West Indies quarantine period over; three Pakistan cricketers Test COVID-19 positive

In what could be considered another big step towards the return of mainstream international cricket, the West Indies cricket squad has completed its 14-day isolation period in England. The team will now intensify its preparations for the Test series by playing a three-day internal warm-up game at Manchester. The Windies team arrived in England on 9 June and immediately went into quarantine in a hotel adjoining the stadium at Manchester.

While the West Indies are kicking off their practice game on Tuesday (23rd June), England’s 30-man training squad along with the management will undergo a COVID-19 test on their arrival at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton. The team will isolate at the hotel facility at the ground and begin their training from Thursday in a batch of two – with 15 players training in the morning, while the remaining 15 hitting the nets in the evening.

England will announce the squad for the first test after a 3-day practice game starting July 1. The Test series kicks off from July 8, and will be called #RaiseTheBat series in tribute to frontline workers working during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In another news, three Pakistani cricketers Haider Ali, Shadab Khan and Haris Rauf have tested positive for Coronavirus, the Pakistan Cricket Board confirmed Monday. The players were asymptomatic and were tested in Rawalpindi ahead of their departure to England. All three have been immediately asked to go under self-quarantine. Pakistan will play three Tests and three T20Is in England. Two other cricketers Imad Wasim and Usman Shinwari were also screened in Rawalpindi but tested negative. The duo will now travel to Lahore on June 24, before joining the squad to travel which flies to England on June 28.

The remaining Pakistani contingent, except Cliffe Deacon, Shoaib Malik, and Waqar Younis, underwent tests at respective centres in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar on Monday. The results are expected sometime on Tuesday. 

However, the chances of other players having contracted the virus is not as strong as the team has not trained together.