Australian cricketer Kane Richardson tested for coronavirus

One of Australia’s strike pace bowlers was withdrawn from Friday’s ODI match against New Zealand after reporting a mild sore throat.

One of Australia’s strike pace bowlers was withdrawn from Friday’s ODI match against New Zealand after reporting a mild sore throat.

Australian pace bowler Kane Richardson will not feature in Friday’s ODI match against New Zealand at the SCG after he was tested for the coronavirus.

Richardson reported a mild sore throat on Thursday, prompting Cricket Australia (CA) to remove him from the playing group.

The 29-year-old arrived back from South Africa earlier this week after taking part in Australia’s one-day tour against the Proteas.

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Team doctors are confident the issue is not severe, and only a regular throat infection.

Kane Richardson training with his teammates at the SCG on Wednesday.

“Our medical staff are treating this a typical throat infection, but we are following Australian Government protocols that require us to keep Kane away from other members of the squad and perform the appropriate tests given he has returned from international travel in the last 14 days,” a statement read.

“Once we receive the results of the tests and Kane recovers in the next few days we expect he will rejoin the team.”

New South Wales bowler Sean Abbott replaced Richardson in the Australian squad.

Kane Richardson came down with a sore throat on the way back from South Africa. He is away from the Aus team per necessary tests/protocols, CA confident no real dramas. Sean Abbott comes into the squad for now as cover. #AUSvNZ

— Brett Sprigg (@BrettSprigg) March 13, 2020

Richardson has played 25 ODI matches for Australia, claiming 39 wickets. He also represented Australia during the 2019 Cricket World Cup in England last year.

The three-match series against New Zealand will be played behind closed doors after CA confirmed no spectators are allowed to attend the three-match series.

CA took the precaution in the wake of F1 officials cancelling Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

Australia will play three scheduled ODI games against the Black Caps, two at the SCG this weekend and one in Tasmania next Friday.

Australia will play in front of an empty stadium on Friday

The Australian women’s cricket team — who recently celebrated a World Cup victory — has also had their tour to South Africa suspended until further notice.

CA said it would be making a call on Australia’s three-match Twenty20 International tour of New Zealand in “due course”. The three T20 matches are currently scheduled to play in Dunedin, Auckland and Christchurch in late March.

It was confirmed on Thursday an attendee of last week’s historic Women’s T20 World Cup Final in Melbourne had the coronavirus.

When asked if it was irresponsible to have 86,174 at the MCG for the final, Roberts replied, “No”.

However, as the virus continues to spread rapidly, Roberts drastically changed his tune ahead of Friday’s ODI match.

“We’ve taken what we believe is a well-balanced decision. We obviously experienced last Sunday night that a member of the crowd at the women’s T20 World Cup, was later diagnosed with coronavirus, and it’s important that we learn from that,” Roberts said.

Kevin Roberts speaking to the media on Friday morning

“What we’ve learned from that, the decision we’ve made, is to go ahead with these ODIs today and on Sunday and next week, but they’ll be played without crowds in attendance.

“We think it would’ve been excessive to cancel the matches. Had we gone ahead as planned, we think that would’ve been a failure to learn from what we experienced last Sunday.

“We’re confident that in a situation that’s not ideal, we’ve made a well-balanced decision.”

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