Ashes 2021-22: Allan Border urges Engand to tour Australia
An Aussie legend says it would be a “cop out” if England’s weary cricketers don’t travel for the Ashes as Joe Root’s team prepares to make a call on its participation.
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Allan Border has turned up the heat on England, claiming it would be a ‘cop out’ if they refuse to tour Australia because of a weakened team.
The Ashes legend says the country and the game simply cannot afford for the series to be cancelled, and Border called on administrators to do whatever it takes to save the summer – even if that means playing all five Tests out of Sydney and Melbourne.
England’s ominous warning that if too many stars pull out they might abandon the tour has not gone down well with Border, who remembers when Australia faced a similar challenge and manned up.
In 1985, Border led an Australian side to England that had been devastated by a rebel tour of South Africa, robbing him of Kim Hughes, Rodney Hogg, Carl Rackemann and Ashes swing king Terry Alderman, who alone might have won them the series given he took 40 plus wickets on the previous and following Ashes tours.
England captain Joe Root has so far refused to commit, and other superstars like Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler are also doubtful.
Border said he would fear for the financial future of Australian cricket if the Ashes was called off, and pleaded with the England Cricket Board to consider the real victims of COVID-19 and fulfil their duty, regardless of what stars might withdraw.
“I wouldn’t be comfortable if England say they can’t come because they’re worried about all their senior players pulling out,” Fox Sports expert Border told News Corp.
“You think back to 1985, we had guys that had signed to go to South Africa, so the responsibility from Australian cricket’s point of view at that point was ‘OK, there are four or five players who didn’t tour, let’s pick four or five new guys and away we go.
“Just because we were under strength that’s not an excuse.
“England needs to pick 17 guys who are willing to come and represent England. Whether they win, lose or draw, the cricket goes ahead.”
Cricket Australia boss Nick Hockley was due to hold a final crisis meeting with England players on Tuesday night, ahead of a final decision by the ECB board by the end of the week.
“ … to decide whether the conditions in place are sufficient for the tour to go ahead and enable the selection of a squad befitting a series of this significance,” said the ECB.
NSW powerbrokers have told Cricket Australia they can save the Ashes – and could provide a seven-day quarantine and host multiple Test matches at the SCG if required.
“We helped Cricket Australia through last Test summer, and we’ve said to Cricket Australia that we are here to help you in ensuring the Ashes Test goes ahead,” said NSW Stadiums boss, Tony Shepherd.
“This is important not just for cricket, it’s important for the country.
“We’ve made that very clear to Cricket and they’ve made it clear back to us that they appreciate our support.
“We’re not pushing (to host more Tests) or wishing for that. This is a national sport and we would like to see the Ashes Tests played out as planned. Because it’s important for cricket lovers all over the country. But if required, yes.”
Cricket Australia remains confident the quarantine conditions they have offered England players on the Gold Coast, plus the offer to accommodate wives and families of England stars closer to Christmas should be enough to get the ECB over the line, and administrators believe they can still Test matches around the country.
Border pleaded for Australia’s old rivals to recognise the bigger picture.
“I get it with all the mental fatigue of being in lockdowns and bubbles. But a lot of people are a lot worse off,” said Border.
“Lost jobs and far worse. From that point of view I just hope common sense prevails and there’s some way forward.
“It would give everyone such a huge lift. Obviously the financials are so important for all concerned. I shudder to think what would happen if there’s that $200 million hole in our budgets. It’s very hard to recover from that.
“It’s just got to go ahead for all those historical reasons and the financials. That’s the importance of it. A lot of people are going to lose their jobs if it doesn’t go ahead.
“Whatever it takes. They’ve just got to find a way and if it has to be in Sydney and Melbourne, so be it. You’ve got to play the games.”
ASHES IN CRISIS AS ENGLAND WEIGHS UP TRAVEL PLANS
England cricket officials have refused to guarantee the Ashes series will go ahead and could cancel the tour if there are major player withdrawals.
In a statement which has sent shudders through Australian cricket circles, the English Cricket Board has said it is still working through Covid protocols with Cricket Australia and could offer no guarantees they would be accepted by players.
