Australia v India: Brisbane Test in jeopardy due to quarantine measures

Queensland’s Chief Health Officer isn’t giving in to the BCCI but she’s revealed the proposal to save the GABBA Test after India was accused of ‘spitting the dummy’.

Queensland has shut the door on the BCCI’s wish to escape hotel quarantine in Brisbane, but won’t lock players in their rooms in a revelation that could save the Gabba Test.

Under a proposal that Cricket Australia and Queensland Health officials want to sign off on, Indian and Australian players would be free to mingle in a “Cricket Hotel” because they will also be in contact with each other during the match.

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Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young has reavealed the proposal which could save the GABBA Test.. Picture: Tara Croser.

“We’ve worked with them so that they can have bubbles within that hotel,” Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young said on Sunday.

“They’re going to be going and playing with colleagues in the match, so they’re going to have exposure there, so it doesn’t concern me if they have exposure to one another in the hotel

“But they can’t leave the hotel and they can’t go out in the general community.”

The Gabba test now rests on Cricket Australia’s ability to convince India’s players to wave goodbye to the outside world by boarding the flight from Sydney.

If India refuses to quarantine in Brisbane then the final two Tests appear certain to both be staged at the SCG.

Australia is on a 32-year winning streak at its Gabba fortress, but after several months spent in biosecurity bubbles several mentally-drained Indians are furious at the prospect of finishing the series locked in a Brisbane Hotel, only being allowed outside to train and play at the Gabba.

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“Perhaps if they’d gone somewhere else (for the third Test) they wouldn’t have had to quarantine when they came to Queensland,” Dr Young said.

“But that’s a decision they’ve made and they have their reasons.”

The MCG was preparing a Test pitch as a back-up plan for the third Test, but that contingency plan was scrapped last Tuesday when Cricket Australia brazenly chose to stick to its schedule and play at the SCG.

“We’ve been quite firm that we need to put in place firm arrangements,” Dr Young said.

“Cricket Australia fully understands that, because these are people coming from Sydney, and we are seeing as late as yesterday an unlinked case in Sydney.

“So there is clearly transmission happening in the community down there, so we do need to have those firm arrangements in place.

“I think the cricket match can go ahead with the proposal that Cricket Australia has put to us and with the protocols we have in place.”

India's Rohit Sharma chats with teammates during a training session at the MCG. Picture: William WEST/AFP

Dr Young offered hope that NSW was getting on top of its COVID-19 outbreak, with Queensland set to review its border closure to greater Sydney on Friday.

If the border reopens before January 12 then players would probably be spared the requirement to enter hotel quarantine in Brisbane, although that appears unlikely after NSW recorded another 15 local cases on the weekend.

“Things are starting to settle there, which is really good news,” Dr Young said.

“They haven’t had any extension of infection outside the greater Sydney area.

“They’re doing a lot of testing of sewerage outside greater Sydney, and that’s all tested negative for COVID-19, which is all very, very reassuring.”

Healy: Potential Gabba crisis should’ve been averted

- Robert Craddock

Queensland cricket great Ian Healy said it was “very unfortunate’’ India could pull out of the Gabba Test, revealing he had supported a schedule change which would have averted the crisis.

India’s players have threatened to pull out of the fourth Test at the Gabba because of Queensland’s strict quarantine rules, leaving COVID-threatened Sydney with the prospect of hosting the final two Tests.

“It would be very unfortunate if the Gabba loses its Test but the greatest priority is making sure that all four Tests in this great series get played,’’ Healy said.

Healy said when cricket officials were last week discussing the fate of this week’s Sydney Test he was hoping they would reverse the order of the Sydney and Brisbane Tests.

That would have seen India placed under less restrictive biosecurity rules because the players would have been entering Brisbane from Melbourne not Sydney.

Ian Healy had supported a schedule change which would have averted potential Gabba crisis. Picture: Jono Searle/AAP

“(Swapping Sydney and Brisbane) was on the table but it was the third option behind two Tests in Melbourne and keeping the third Test in Sydney,’’ Healy said.

“That is what should have happened. They should have put Sydney last because it was the hottest spot. I was always hopeful it would have finished that way.’’

