West Indies vs Australia series to resume on Saturday after negative RT-PCR COVID-19 test

The West Indies vs Australia series has seen some positive developments. After the second ODI in Barbados was suspended due to a case of coronavirus in the Windies team, both Australia and the Windies team went into isolation. However, according to the latest development, the RT-PCR test conducted on the Windies non-playing member has come out negative. Thus, the ODI series will resume on Saturday and finish by Monday.

According to a statement by Cricket West Indies, it stated, “We are happy to be able to announce the restart of the ODI series at Kensington Oval tomorrow. It has been a challenging two days and we have worked very swiftly and safely, following all the established medical protocols, to make sure that all necessary precautions are in place to ensure that we can go-ahead to resume play safely, tomorrow. We will continue to monitor the situation and respond accordingly.”

Series thrown in turmoil

The second ODI between West Indies and Australia at the Kensington Oval in Barbados was suspended after a coronavirus positive case emerged from the Windies camp. The toss in the second ODI had just finished, with Australia choosing to bat. Shai Hope was in the Windies team while Australia handed a debut to Riley Meredith. Initially, the match was delayed due to some operational issues. Later on, the true picture emerged.

In a statement by Cricket West Indies, it said, “The second ODI between West Indies and Australia has been postponed due to a positive COVID-19 test result from a non-playing member of the West Indies staff. This decision was taken after the toss at Kensington Oval once the result was known. The established COVID-19 protocols stipulate that all members of both teams and match officials returned immediately to the team hotel and were re-tested on Friday.”

Major implications

This is the first time that Australia has been involved in a coronavirus bubble breach in a series. The five-time world champions had toured England and the series went off without any incident. Australia also hosted India successfully in the home summer and traveled to New Zealand. The tour to South Africa was canceled due to the pandemic but many players went to the IPL. However, the IPL 2021 bio-bubble was breached and the tournament was suspended.

Australia will play the last ODI on Monday before flying out to Bangladesh on July 29.

Apart from Australia, even West Indies could have potentially suffered had the non-playing member tested positive. Pakistan is the next team to play a series that will include five Twenty20 Internationals and two Tests. The five-match T20I series begins on July 27 with the first two games in Barbados.

Australia won the first ODI thanks to a brilliant five-wicket haul by Mitchell Starc. West Indies had won the five-match T20I series 4-1 thanks to the consistency of Hayden Walsh Jr and some notable contributions from Chris Gayle, Andre Russell and Evin Lewis. Australia’s tour to Bangladesh was cancelled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.