Covid may be Paine in the butt for Ashes prep

CRICKET Australia is doing everything possible to avoid players going into bubbles this summer, despite already hitting a serious Covid roadblock that has pushed the start of the season back.

Six one-day state matches set to be played in Perth and Melbourne from next week will be postponed and CA is also working feverishly to get players out of NSW, in particular, to ensure the Sheffield Shield season can start as scheduled in late September.

As yet, no domestic players have moved into interstate quarantine.

Last summer started with a Shield bubble in Adelaide, but the mental toll it took on players as the season became the longest in history is something officials want to avoid.

Queensland secured the Shield title in April, and Bulls captain Usman Khawaja revealed his team was set to begin its 2021/22 campaign against Tasmania as expected on September 28.

But the scheduled five rounds of the Shield before the opening Test match of the summer against Afghanistan could yet be altered, which looms as a hit to Australia’s Ashes campaign.

Several Test stars including captain Tim Paine and batsman Marnus Labuschagne were set to play the Shield games to prepare for England.

CA is, however, desperate to avoid putting players into a bubble until it has to and could try to schedule games between teams who can move around more easily.

“It might be if two teams can play, you play, but if you can’t we will figure that out later in the season. This summer might even be more fluid than last season,” Khawaja said on Friday.

“It’s more about what we can do a week out. It’s too hard to plan anything four weeks out. Don’t look too far ahead.”

Tasmanian Tiger Tim Paine.