Barmy Army could be locked out of Ashes

England’s Barmy Army travelling support are increasingly likely to be locked out of next winter’s Ashes, after Australia warned that its borders may remain shut until next year.

A host of tour operators have warned fans in recent days that the November-to-january tour was uncertain, prior to a meeting of the Cricket Australia board next month.

Brendan Murphy, the secretary of the nation’s health department, added to mounting doubt yesterday as he warned of restrictions that could last the rest of the year.

“I think we’ll go most of this year with still substantial border restrictions. Even if we have a lot of the population vaccinated, we don’t know whether that will prevent transmission of the virus,” he said.

Fresh uncertainty over the Ashes is the latest sign that hopes of the sport returning to normal by the summer were premature. The Daily Telegraph disclosed last month how Lord’s had become the first major sporting venue to declare it was planning for “full ground capacity” thanks to Covid-19 vaccines.

Such optimism has been undermined by a third lockdown and recent surges in the new variant, but the venue has stood by its commitment to put tickets on sale for England’s

one-day international against Pakistan in July, as well as the Test against India in August.

However, the system was branded a “fiasco” by supporters, who complained of website glitches as they rushed to buy them from the MCC website. One fan, among hundreds of complaints on Twitter, wrote: “Queuing for 20 mins and then get booted out and now queuing again for another hour. I think we deserve an explanation.”

Frustrations will only be compounded by the prospect of an almost all-australian crowd for the

Ashes from Nov 22 to Jan 14. Last Thursday, International Cricket Tours said it was awaiting an update from Cricket Australia next month.

“As such, we will hopefully have a confirmed fixture by mid-march,” a statement said. “With this in mind, we anticipate having an on-sale date hopefully by late April or early May.”

Australians have been effectively banned from leaving the country since last March. For those wanting to travel Down Under, an exemption pass is possible under strict conditions, but new arrivals still have to quarantine for 14 days on arrival.