Ashes 2021-22: England captain Joe Root confirms doubts over Australian tour

With less than 100 days to go until the Ashes, England captain Joe Root has cast further doubt on the series.

England's captain Joe Root speaks to the media during a press conference at the WACA ahead of the 3rd Ashes Test match in Perth, Wednesday, December 13, 2017. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY, IMAGES TO BE USED FOR NEWS REPORTING PURPOSES ONLY, NO COMMERCIAL USE WHATSOEVER, NO USE IN BOOKS WITHOUT PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT FROM AAP

Joe Root has admitted that no call has been made yet about his players’ participation in this winter’s Ashes and that they are waiting for more information from Cricket Australia about what Covid restrictions will be placed on the travelling party.

Up to ten players, including Jos Buttler, may withdraw from the tour to Australia if they or their families are subjected to hard quarantine conditions, or if a clear picture of how the tour will look is not presented to them by Cricket Australia soon.

Australia has some of the strictest Covid quarantine regulations in the world and even its own cricketers are at present serving two weeks’ isolation in a government-approved hotel after returning from their tour to the West Indies and Bangladesh.

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England captain Joe Root admits no call has been made on his team’s participation in this summer’s Ashes. Picture: AAP

It is unclear whether visas will be granted for the England players’ families if they travel to Australia for Christmas and the new year. There are also concerns that they may be forced to undertake 14 days of strict quarantine in a hotel room, which some are not prepared to do with small children.

“There is a lot to consider,” Root said when asked if he was worried about players withdrawing from the series.

“They are conversations we will have with the ECB. We are waiting on more information. Until we get that from Cricket Australia and their government, we have to concentrate on this series [against India] and make sure that doesn’t become a distraction. We will keep trying to do everything we can.”

Discussions between the two boards have stalled because of Australia’s state policy changes, snap lockdowns, increasing case numbers and a slow-moving vaccination programme.

Australia are the holders of the Ashes after the drawn series in England in 2019. Picture: AFP

Discussions between Cricket Australia and the individual states where the five Tests will be played are making little or no progress. One source close to Cricket Australia told The Times: “We don’t know what’s going on next week, never mind the end of the year, so it’s enormously difficult to say anything with any certainty.”

While the ECB is working closely with its Australian counterpart, it is likely that within the next few weeks the governing body will be forced to set a deadline for Cricket Australia to present a clear set of guidelines and logistical arrangements for the tour.

Burning Ashes questions: Venues, curses and rust

By Robert Craddock

Monday is 100 days until the first of five Ashes Tests kicks off at the Gabba.

When we add “touch wood’’ we mean more than simply seeing Pat Cummins strike the edge of a groping English blade on the first morning.

Rarely has a series had so many crucial question marks surrounding it, from Covid curses, quarantine threats, to coaches under pressure, looming retirements and selection issues in both teams.

Aussie fans are unlikely to see Ben Stokes in this year’s Ashes.

As is so often the case with Ashes series, there will be drama aplenty even before a ball is bowled in anger.

It would take a smart or lucky punter to successfully predict the starting sides of both teams.

Here are eight big questions ...

Will there be an Ashes?

Yes, but in what form remains to be seen. Some states may host two Tests, others none. The good news is that the series starts in two “green’’ states - Queensland and Adelaide - but it’s anyone’s guess what Covid condition Australia will be in when the series kicks off in Brisbane on December 8. Remember last season’s series against India was under serious threat, yet a full schedule was delivered and Australian sport has learnt a lot about how to deliver events under pressure.

Jofra Archer is nursing a serious injury.

Will there be withdrawals from the English team?

Almost certainly, yes. Ben Stokes has mental health issues and is unlikely to tour, Jofra Archer is injured, and up to 10 players are reportedly considering withdrawing due to Australia’s heavy quarantine laws. Almost certainly, it won’t be that many and it won’t stop the tour from going ahead. Australia will urge their English counterparts to keep picking players until they get a full squad. England may yet be quarantined on the Gold Coast which, compared to England in December, is hardly Alcatraz.

Will Justin Langer see out the summer and will the Australians play for him?

Langer has been backed by Cricket Australia to finish the final year of his four-year deal, so unless he wants to leave early he should finish his contract. Langer’s intensity may have rubbed some of his players the wrong way but cricket is a game where players can almost operate independently of the coach, so anyone with a grudge can retreat into their own world and just get on with it.

Joe Root is the form batsman in world cricket at the moment.

Can Australia stop Joe Root?

