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WI break COVID-19 isolation rules, barred from training

Published:Thursday | November 12, 2020 | 12:14 AM
Members of the West Indies cricket squad stand in a huddle ahead of the last day of the second Test match against England at Old Trafford in Manchester, England, earlier this year. The West Indies cricket squad has been stripped of the right to train while
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Members of the West Indies cricket squad stand in a huddle ahead of the last day of the second Test match against England at Old Trafford in Manchester, England, earlier this year. The West Indies cricket squad has been stripped of the right to train while in managed isolation after players were found to have breached rules concerning their 14-day quarantine.

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (CMC):

West Indies will be unable to train for the next three days on the tour of New Zealand because members of the squad have “contravened” COVID-19-managed isolation protocols.

Cricket West Indies (CWI) said in a media statement late on Tuesday that there is no indication that any of the members of the squad left or had contact with anyone outside of the biosecure bubble in which they have been confined since arriving in the country almost two weeks ago.

However, health officials in New Zealand said the team had been given certain exemptions from the strict rules of managed isolation in place in the country and they had now failed to fully abide by them.

The CWI said that an internal investigation into the issue had already begun and the squad will not be allowed to leave the managed isolation facility for the remaining period of quarantine.

TOUR STILL ON

There has been no indication that the tour is in jeopardy and the team will travel to the southern island city of Queenstown for two warm-up matches against New Zealand ‘A’ tomorrow.

“This morning (Tuesday), CWI was informed that some members of our New Zealand touring party had contravened the strict COVID-19 protocols within the team’s managed isolation facility in Christchurch,” the CWI statement said.

“The New Zealand Ministry of Health has advised us that all members of the West Indies touring party will now be unable to train for the remainder of the quarantine period, and will have to complete their quarantine within the managed isolation facility only. CWI is in full support of the New Zealand Ministry of Health’s position.”

The CWI statement added: “From the information we have received so far, we have been told that the incidents in question included some players compromising the bubble integrity by mixing between two separate West Indies bubbles, into which the touring party had been split, by sharing food and socialising in hallways.

“There is no evidence, or suggestion, that any members of the touring party left the facility, or that any unauthorised persons accessed it.”

The Windies are expected to receive the results of the latest round of their COVID-19 tests today and have taken four tests in the past three weeks to be part of the tour.

Media reports indicate that members of the Windies squad who have been taking part in the Indian Premier League in the United Arab Emirates – along with the New Zealand players at the tournament – are due to arrive today in Christchurch.

They, too, will begin a period of 14 days of managed isolation at the same hotel where the team is currently located, and this will end one day before the opening T20 International on November 27 in Auckland.