Category: England Cricket

• Players will be sent quarantine details in the coming days
• Australian PM insists no favours will be done for tourists

The fog of uncertainty that has hung over preparations for this winter’s Ashes tour could start to lift over the next few days as England’s players are sent details of the Covid restrictions that will apply to their trip to Australia, and finally learn about the quarantine and bubble conditions that will be imposed upon them as they play five Tests in six weeks across five different states.

During lengthy negotiations between the ECB and Cricket Australia the prospective tourists had sought assurances that their families would be able to travel. With Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, now promising “no special deals” their primary concern has shifted to the conditions they themselves will face. The key question is whether they will have a degree of freedom once they complete their initial quarantine on arrival in the country, or whether they will be expected to live in strictly enforced bio-secure bubbles.

• Ramiz Raja has no faith in England’s promise of 2022 tour
• ECB made ‘independent’ decision, says High Commissioner

Pakistan have lost faith in English cricket and the promise of a tour in 2022, with contingency plans set to be drawn up amid a belief they will once again be left in the lurch.

The decision by England to cancel a short visit to Pakistan next month and renege on their show of gratitude for the biosecure summer tour last year has drawn widespread criticism with Ramiz Raja, chair of the Pakistan Cricket Board, saying his country feels “used and binned”.

• Men’s and women’s trips cancelled due to security fears
• ECB has failed member of cricket fraternity, says PCB chair

England have been accused of “failing a member of their cricket fraternity” and “making excuses” after cancelling the tour of Pakistan next month and citing mental wellbeing as one of the driving factors behind the decision.

The short trip was to be England’s first visit to Pakistan since 2005, featuring two double-header men’s and women’s Twenty20s in Rawalpindi on 14 and 15 October before Heather Knight’s women’s side stayed on for three further one-day internationals. But it was plunged into doubt last Friday when New Zealand withdrew their men’s team from the country in response to a “specific” and “credible” security threat that was relayed to their government by intelligence services.