The English captain is the form batsman in world cricket - and there’s no doubt he is floating in a universe few have ever visited - but history says Australia will fancy their chances of at least keeping him to manageable proportions. Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon have dismissed Root seven times each, a record for any bowlers. The fast men have him bowled or lbw eight times, confirming the worth of bowling straight and fast and full to this sublime talent. Root versus Australia has always been a worthy contest - he averages a rock solid 40 against Australia with three centuries and a highly impressive 13 half centuries.

Will English swing legend Jimmy Anderson tour at age 39?

If he wants to and what an achievement that would be. Anderson wouldn’t play all Tests but certainly the day-nighter in Adelaide and perhaps Brisbane and Perth. His swing bowling is so majestically in-synch, it is also if the ball is a drone and his a wicked controller.

Will the Ashes mark the end of Tim Paine’s Test career?

Will Tim Paine retire after the Ashes?

It does seem a logical cut-off point for a vastly under-estimated player. Paine would be 37 and done an excellent job in navigating Australia through the stormy seas post Sandpapergate after being appointed captain mid-Test. The only issue is that if Langer goes Australia would be replacing its captain and coach at the same time. That is never ideal.

Who will open the batting with David Warner?

Having a long term stab at the Melbourne Cup winner might be easier. It could be Will Pucovski if he recovers from shoulder surgery, or Marcus Harris, or Usman Khawaja.

Will Australia be rusty?

How could they not be? Where England are in the midst of jam-packed 14-Test year Australia have not played a Test since losing to India at the Gabba and a cloud remains over the summer pipe-opener they are scheduled to play in Hobart against Afghanistan. Front-loading the Sheffield Shield season may help but still Australia looks short of international play.

Ashes chaos as 10 players could quit

By The Times

Up to ten players could pull out of the Ashes tour if the England cricketers and their families are subjected to hard quarantine conditions in Australia later this year, or if a clear picture of how the tour will look is not presented to them in good time.

Australia has some of the strictest Covid quarantine regulations in the world and its own cricketers are currently serving two weeks in an Adelaide hotel after returning from a white-ball tour of West Indies and Bangladesh. They have so far been denied training privileges after a late change of heart by South Australia’s chief health officer.

The England players are expected to be given the freedom to train outdoors in the early days of their tour, which they would probably spend at a resort hotel on the Gold Coast, in the vicinity of the proposed venue for the first Test in Brisbane starting on December 8. But state governments are routinely changing policy and introducing snap lockdowns.

Steve Smith and co are currently in quarantine

Australian players go into quarantine hotel

The Queensland premier recently said rolling lockdowns would last for months. Sudden state-border closures could make the smooth running of a lengthy tour near-impossible. Last winter’s tour of Australia by India was hampered by late changes of plan.

The biggest concern is that Cricket Australia is struggling to provide the ECB with sufficient clarity because its own discussions with state governments are making embarrassingly little progress.

The ECB may have to ask for a deadline to be set for a clear set of guidelines to be presented, although it would be reluctant to make demands knowing how sensitive the situation is for an Australian board desperate to protect its revenues. But the longer the uncertainty continues, the greater the number of players who may opt out. It is understood that no player has so far categorically ruled himself out.

The ECB chief executive, Tom Harrison, said of the tour this month: “It’s going to be important for us to ensure that we can give comfort to players that their families are going to be able to be in Australia and that those conditions in which they are quarantined will be reasonable.”

He has also warned about the need to protect the integrity of the Ashes.

Pictured: Moises Henriques, Australian cricket players leaving the Marriott hotel after 2 weeks of quarantine.picture John Grainger,

Many players have young families for whom a hard quarantine lasting ten or 14 days would be impractical if they were only going to spend a few days with the players over the Christmas period, with a Test due to start on Boxing Day. If families do not travel, those players in an enlarged squad likely to go to Australia straight from the World Twenty20 could be denied access to their families for several months.

Last week Jos Buttler told TheSunday Times that he could not discount making himself unavailable for the tour over concerns about how much time he would be away from his young family.

With each state handling Covid differently, it is probable that the five Tests will not be spread across the traditional five cities. Western Australia’s particularly hardline approach may mean that Perth loses a Test and either Sydney or Melbourne stages two.

The moral issue of touring players potentially being offered special dispensation to bypass entry and exit rules, while there are 40,000 Australians overseas struggling to get home, is also thought to weigh heavily with some.

England’s proposed trip to Pakistan to play two Twenty20s in mid-October is also in doubt after the recent events in neighbouring Afghanistan. The ECB’s chief security officer, Reg Dickason, has just completed a week’s reconnaissance which included a visit to Rawalpindi where the matches are due to be played.

Originally published by The Times

Originally published as Ashes 2021-22: England captain Joe Root confirms doubts over Australian tour