SYDNEY: Australian batter Travis Head has tested positive for COVID-19 following a routine PCR test and will miss the fourth Vodafone Ashes Test at the SCG.
The Australian team has delayed their flight from Melbourne to Sydney and called up replacements for the fourth Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), with doubts mounting as to whether the series will be able to continue with both squads now having cases.
In a statement issued on Friday morning, Cricket Australia (CA) said Head was asymptomatic and would remain in Melbourne and isolate with his partner for seven days, in line with Victorian health requirements.
Players, their families and support staff were being PCR tested daily as part of routine testing procedures. No further teammates had returned a positive result.
“Unfortunately, Travis returned a positive Covid-19 result earlier today,” a spokesperson said on Friday. “Thankfully, he is asymptomatic at this stage. We anticipate that he will be available to play in the fifth Vodafone men’s Ashes Test in Hobart,” he added.
The rest of the Australian squad took PCR and rapid antigen tests on Friday morning and were awaiting results.
Head, who is Australia’s leading run-scorer in the Ashes to date, with 248 at 62 after a stunning century in the series opener in Brisbane, could be replaced in the side by Usman Khawaja, whom he beat out for a spot in the Australia XI ahead of that Gabba Test.
However, selectors have also added Mitchell Marsh, Nic Maddinson and Josh Inglis to the squad “as a precautionary measure … as additional cover.”
The fourth Test has already been marred by rapidly rising Covid cases in New South Wales, with some calling for it to be cancelled out of fear of future outbreaks among the sides.
The news comes a day after it was confirmed England coach Chris Silverwood would also be absent from the Sydney Test, after the COVID-19 outbreak in the touring team’s camp grew to seven.
Silverwood awoke on Thursday to the news that he had been identified as a close contact, after a family member in the touring party contracted the virus. ICC match referee David Boon will also miss the Sydney Test after testing positive to Covid-19.
New South Wales recorded more than 21,000 cases on Friday. The definition of a close contact has been narrowed following a meeting of the state and federal government on Thursday and the isolation period reduced in most states.