“Later this week the ECB board will meet to decide whether the conditions in place are sufficient for the tour to go ahead and enable the selection of a squad befitting a series of this significance,’’ the statement said.
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The final words of this sentence are a clear sign England is concerned a large number of withdrawals would result in a poor standard team being thrashed in a way which would demean the series and their country.
The sentence has been seen by some as being a deliberately provocative ploy to put pressure on Australian governments to give the English squad and their partners special treatment.
Even at their best England struggle to win in Australia.
“Over the weekend we have been talking to England men’s players and management to provide them with the latest information about the proposed arrangements for this winter’s scheduled Ashes tour,’’ the statement said.
“We remain in regular and positive dialogue with Cricket Australia over these arrangements as the picture is constantly evolving. With health and wellbeing at the forefront, our focus is to ensure the tour can go ahead with conditions for players and management to perform at their best.
“We will continue talking to our players this week to share the latest information and seek feedback.’’
Former Ashes captain Nasser Hussain said he was worried about the silence from England players in recent weeks about the Ashes.
Some players like Stuart Broad and Dan Lawrence have declared they would happily tour but many have remained silent.
Some players have deep concerns about stifling biosecurity protocols and feel it would be like stepping back in time a year ago to when England was in the grip of heavy restrictions.
Hussain said he took umbrage at Australian players lecturing England players on why they should tour.
“England have played 18 Tests in the pandemic while Tim Paine’s men have played four … and all at home,’’ Paine wrote in the Daily Mail.
“Right now, it feels as if England’s Test players are getting a lot of flak, particularly from Australia, about their attitude to quarantining in Australia at the Ashes. That does not sit comfortably with me.’’
The board’s message appears to endorse warnings from captain Joe Root that senior players were baulking at travelling because of Australian quarantine conditions.
Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler are among the players said to be doubtful, while Jofra Archer is injured.
Root spoke recently about the conflicting emotion senior players were dealing with.
“I think I speak on behalf of everyone that Ashes cricket, an away tour to Australia, is just one of those things that you’re just desperate to be on,” Root said. “The position I’m at in my career, it could be the last opportunity I get to go. So of course it’s something you’re desperate to do, desperate to hopefully make history over there and be part of something very special.
“But it’s hard to make a definite decision until we know what it looks like. Once that information comes through and we have a bit more clarity, hopefully we are in a position to do something special this year.
“I feel it’s so hard to make a definite decision until you know,” Root said. “That’s why it’s so important that we get all the information. I’m desperate to be part of an Ashes series, I always am, it’s that one series as an England player that you [most] want to be involved in and that will never change. I think it’s really important everyone makes a decision that they’re comfortable with. We just have to be patient, we just have to wait until we know what’s happening and then make a decision on the back of that.”
Cricket Australia responded to the statement by releasing its own, saying: “We have been in regular positive discussions with the ECB over the past six months on providing conditions which will allow players from both teams to perform at their best during the Ashes summer.
“The health and wellbeing of both squads while ensuring the tour proceeds in a safe manner is a priority. We are buoyed by rising vaccination rates and an evolving approach to the pandemic in Australia.
“The anticipated conditions for the tour, including quarantine arrangements, have now been communicated to the ECB and directly to the England players and staff.’’
PARANOIA RIFE IN CRICKET’S ASHES BUBBLE WAR
Ian Healy’s microphone might well have been melting in front on him when he delivered one of cricket’s most withering sprays on Wednesday.
Speaking on his morning radio show on SEN, Healy was simply staggered at the decision to cancel Tuesday’s Sheffield Shield between Queensland and Tasmania at the ground named in his honour basically because Tasmania wanted to go home after four new Covid cases in the state.
Healy called the decision an “absolute debacle … incredibly poor … unbelievable,’’ adding the call had “disrespected the integrity of the competition.’’ And the fact that players were banned from talking about it stunned him as well.
Healy took aim at CA’s operations staff for not properly informing senior officials of the decision.
As Healy was talking a news story was appearing how English captain Joe Root was mulling over whether he and his team will tour for the Ashes under quarantine conditions which are far more lenient than first expected.
