Test captain Pat Cummins falls victim to South Australia’s ‘embarrassing’ Covid-19 rules

Pat Cummins has missed the day-night Ashes Test due to the South Australian Government’s “embarrassing” Covid-19 rules.

It was bound to happen to someone on this Ashes tour – that person just happened to be the best bowler in Australia.

Test captain Pat Cummins fell victim to South Australia’s Covid-19 protocols on Wednesday evening, ruled out of the Adelaide day-night Test after being deemed a close contact of a person who had tested positive to the virus.

Catch every moment of The Ashes live and ad-break free during play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-days free now.

As first revealed by the Sydney Morning Herald, a grade cricketer who had travelled across to Adelaide to watch the pink-ball match returned a positive result to his mandatory Covid-19 test after arriving in South Australia.

Cricket journalist Peter Lalor told Channel 7 that Cummins had a brief conversation with the person and even shook his hand.

The unidentified person was not required to isolate following the PCR test, as per the South Australian government’s protocols that were updated a few days ago.

Australian bowlers Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon were seated only a few metres away from the person who tested positive at the Little Hunter Steakhouse – it’s uncertain whether the Adelaide Test could have gone ahead if SA Health deemed them to be close contacts as well.

Cummins and Adelaide Strikers bowler Harry Conway, who was dining at the same table, will be required to complete seven days in isolation and won’t be permitted to train during that time. If he continues to test negative, he’ll be able to leave quarantine on December 23, three days before the Boxing Day Test.

In New South Wales, fully vaccinated close contacts only have to isolate until they receive a negative PCR test result, meaning Cummins would have been available to play if this had taken place in Sydney.

Sorry to Pat and @CricketAus on behalf of all (most) South Australians for our embarrassing rules #Ashes

— Kane Cornes (@kanecornes) December 16, 2021

Pat Cummins ruled out of 2nd Test, despite testing negative. And now must isolate for 7 days. Farcical.

Sports must adapt to Covid and learn to play with it. If a player tests positive, withdraw them, but if they're vaccinated and test negative, play on.

— Shane McInnes (@shanemcinnes) December 16, 2021

Pat Cummins will be required to spend seven days in isolation. Photo by Sarah Reed/Getty Images

Importantly, Cummins did not break any Covid-19 protocols. The biosecurity rules are considerably less severe than last summer, when a quartet of Indian players were blasted for dining indoors without a mask on.

“Pat has done absolutely nothing wrong,” Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley told reporters at Adelaide Oval.

“He was working completely to the protocols that our medical team has prescribed, which was consistent with the environment here in South Australia.”

After 18 months of lockdowns and long stints in strict hotel quarantine, players and staff from both sides were desperate for a return to normality – or at least something next to normal.

“We don‘t want to completely lockdown the players,” Hockey said. “We’re very conscious of taking a proportionate approach, very conscious of their mental wellbeing … but equally, we're minimising the risk of (players) coming into contact with positive cases.

“The alternative would have been to lock everyone down completely for the whole tour. We’ve learned over the last 18 months that's got other consequences in terms of mental health and wellbeing.

“I just think it's a really unfortunate, really disappointing situation.”

Former Australian Test captain Mark Taylor told Wide World of Sports: “It's not just Cricket Australia's worst nightmare, it's sport's worst nightmare.

“The obvious reaction from some people will be to suggest the players should be in a bubble, but they can‘t keep doing that forever. It’s not good for them and it’s not good for the sport.”

When considering the softened biosecurity restrictions Australia’s professional cricketers have been afforded over the last couple of months and the rising number of positive cases across the nation, exposure to the virus should not come as a huge surprise.

Earlier this year, the fifth Test between England and India was abandoned a couple of hours before day one was scheduled to commence because a handful of coaching staff in the Indian camp tested positive to the virus.

Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley. Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

As reported by foxsports.com.au, South Australia was deemed a “low risk” state in regulations distributed to players by CA.

“The rules are, yes, we’re allowed to eat inside restaurants,” injured Australian paceman Josh Hazlewood told Channel 7 on Thursday.

“I think we are up to groups of six now, so six players at any one time … But I think, yeah, it might be revisited now after what was to happen last night.”

Despite what has transpired over the last 24 hours, Hockley said he was “pretty comfortable” with the current Covid-19 protocols in place for the Australian cricketers.

When asked if players would still be allowed to dine indoors after what’s transpired, Hockley said he would need to consult CA’s chief medical officers before a decision was made. However, he believed eating outside of public venues would be “a great way to further mitigate the risk”.

“We've got protocols that flex according to the risk level of any different jurisdiction, so we're looking at it every single day,” he said.

“Our protocols include that the playing group needs to dine in small groups, and in many ways they're designed to mitigate precisely the risk that we've seen unfold, very unfortunately, here in Adelaide.

“We're all devastated that Pat’s unable to play in this Test match, but it shows the protocols are working that we've only had one player taken out.

“We’ve just been extremely, extremely unlucky … it's just a case of wrong place, wrong time.”