Cricket Australia adopts extensive biosecurity protocols for balls hit into the crowd during 2020/21 summer

Cricket Australia has jumped through Government hurdles to get the summer of cricket under way – and one of the biggest security snags to overcome was figuring out how to safely deal with sixes caught by fans.

A fan catches a ball in the crowd at the MCG last summer. Picture: Phil Hillyard

It used to be six and out in the backyard, but now it’s six and get your hand sanitiser out.

Cricket’s complex biosecurity protocols will be launched at the first women’s international of the summer this Saturday, with the ball now requiring as much cleansing as the bowler’s mental state every time Alyssa Healy pummels one out of the park.

The time-honoured sequence of ‘fan lobbing dispatched ball back to fielder on fence’, is now only the beginning of the process for restarting play, with the fielder now required to march the ball straight to the umpire for a thorough clean.

Umpire and fielder must also disinfect their hands with sanitiser before the next ball can be bowled.

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Alyssa Healy is no stranger to carving deliveries into the stands. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

After 33 sixes were hit in Tuesday night’s IPL match featuring Steve Smith and Shane Watson, the umpires may need plenty of refill packs handy when the Big Bash League gets underway.

“That one little thing that you take for granted, where someone throws the ball in and you get going again – a lot of time and consideration has had to go into that,” said Cricket Australia’s tireless medical guru, Alex Kountouris.

“We’ve just tried to keep things as simple as possible, and as safe as possible.”

Australia’s men’s team is currently in hotel quarantine in Adelaide, under more security than they would be in India, with police escorts for players driving 450 metres to training at the nearby oval.

Coach Justin Langer must then do another two weeks of quarantine in his home in Perth when he returns to WA.

Some members of Australia’s women’s team based in NSW and Victoria were forced to move out of their personal residences for two weeks’ before even entering quarantine in Queensland, because their living arrangements were considered ‘high risk’.

These are the hidden sacrifices being made by cricketers this summer to get the show back on the road, as Australia and New Zealand’s women prepare to get international cricket up and running again.

“Every single person needs to be risk stratified. Look at their households and what their families are doing, and on occasions we’ve had to move people out of their houses so they can isolate from their families,” Kountouris said.

“It’s a big commitment from players and staff.”

Cricket Australia has taken biosecurity advice from the NRL, AFL and Netball Australia – but has settled on a model most similar to the NRL.

“The AFL has a model where they’re doing lots of COVID testing. Testing twice a week,” said Kountouris.

“Whereas the NRL you test at the start, but then you get them in and once everyone is safe you know the environment is low risk.

“The ECB did lots of testing like the AFL for the recent men’s tour. We’re not going down that path … We’re adopting more of an NRL model in that respect and do testing when it’s required.”

Australian women’s cricket coach Matthew Mott has been blown away by the planning that has gone into COVID-19 protocols. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

Australian women’s coach Matthew Mott has been blown away by the intricacies of what’s had to be put in place, right down to organising what players can eat and how they eat it.

“The doctors have had to dot every I and cross every T to even get this series going and I shudder to think the extra hours they’ve put in just to get us to the table,” Mott said.

“We’ve had to look after our own bags, got to wear a mask all the way in, sanitise if anything touches the bags, everything is done to the letter of the agreement we’ve signed off on with Federal and State Governments … but we’re so grateful they’ve allowed us the flexibility to get this up and running.”

Cricket Australia’s head of government relations and infrastructure, Joe Fennessy, said getting New Zealand’s women and India’s men into the country has been an unprecedented challenge.

“The international component of scheduling the summer of cricket is a layer of complexity most other sports haven’t had to contend with to this point,” he said.

“We’ve invested considerable resources to ensure the series is implemented to the highest possible biosecurity standards based on the advice of our medical experts.”

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Originally published as Cricket Australia adopts extensive biosecurity protocols for balls hit into the crowd during 2020/21 summer