The bottom line to all this is that cricket is in a bind and at war with itself.
Patience has been replaced by paranoia. Obvious concerns over bubble fatigue are being heightened by blind panic.
The decision to cancel the Shield game caught the attention of English media who tweeted their obvious concerns over the first Ashes Test, saying if you are going to head for the hills after four positive cases, good luck with the Ashes.
They asked how can it be that 52,000 people are expected to fill Suncorp Stadium for an NRL grand final on Sunday yet a Sheffield Shield team rushes to the airport for an early afternoon flight home for fear of being Covid cursed in the same city?
A fair question you have to concede.
The worry for Root and his team is that they are already in a negative mindset for the Ashes but, as Michael Vaughan suggested this week, it is time for them to simply buckle down and commit to the tour.
Former players like England batsman Mark Butcher cannot totally understand what the problem is.
“I’m slightly furious about the idea that players are thinking about not going on an Ashes tour because they’re worried about the quarantine requirements for their wives and kids,” Butcher told the Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast.
“Now, wives and kids going on trips in my time was very much a privilege, it wasn’t expected.
“If you’re earning that much money that it doesn’t matter to you whether you go on an Ashes trip anymore or whether or not there are no consequences for you pulling out of an Ashes trip … things have taken a pretty bad pass.”
Tim Paine said he would quarantine for a year to play in an Ashes series. Nathan Lyon said he would not give the Covid restrictions England are facing this tour a second thought if Australia had to face them on an Ashes tour.
Australia believes if the conditions were reversed not one player would pull out because of Covid security issues.
It must be said Australia cannot sit on the high moral ground after seven players withdrew from the white ball series against Bangladesh and the West Indies and England have played 12 overseas Tests during the Covid era while Australia have played none (though they only had five scheduled).
But this is the Ashes.
LYON’S ‘SELFISH’ TAKE ON ENGLAND’S Covid FEARS
As English captain Joe Root mulled over his uncertain Ashes plans, Nathan Lyon has urged players to remember their debt to the game.
Root says that he is desperate to play in this winter’s Ashes but refused to guarantee he would lead his team to Australia given the uncertainties about the Covid restrictions that will be imposed on the touring squad.
Root has not committed fully to leading the team in the ten-week tour, saying that no one could give any guarantees until they had been fully briefed by the England management this week.
“I feel it’s so hard to make a definite decision until you know,” the England Test captain, 30, said.
Lyon is about to head into two weeks of hard quarantine in Adelaide with the NSW side next week which is likely to be equally or even more demanding than the restrictions on England when they land in Queensland.
He told Fox Cricket’s Road to the Ashes podcast he would have had no second thoughts about accepting the quarantine conditions England are facing if the situation was reversed.
“I can understand it (quarantine concerns) but as professional athletes and cricketers we are so lucky in what we do … it comes upon us to give back to the game that has given us so much,’’ Lyon told the podcast.
“I would not have a doubt in coming out myself, especially being an Ashes. They are the type of series which can make someone’s career.
“Look at Marnus (Labuschagne) and the way he came out in the second Test on the last Ashes tour. Now look at him. He is walking around calling himself the GOAT. It’s interesting.
“It can wear you down but that is a small price to pay in my eyes but that is probably a selfish opinion. I am not going to the IPL. I have been home for eight months. I am itching to get out there.’’
Speaking after being named men’s player of the year by the Professional Cricketers’ Association, Root added: “It is a little bit frustrating but it’s where we are at. It’s hard to know what will happen until we find out what conditions will be like. It’s very difficult at this stage to know where everything sits.”
There is increasing hope that England will be able to travel with a strong squad after Cricket Australia gave the ECB details of the conditions under which players will be expected to live – which are understood to be less restrictive than had been feared. However, there is uncertainty and anxiety about snap lockdowns or increased restrictions imposed by individual state governments over which Cricket Australia has no control.
