Gulf Today

Suspended Windies and Aussie ODI series set to resume today

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BRIDGETOW: The One-day Internatio­nal series between the West Indies and Australia will resume on July 25 following the suspension of the second match minutes before the start on July 23 due to a Covid-19 case.

A non-playing member of the West Indies squad had tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday, following which Cricket West Indies (CWI) had put the teams, umpires and TV crew in hotel isolation.

CWI said in a statement on Saturday that, “all 152 persons tested for Covid-19 returned negative results, following the suspension of the second CG Insurance One-day Internatio­nal (ODI) before a ball was bowled at Kensington Oval, Barbados.

“All members of the West Indies and Australia teams and coaching staff, as well as match officials, event staff and TV production crew were tested back at the hotel with everyone being in room isolation since.”

Following the negative tests, CWI discussed the developmen­ts with the Barbados Cricket Associatio­n (BCA), the Government of Barbados medical officials and Cricket Australia (CA) and a decision was made to resume the series. Australia lead the three-match series 1-0.

CWI president Ricky Skerrit said on Saturday that, “We are happy to be able to announce the restart of the CG Insurance ODI series at Kensington Oval tomorrow. We want to thank our counterpar­ts at CA for their co-operation in this mater as we look to get the games going again. Special thanks to our CEO Johnny Grave, Chairman of Cricket Australia, Earl Eddings, his CEO Nick Hockley along with our respective medical and operations teams. I appreciate the crucial role of the BCA and the Government of Barbados for working closely with CWI to ensure everything is in place for resuming the series.

“It has been a challengin­g two days and we have worked very switly and safely, following all the establishe­d medical protocols, to make sure that all necessary precaution­s are in place to ensure that we can go-ahead to resume play safely, tomorrow. We will continue to monitor the situation and respond accordingl­y,” added Skerrit.

The ODI series is a part of the Internatio­nal Cricket Council’s (ICC) Super League where both teams are aiming to win points towards securing automatic qualificat­ion for the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup in India.

Meanwhile, Australia will tour Bangladesh for a five-match T20I series from Aug.3 to 9, it has been confirmed. All the matches will be played at the Sher-e-bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur.

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Australian players leave the abandoned 2nd ODI against the West Indies on Thursday.
Reuters ↑ Australian players leave the abandoned 2nd ODI against the West Indies on Thursday.

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