Indian snub may cost ECB £40m
ENGLISH cricket was yesterday plunged into chaos after the last-gasp cancellation of the fifth Test because of Covid concerns in the India dressing room.
It left the ECB fighting to avoid potential losses of £40million, haggling with their Indian counterparts over the result of the match and, in private, furious at the tourists’ lax approach to Covid precautions. Chief executive Tom Harrison admitted: ‘We’re absolutely gutted.’ The Indian board (BCCI) later offered to reschedule the Manchester Test, though if that proves impossible the ECB will push for a forfeiture and a 2-2 share of the series — a decision to be made by the ICC. In the hope of allowing the ECB to recoup some of their losses through insurance, Harrison insisted the Test had been called off on mental health grounds, with India’s anxiety levels rising after physio Yogesh Parmar tested positive on Thursday.
A Covid-related cancellation would find no favour with insurers, but the ECB intend to use the fact that the whole India squad returned negative PCR tests on the eve of the game to argue that the virus did not cause the abandonment.
‘You lose an India Test match, of course there is a financial implication,’ said Harrison. ‘We’re trying to work tooth and nail to make sure that’s as limited as it can be.’
A tumultuous day began at midnight, 11 hours before the scheduled start, when four senior India players, led by captain Virat Kohli (left), made it clear they did not want to proceed with the Test as fears spread about their proximity to Parmar.
By 6am, after a sleepless night, Harrison concluded England’s only option was to
claim a forfeiture. Two hours
later, news broke that the game was off, spoiling the plans of 80,000 spectators across the first four days, and prompting anger in the home camp about the Indians’ behaviour in what Harrison called a ‘Covidmanaged environment’.
As Sportsmail reported earlier this week, India coach Ravi Shastri tested positive after attending a book launch at a London hotel, where around 150 unmasked guests mingled freely.
It is understood the touring party assured the ECB that the evening — to mark the publication of Shastri’s book Star Gazing: The Players In My Life — would consist of no more than a team dinner.
Anger in the England dressing room turned to fury as news filtered through that several India players had been spotted out in Manchester during the build-up to the Test.
BCCI officials responded with a series of briefings to Indian journalists in which they argued the ECB had brought the situation on themselves by allowing players free rein.
But one source told Sportsmail: ‘There were restrictions, such as they could only dine outside, no sharing of lifts and staying away from crowded areas.’
It left Harrison, ever mindful of not upsetting the most powerful board in world cricket, trying to convey the ECB’s dissatisfaction with the tourists’ attitude, without explicitly condemning it.
‘There is quite a lot of trust in the way that people operate within those environments,’ he said. ‘Of course common sense plays a role.’
Asked specifically about the book launch, he replied: ‘People make decisions on what they think they are able to do or not. We ask that people are responsible, and we’ve seen that players are able to do that.’
It is understood Harrison himself was a guest at the launch.
As the morning unfolded, the BCCI sought to defuse tension by offering to replay the game, though exactly when was unclear. India return in July for six white-ball games, but the only gap in England’s schedule — 16 days between the third T20 and the first Test against South Africa in August — is earmarked for the Hundred.
Last night, the ECB could not even rule out playing the stand-alone Test at the same time as the T20 series against India, with the teams forced to field two sides simultaneously.
A rescheduled match would save the board part of the £25m paid by broadcasters, though Sky are likely to pursue some recompense, arguing that a one-off game lacks the value of a series decider.
That still leaves a potential insurance claim of over £10m for tickets, hospitality, and food and drink. Yesterday, officials at Old Trafford were frantically passing on as much of it as possible to hospitals and charities. Lancashire chief executive Daniel Gidney said the club were ‘absolutely devastated’.
A rescheduled match is the ECB’s preferred option, though a crowded fixture list may still leave the result of this series in the hands of the ICC. The global game’s governing body regard Covid as an acceptable reason for not fulfilling a fixture — as long as it has had a ‘significant impact’ on a team’s ability to field an XI.
If the ICC rule in favour of India’s decision not to play, and hand them a 2-1 win, England would have to take up the matter with the dispute resolution committee.
Harrison, meanwhile, insisted the IPL, which is due to resume a week tomorrow after being interrupted by the pandemic, played no part in the Indians’ deliberations.
But former India batsman Dinesh Karthik told Sky Sports: ‘I spoke to a few of the guys. The general feeling is, after the fourth Test, they are tired. They only have one physio right now, they have done a lot of work with that man, and now he tests positive.
‘You have to understand that soon after they have the IPL, the World Cup soon after that, the New Zealand tour, one-week turnarounds. How many bubbles can they do?’