The players will be spoken to individually over the next week and it is hoped that no more than a handful of players who have young families will decide they cannot commit to the tour or will ask not to be away for the whole five-Test series. Jos Buttler has indicated that he may not travel and it is understood about six others are considering their position. England will be without Jofra Archer because of an elbow injury, and it is increasingly unlikely that Ben Stokes will return to the side before next year after taking a break to protect his mental health.
The volatility of the situation was highlighted when a Sheffield Shield match due to be played between Queensland and Tasmania in Brisbane was cancelled at the 11th hour after four new Covid cases in the state.
Root also confirmed that he would like the abandoned fifth Test against India to be played next summer as a series decider.
“It would be nice to finish the series, most importantly for the public that missed out, the people that paid to go and watch that game,” Root said.
This article was originally published in The Times
‘NRL WIVES’ FIASCO CRASHES ASHES PLANS
The public relations disaster that was the NRL wives being flown into Queensland has flowed all the way to the Ashes.
Despite pleas from his British counterpart Boris Johnson, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has remained firm on the fact that there will be no quarantine short cuts for wives and families of English cricketers during this summer’s Ashes.
It is understood the government noted the huge backlash Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk faced for welcoming NRL WAGs into the Sunshine State during a pause on interstate arrivals.
The government has told sports officials that simply letting the wives of cricketers in the country is a significant concession given there are thousands of Australians overseas unable to return home.
The government believes to go further and offer quarantines “privileges’’ would be to run the risk of a major backlash along the lines of the WAGs saga which forced the Queensland Premier to apologise.
London’s Daily Telegraph has reported that England are preparing for mass withdrawals from the Ashes if players are told this weekend they will be confined to hotels under strict bubble conditions throughout the tour.
England are concerned about the strain of going direct from the T20 World Cup in Dubai, to a 10-week Ashes tour in Australia before heading to the West Indies for another long tour.
But of the 17-players used in England’s Test series against India this month, only seven are off to Dubai while the likes of skipper Joe Root, James Anderson and Ollie Robinson all have about two months at home before heading Down Under if they’re named in the Ashes squad on October 1.
There will be some good news for the players when they land in Queensland in November in that they will be allowed out of their hotel quarantine on the Gold Coast to train each day.
Players who have experienced hard quarantine says the difference of being room bound and being allowed out for several hours a day can make a major difference to their peace of mind.
There is some hope that players may be allowed to roam around their hotel on the Gold Coast during the two week quarantine period but that has not been confirmed.
Australia was set to paint a reasonably optimistic picture for the tourists in the final quarantine proposal.
After the two weeks of quarantine players would be permitted to lead a relatively normal life, certainly during the first two Tests in Brisbane and Adelaide which have limited Covid restrictions.
The landscape is more challenging in Melbourne and Sydney but with mass vaccinations there is optimism that by the time England visits those cities over the Christmas and New Year periods many current restrictions may have eased.
But nothing is certain. The fifth Test of the series, to be held in Perth, has a major query over it because of that state’s hard border restrictions which require a two week quarantine.
Cricket Australia has a deadline of this weekend to provide its blue print for bubble restrictions for the tour.
The ECB will give the players several days to digest the detail and will meet with them early next week before players are asked to confirm their availability and a squad is chosen.
Veteran paceman Stuart Broad and batsman Dan Lawrence have already indicated their willingness to tour no matter what the conditions but other players are reported to have deeper reservations.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan this week spoke out in defence of the mental stress imposed on modern players by claiming that bubble restrictions had become unsustainable.
BOJO PRESSURES SCOMO TO SAVE THE ASHES
Boris Johnson has made a personal intervention to try to save this summer’s Ashes series which is in danger of being cancelled over concerns about strict quarantine rules and arrangements for the England players’ families.
The prime minister had dinner with Scott Morrison, the Australian prime minister, in Washington DC on Tuesday and sought to persuade him to loosen the rules. Several England players have indicated that they are not prepared to take part in the Test tour, which is due to run from November to January, if they and their families have to do two weeks of “hard” quarantine in a government-selected hotel as is required of new arrivals to Australia.
“I raised the Ashes [with Morrison] and he said they were going to do their best for the families,” Johnson said. “He totally got the point that for cricketers it is very tough to ask people to be away from their families over Christmas.”
