Paine invites TV crews into bubble to save SCG Test

Tim Paine would welcome 100 TV broadcast staff into the biosecurity bubble as Cricket Australia escalates talks with the Queensland Government in order to save its Test schedule.

Australia's cricket captain Tim Paine, left, chats with back-up fast bowler James Pattinson at the MCG

Tim Paine would welcome 100 TV broadcast staff into the biosecurity bubble as Cricket Australia escalates talks with Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in order to save its Test schedule.

Cricket powerbrokers have been so buoyed by NSW’s swift response to the COVID-19 outbreak at the Northern Beaches they are confident the MCG will not be required to host back-to-back Tests.

CA has set a Wednesday deadline to decide the fate of the third Test, which starts on January 7 – either locking in the SCG or relocating it to Melbourne in the event NSW loses control of its coronavirus cluster.

But with Queensland shutting the border to NSW it would have to secure travel exemptions for players, support staff and broadcasters to travel from Sydney to Brisbane on January 12 for the fourth Test at the Gabba.

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The only way Queensland would grant travel exemptions to enter from NSW would be if every passenger was safely in CA’s bubble.

“If that‘s what it takes to get the Sydney Test up and going, then whilst it’s not ideal I think it’s a small sacrifice for everyone to make,” Paine said on Christmas Day.

“I know the boys would certainly be excited to have another few people into the hub to talk to, I think we‘re getting sick of each other.

“So if we get a few more people that we can chat to I think it would be good fun.

“Hub life is not that bad – it‘s not like we’re in jail. It’s still a pretty good way of living. I don’t think any of us complain.

“We‘ve got so many guys from Sydney and NSW, so they love playing in front of their home crowds and having their families around.”

Steve Smith have been confined to hub life for more than 100 days – flying to England in August for Australia’s white-ball tour straight to the Indian Premier League and then into Sydney for the series against India.

NSW recorded just seven new local cases of coronavirus on Christmas Day from almost 70,000 tests.

The plateauing numbers are fuelling hope that they will contain the cluster, which would lock in the third Test at the SCG.

“If things continue on the trajectory they’re on, then it’s full steam ahead for Sydney and then Brisbane,” CA chief executive Nick Hockley said.

While Patrick Cummins and Mitchell Starc are terrorising India’s batsmen on the MCG during the Boxing Day Test, Hockley will be across the road locked in feverish talks with the NSW and Queensland governments.

Hockley said he has held “constructive” talks with the Queensland Government although his life would be made a lot easier if premier Palaszczuk reopens her borders before January 12.

“At the moment the border between NSW and Queensland is closed, so we’re working very constructively with the Queensland government to secure exemptions to move the entire squads, support staff and broadcast crew safely to Brisbane,” Hockley said.

“There is obviously a chance, and our fingers are crossed, that by the time it comes to move from Sydney to Brisbane the borders would’ve reopened,” Hockley said.

“We’ve been extremely buoyed by the way the NSW Government and the community is handling that outbreak.

“The case numbers and the amount of testing gives us a great deal of confidence.

“We are currently planning all systems go for the New Year’s Test to take place in Sydney as scheduled.

The short turnaround between the third and fourth matches has meant a radical plan to stage back-to-back games at the SCG is “highly, highly problematic”, because curators would have little time to prepare another Test pitch.

The NSW Government helped CA kick off the series by allowing India to enter and serve its 14 days of quarantine last month.

The NSW government has not reduced the SCG crowd capacity below 100 per cent and Hockley said “something extraordinary” would have to happen for fans to be locked out of the SCG Test.