Cricket Australia confirmed on Sunday both teams would leave Melbourne for Sydney on Monday so there was no chance the order of the third and fourth Tests would be changed,

Healy said he had no issue with the Queensland Government maintaining strong quarantine laws.

“I am not too against the government seeing what is happening around the world today.’’

Queensland Cricket chairman Chris Simpson urged India to take up the challenge of securing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Gabba, where they have never won and where Australia has been undefeated for three decades.

Will the Gabba test go ahead? Picture: Albert Perez/AAP

“Beating Australia in Australia should mean winning on all different surfaces and there would be no better surface for India to do it on than the Gabba,’’ Simpson said.

“My hat goes off to all the international players because we are incredibly grateful for what they have brought to us this summer and I’m really hoping the Indians can bunker down for a week or two and come to Brisbane.

“I’ve said all along Queensland and NSW and their governments have done all they can to deliver cricket to four magnificent venues. Obviously (if Brisbane lost it) we would be incredibly disappointed.’’

India accused of ‘spitting the dummy’

- Peter Lalor and Ben Horne

The Brisbane Test is in serious danger with the Indian squad adamant that it will not travel to Queensland if there are strict quarantine proposals.

Members of the Australian side are very upset about that prospect.

Sydney will have two Tests unless the Queensland government backs down or there is a change of heart from the Indians.

Queensland already blocked the limited overs part of the tour in a show of force ahead of its election.

The Indian cricket team arriving in Sydney in November. Picture: Christian Gilles

Senior Indian sources told News Corp on Sunday they would not impose further restrictions on mentally exhausted players and they will not go to Brisbane for the fourth Test if they are confined to rooms.

Queensland’s Shadow Sports Minister, and former NRL referee Tim Mander dismissed India’s complaints.

“If the Indian cricket team wants to spit the dummy and disregard quarantine guidelines in Brisbane for the fourth Test, then they shouldn’t come,” said Mander.

“The same rules must apply for everyone. Simple.”

The Australian team has already been told it will be restricted to their hotel rooms when not training or playing, but the Indian team has received no word.

Both sides are staying at the same hotel in Melbourne and are due to fly to Sydney on Monday.

Fair enough. The hub life is asking far too much of players and staff. It’s not sustainable

— Brad Hodge (@bradhodge007) January 3, 2021

When last contacted Cricket Australia said it was still negotiating a clause which would see parts of its group quarantined for six days after the match before returning home because it would be less than two weeks since they were last in Sydney.

The SCG Test is being played amid tightening public restrictions.

Queensland has shut its border to Sydney causing enormous headaches for the cricket which plays the third Test at the SCG on January 7 and moves to Brisbane for a game on the 15th.

Team sources said the players had been under quarantine regulations for six months and it would be cruel to subject them to increased restrictions.

The negotiations are happening between the BCCI and Cricket Australia who have had to deal with a minor biosecurity breach by five players who went into a restaurant in Melbourne.

Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Prithvi Shaw and Navdeep Saini were seen dining in the restaurant on Friday afternoon.

Australia and India’s series could finish with two Tests at the same venue.

Players have been told they can attend restaurants and cafes but must sit outside and not with members of the public.

They are told not to allow fans to take selfies but being photographed is acceptable.

The five players who committed the breach have been placed in isolation in the team environment. A similar situation occurred in the BBL last month when two players breached the biosecurity arrangements.

Cricket Australia released a statement on Saturday night confirming a joint investigation with the BCCI into the incident in Melbourne.

“The BCCI and CA are investigating the matter and seeking to determine whether the outing constitutes a breach of biosecurity protocols.

“In the interim, on the advice of the Australian and Indian medical teams, the aforementioned players have been placed in isolation as a precaution. This will include separating the group of players from the broader Indian and Australian squads when travelling and at the training venue.

“Players will be permitted to train in accordance with the strict protocols that have been put in place to ensure the ongoing safety of all members of the Indian and Australian squads.

“Similar measures were taken during the BBL this season after it was determined two Brisbane Heat players failed to comply with tournament biosecurity protocols.”