Cricket Australia cannot lock in a start date for players from NSW and Victoria, including Test spinner Nathan Lyon
A season that was supposed to start on September 11 for some Test stars is yet to get underway, with no start date in sight as border restrictions hit hard.
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Victoria and NSW have again been left out in the cold after four of the six state teams were given the green light to get their domestic seasons going again, as border closures and quarantine rules hit Test stars hard.
In the wake of this week’s Sheffield Shield clash in Brisbane being abandoned amid fears of a Covid-19 lockdown, Cricket Australia has scheduled six more state games in Adelaide and Perth.
But players from Victoria and NSW, including Test spinner Nathan Lyon, remain locked in their home states after plans to get them to Adelaide to serve 14 days’ quarantine were harpooned on Thursday.
The Vics had planned to exit the state this weekend and head to Adelaide, but that has been pushed back after the move was blocked by South Australian health officials. A date for their departure remains unknown.
Players from NSW also had their plans to fly to Adelaide this weekend postponed.
All Victorian and NSW players will have to do 14 days’ hard quarantine when they arrive at their new destination, and then take an extra week after that to prepare for their opening match, which is yet to be fixtured.
Queensland players left for Adelaide on Friday, with this week’s postponed clash with Tasmania to be played in Adelaide from next Thursday, October 7. They will stay in a “mini-hub” in Adelaide until October 19.
But spinner Mitchell Swepson opted to stay behind to prepare for the T20 World Cup, meaning he won’t get any cricket before Australia’s warm-up games.
Victoria’s season was supposed to start on September 11, but ongoing border restrictions have created a logistic minefield for Cricket Australia in trying to schedule matches. The Vics are now staring at a start date towards the end of October.
“Cricket Australia, Cricket NSW and Cricket Victoria are working closely with state and territory governments on the scheduling of matches for Victoria and NSW,” a statement from Cricket Australia said.
Fingers crossed for some cricket soon... but for now, we wait 😶 https://t.co/Kirp6RunU5pic.twitter.com/vXcOIoov87
— Victorian Cricket Team (@VicStateCricket) September 30, 2021
It’s understood frustration is growing among players, some of whom began their pre-seasons in June. Batting gun Will Pucovski is also looking to test out his shoulder, which he had operated on following his Test debut in January against India.
“I think we’re hoping that we go into quarantine not this weekend, the weekend after and then have we’ll have two weeks of quarantine,” Victorian coach Chris Rogers said on Thursday.
“We’ll probably need another six to seven days of getting the bowlers back up and prepared. We’re probably looking at about four weeks from now.”
The match which was abandoned in Brisbane this week will be replayed in Adelaide from October 7, among six more domestic games fixtured.
“We look forward to providing further updates regarding the Marsh Sheffield Shield, Marsh One-Day Cup and Women’s National Cricket League schedules as soon as possible,” Peter Roach, Cricket Australia’s Head of Cricket Operations and Scheduling, said.
Cricket Tasmania’s high performance boss, Simon Insley, defended the decision to leave Brisbane earlier this week, just hours before the match against Queensland was set to start
“We were originally scheduled to go to Western Australia after our time in Queensland, which would have been fine if there had not been those few cases of community transmission in Brisbane,” Insley said.
“Returning the squad to Tasmania was, in large part, to keep our options open.”
“Borders are tricky, and making the fixture fit together is like a big game of Tetris, but everyone is absolutely committed to ensuring as much cricket is played as possible in the 2021-22 season across all formats of the game.”
The new schedule means all four teams, other than Victoria and NSW, will have played two Sheffield Shield games each by the time the other states open their campaign.
Sheffield Shield
Oct 7-10: Queensland v Tasmania, Karen Rolton Oval
Oct 15-18: South Australia v Queensland, Adelaide Oval
Oct 17-20: Western Australia v Tasmania, WACA Ground
One-Day Cup
Oct 13: South Australia v Queensland, Karen Rolton Oval
Oct 15: Western Australia v Tasmania, WACA Ground (D/N)
Originally published as Cricket Australia cannot lock in a start date for players from NSW and Victoria, including Test spinner Nathan Lyon
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