Asked what assurances he had received from Morrison, Johnson said: “He merely undertook to come back and see if he could find a solution.”
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is waiting for further details from Cricket Australia about the conditions that will be placed on players, coaches and their families. The governing body has been promised that information by Monday (UK time), allowing a decision to be taken on the Ashes before England head to the T20 World Cup next month. If the tour goes ahead, the players will fly from the UAE to Australia.
Johnson, meanwhile, is understood to be angry over the ECB’s decision to cancel the men’s and women’s white-ball tour to Pakistan next month. The prime minister and senior ministers within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office believe that the decision has damaged relations between the UK and the Pakistan government.
There were consultations between the ECB and officials from No 10, the Foreign Office and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport before announcing the cancellation of the tour in which the governing body was urged to go ahead as planned.
It is understood that the ECB was keen to try to find a way for the tour to go ahead if the security arrangements could be tightened in a way that was satisfactory to the players. However, it was ultimately an intervention from the Team England Player Partnership (TEPP), a unit within the players’ union that represents England’s centrally contracted players, that stopped the tour.
Even before the “credible” security threat that forced New Zealand to abort their tour last Friday, hours before their first match in Rawalpindi, there had been questions raised by a number of England players about the safety of the tour because of the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan.
After the threat against the New Zealand team, the players’ representatives, having consulted some of the England squad, took the decision that the players should not go on the tour and informed the ECB board.
The ECB is wary of sparking disagreements with its own players at the moment given its strong desire to ensure that this winter’s Ashes goes ahead.
The governing body took the decision that the short tour to Pakistan comprising two T20 internationals for the men’s side, which was only added to the calendar as a thank you to Pakistan for touring England in the past two summers, was not the battle it wanted to have with the players’ representatives. In calling off the tour to Pakistan, the ECB can turn its attention to making sure that the Ashes takes place as planned.
This article was originally published in The Times and has been reproduced with permission.
THE INVISIBLES: WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, AUSTRALIA?
First came The Invincibles. Now welcome the Invisibles.
Former Ashes fast man Steve Harmison believes Australia won’t have the right to open fire on England if, as expected, it is forced to choose an understrength team for the Ashes next week.
Harmison feels the pressure on England to agree to Australia’s quarantine standards is lessened because Australia have hardly been Covid cavaliers themselves.
“I saw a stat this morning about teams which have played Test matches during the pandemic and Australia have not played a Test away from home,’’ Harmison said on Talk Sports Cricket Collective podcast.
“So for Cricket Australia and the Australian government to say we are going to lose $200 million and we are desperate for England to come (for the Ashes this summer). Well, they did not come to the (rugby league) World Cup (in England which was postponed). They have not played a Test away from home (during the Covid era).
“Is not up to the ECB. They (might think), well, why should we move when you are not moving with the world cricket stage?
Amazingly, Australia has not played an overseas Test in the two years since it last toured England in 2019.
England have played 12 abroad since completing that Ashes series while India (11), Pakistan (11), West Indies (8) and Sri Lanka (8) have all been relatively busy off shore in that time.
Australia this year refused to visit South Africa due to Covid issues and had six players withdraw from white ball tours to Bangladesh and West Indies.
Harmison believes most England’s players are likely to accept Australia’s offer of a 14-day quarantine period on the Gold Coast which will feature a couple of hours each day out of their hotels to train.
But Harmison feels the key question is whether the wives and children of players could endure a fortnight in their rooms and this, he believes, may spark several key withdrawals.
“I think players will pull out not for the quarantine but the family situation over Christmas. That is a different argument altogether. I think if you have players coming to Australia with 14 days quarantine but they are allowed to train and get ready for England I don’t see a big issue there.’’
While English players are loathe to say it publicly, they are fearful that coming to Australia will be a journey back in time to where they were in England a year ago, trapped in hard lockdowns they are now mercifully free of.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan believes bubble life is taking its toll.
“It’s becoming very clear that bio bubbles will not work going forward for cricketers,’’ Vaughan tweeted on Wednesday.
“Unless they change more tours, events will either be cancelled or played with not full strength teams.’’
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