Certain England players are considering the option of opting out of the Ashes if the families are not allowed to travel Down Under.
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The England cricket team could be horribly understaffed when they travel to Australia later this year to play The Ashes series. The reason for this is that a number of players are considering pulling out of the series as coronavirus restrictions might force them to be away from their families for a period of four months as per a BBC report. The England Cricket Board (ECB) is expected to have a meeting with the players and staff to discuss the possibility of allowing their families to travel with them for the series down under. Former England players Michael Vaughn and Kevin Pietersen have expressed their support towards the players that choose to opt out of the series.
The COVID situation in Australia might be a well managed one, but the country still practices strict restriction protocols for travellers, and that is quite understandable. The England players will be travelling to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman for the ICC T20 World Cup before making the trip to Australia for The Ashes. As per reports, the players are scheduled to leave England on September 18, and the final game of the entire Ashes series will be played on January 18 in Perth. If families are not allowed to travel, the players would not be able to see them in person for a period of at least four months.
Although several parts of Australia are under lockdown measures, there is still quite some time before the Ashes actually commences. However, there is no guarantee that the restrictions would be lifted by then. For a foreign contingent this large, there might be some sort of restriction anyway. There is also no uniform restriction law across the country. The five host cities, Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and Perth, all have their own set of rules.
Australia’s cricket body, Cricket Australia (CA), said in the previous month that the series was still a few months away, and an official update from the ECB, CA, and the Australian government was expected to be out in August.
“It’s only June and England are not due to arrive until November,” a CA spokeswoman told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“We’ll be going through the same process we did with India last summer,” she added.
Former England players Vaughan and Pietersen expressed their sympathy for the players. Both agreed that if a player decided to stay home rather than go to Australia, they would support the decision. Four months without seeing one’s family in the flesh was indeed an incredibly unfair deal, and no matter how iconic The Ashes may be, it still is not worth it. Vaughan even said that the series for this year should be called off.
“Read reports today that England cricketers may not be able to have family members with them down under this winter… Quite simply if they can’t they should call the Ashes off… 4 months away from your family is totally unacceptable… #Ashes,” Vaughn tweeted.
“Any ENG player that pulls out of this Ashes, if they seriously can’t see their families for FOUR MONTHS, has my full backing. Families are the most important part of a player’s make up. And even more so in the current climate! FOUR MONTHS with no family on Ashes Tour?,” Pietersen wrote on Twitter.
