Queensland may have locked SCG out of summer
The pandemic has locked David Warner out of the cricket team and Queensland may have locked cricket out of the SCG.
Sydney says it will host two Tests, one Test, anything but no Tests, but the odds are the famous cricket ground will miss out completely.
Broadcasters are not keen to risk their staff having to go into quarantine before returning home after the match.
The Australian cricket team is anxious about playing two games on a ground which suits the Indians and would prefer to wind up the series at the Gabba in Brisbane as planned — a venue that has proved hostile to all visiting sides.
It will be galling for Sydney to miss out because Queensland has locked its border after the NSW capital hosted the Indian and Australian players at short notice for the first quarantine period and white-ball games when the Queensland government backflipped on a deal to allow the players’ entry to the state.
The most likely outcome is two Tests in Melbourne before the fourth at the Gabba on January 15.
Cricket authorities have given themselves extra time and indicated a decision expected to be made on Wednesday will wait until Thursday.
Tony Shepherd, chairman of Venues NSW and former chair of the now disbanded SCG Trust, said it would be a “devastating” for sports fans in that state to miss their Test match.
“We’ve done everything to help cricket and we would hate to lose it,” he said.
The Sydney outbreak has thrown the summer into disarray.
Cricket Australia confirmed on Wednesday reports in The Australian that David Warner and Sean Abbott have been excluded from the side’s biosecurity bubble until January 1 despite the injured pair coming from Sydney to Melbourne on Saturday before the squad arrived.
Warner and Abbott had to train separately to the main squad on Wednesday. The pair were at the MCG nets early enough to have some exchange with their teammates — from a safe distance.
The opening batsman has bought a Christmas tree and will celebrate with his family and Abbott in a separate hotel.
A number of family members have also been unable to join their partners for the traditional team Christmas lunch. The Australian understands Steve Smith’s wife Dani was one of those who will be unable to join her husband.
“Warner and Abbott spent time in Sydney outside the team’s bio-secure hub to recover from injury,” a spokesperson said on Wednesday.
“While neither player has been in a specific ‘hotspot’ as outlined by NSW Health, Cricket Australia’s biosecurity protocols do not allow them to rejoin the squad in time for the Boxing Day Test.
“Warner has not fully recovered from a groin injury suffered in the ODI series against India and would not have been available for the second Test match, while Abbott has recovered from a calf strain sustained during Australia A’s tour match against India and would have been available for selection for the Boxing Day Test.
“The pair travelled from Sydney to Melbourne to continue their rehabilitation given the changing public health situation in Sydney at the time.
“No additional players will be added to the squad for the Boxing Day Test.”
SCG officials told Cricket Australia they would do whatever it took to host a Test this summer.
“We are flexible, we can do both Tests, we can do one Test, we are flexible on timing,” Shepherd said.
“We would prefer the nominated date of January 7 but we’re happy to host two games if that is what is needed.”
Australia has a one-nil lead in the series after an extraordinary bowling effort dismissed India for 36 on the third day of the first Test.
India had a long training session with head coach Ravi Shastri and bowling coach Bharat Arun paying extra attention to the pacemen.
Key seamer Mohammed Shami had his arm broken by Pat Cummins in the first Test and returned home with captain Virat Kohli.
Shubman Gill is expected to replace Kohli while there is a competitive field to fill Shami’s spot. The Indians are also missing veteran Ishant Sharma who could not make the trip because of injury.
Australia is not the only cricket country rocked by the pandemic.
England abandoned a tour of South Africa recently because of a number of breaches and now two members of the South African team have had to withdraw from that team’s squad to play Sri Lanka.
The players were not identified but Beuran Hendricks and Keegan Petersen withdrew from the squad on Wednesday for the series which begins on Boxing Day.
Australia will be watching the events closely as it is due to play Tests in South Africa from February.
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