Pakistan tour ‘on’ despite seven new Covid-19 cases
infected players told they must wait at home for all-clear england scare as member of Archer household falls ill
Pakistan have insisted that their tour of England this summer is “very much on track” despite seven more of their players testing positive for Covid-19 yesterday, raising the total of those who have contracted the virus to 10. Pakistan are due to play three Tests and three Twenty20s, starting in early August.
Pakistan will travel to England this weekend despite 10 players testing positive for Covid-19.
Seven players and the team masseuse returned positive results yesterday, 24 hours after three other players were found to be carrying the virus. It means more than a third of the 29-strong party have tested positive.
The Pakistan Cricket Board announced that players Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Hasnain, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Hafeez, Wahab Riaz and Imran Khan had failed Covid-19 tests and would not fly to England as planned on Sunday.
They follow leg-spinner Shadab Khan, fast bowler Haris Rauf and batsman Haider Ali in testing positive. Of the 10, only wicketkeeper Rizwan is a Test regular.
Pakistan named four reserves for the tour – Bilal Asif, Imran Butt, Musa Khan and Mohammad Nawaz – and they will now undergo testing before travelling at the weekend.
All 10 were asymptomatic but have been told to self-isolate for seven to 10 days before they will be retested with a view to joining the tour next month. Pakistan are due to play three Tests, starting on Aug 5, 13 and 21, before a Twenty20 series at the end of the month. The schedule is expected to be confirmed on Friday.
The 19 members of the squad who tested negative will be retested tomorrow before they are allowed to board a private charter flight to Manchester on Sunday.
It is understood that when the squad arrive, they will quarantine for two weeks at Worcestershire’s New Road ground, where there is a hotel, before spending another two weeks in Derby, where the cricket ground also has a hotel. Emirates Old Trafford and the Ageas Bowl are out of bounds because they are hosting England’s matches against West Indies and Ireland.
The positive tests highlight the precarious nature of organising overseas tours during the pandemic. Cases are rising in Pakistan and the country is expected to hit the peak of the virus in the next two to three weeks.
“The tour to England is very much on track and the side will depart as per schedule on June 28,” said Wasim Khan, the chief executive of the Pakistan Cricket Board. “Fortunately, all the first-choice red-ball squad, barring Mohammad Rizwan, are negative, which means
they can start training and practising immediately after they have been tested and given the all-clear when they arrive in England.
“As regards the players who have tested positive, we will monitor and support them, including conducting antibody tests, and as soon as they test negative, they will be flown to join the squad in England.”
Thirty England players and 15 support staff will find out today the results from Covid-19 tests taken after they entered the biosecure environment at the Ageas Bowl yesterday in preparation for the Test series against West Indies, which starts on July 8.
The players will have to adhere to strict social distancing. The Government’s decision to relax rules from two metres to one makes no difference because the tour was agreed between West Indies and England based on two-metre social distancing.
Ashley Giles, the England team director, has warned the players to expect a tough environment as they adjust to living in a biosecure bubble, with strict rules in force to reduce the chance of a Covid-19 outbreak threatening the series.
“The players are all very aware of the seriousness of the situation. At some point, we could have protocols within the bubble that are very, very different from protocols in the general population,” Giles said. “It will be weird. Anyone who thinks this is going to be holiday camp is going to be seriously mistaken. It’s not a lot of fun. I think it is a bit of a culture shock.”
England suffered a scare when Jofra Archer’s arrival was delayed by 48 hours after a member of his household felt ill. Archer and all members of his household tested negative for Covid-19 but he will now join his team-mates tomorrow and be retested before he is allowed to meet up with fellow players.