Melbourne: As an emergent measure, several members of the Australian Test squad were on Tuesday airlfited from South Australia, following a Covid-19 outbreak there, to New South Wales to save a domestic season, which includes a full series against India, from complete disruption due to the pandemic.
The players, airlifted by Cricket Australia (CA) in a charter flight, include Test players Tim Paine, the captain, Marnus Labuschagne, Matthew Wade, and Travis Head, besides those part of Australia ‘A’ team and those who will compete in the T20 Big Bash League (BBL) starting next month.
South Australia had on Sunday announced a new Covid-19 cluster, as the number of cases quickly grew to 17 on Monday. The numbers, however, fell to five on Tuesday.
Following this, the governments of Western Australia, Tasmania, and the Northern Territory announced border closures, with Queensland to impose a two-week hotel quarantine on all visitors from Adelaide from 11.59pm on Monday. Thereafter, CA and BBL clubs moved rapidly to ensure that all players left the affected state.
These moves, according to an ESPNcricinfo report, included a charter flight specifically to transport all players and staff from the Adelaide Strikers to a training camp in Coffs Harbour.
The players, who are part of the Australia ODI and T20Is squads, travelled to Sydney to commence their preparation for both the series against India, beginning November 27.
