of players and coaching staff, far from a given amid deepening concerns over the effectiveness of what is supposed to be a bio-secure environment but has proved to fall short of that.
At least one of the staff members to come down with the illness is believed to have worked closely with the England team.
In the event England’s pair of positives are confirmed, it seems highly likely the tour would be over and discussions would instead turn to quarantine and isolation. Both individuals, who are thought be asymptomatic at present, would need to remain in their rooms for a total of 10 days following their diagnosis, so could not join the charter flight home.
The ECB would also need to identify anyone who qualifies as a close contact - defined as spending 15 minutes or more in an indoor environment without social distancing - and isolate them similarly. With several players having spoken out recently about the problems of bubble fatigue, that would be a wholly undesirable turn of events.
An additional concern exists for Jason Roy, Sam Billings, Tom Curran and Lewis Gregory, who all have deals in the Big Bash League and were due to travel straight to Australia.
Ashley Giles, managing director of England men’s cricket, said yesterday: “We regret that we are unable to play in today’s ODI, but the welfare of the players and support staff is our primary concern and whilst we await the results of further tests, the medical advice from both teams was that this game should not take place.
“We remain in constant dialogue with Cricket South Africa and will continue to work closely with them to determine how best to move forward.”
An additional statement from the ECB explained: “As a precaution, England players and management underwent an additional round of PCR tests on Saturday evening. Following the test results, two members of the England touring party have returned unconfirmed positive tests for Covid-19.
“The players and management are now selfisolating in their rooms until further advice from the medical teams.”