Third tests clear; team to leave isolation

WELLINGTON: The West Indies team has been cleared to leave its biosecure facility in Christchurch today after the third round of Covid19 tests were negative, New Zealand Cricket said yesterday.

The squad, banned by the Ministry of Health from training after it breached biosecurity rules, travels to Queenstown today for two warmup games before the first twenty20 international on November 27.

NZC added that all of the New Zealand and West Indies players who arrived in Auckland yesterday following the end of the Indian Premier League in the United Arab Emirates, had passed initial health screening checks.

They are to spend the next two weeks in isolation in Christchurch.

West Indies coach Phil Simmons earlier apologised for his players breaching biosecurity protocols that led to their exemption to conduct training sessions being withdrawn.

The team had been allowed to train in small groups while undergoing the mandatory 14day isolation, but the ministry revoked those privileges after they discovered players had shared food and socialised together.

‘‘I have to apologise to the New Zealand public and the Government who have allowed us to come here,’’ Simmons told Newshub. ‘‘It’s embarrassing from our point of view.’’

The Windies lost a total of four days training because of the breaches and Simmons said they might be a little slow to get their conditioning and match fitness back.

‘‘We were just getting to the levels that we would normally start at, but coming from no cricket, we had to start slower,’’ he said. — Reuters