The veteran Australian opener, David Warner will not be featuring in Australia’s playing XI in the Boxing Day Test against India after failing to attain complete fitness from the groin injury that kept him out of the series opener, Cricket Australia said Wednesday. The governing body said Warner and the fast bowler, Sean Abbott had also been excluded from the Australian team’s bio-secure bubble in Melbourne as a precaution due to a Covid-19 outbreak in their hometown Sydney.
The Australian body informed, “While neither player has been in a specific hotspot as outlined by NSW Health, Cricket Australia’s bio-security protocols do not allow them to rejoin the squad in time for the Boxing Day Test.”
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India and Australia will be locking horns with each other in the second Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground scheduled to commence on December 26 and the teams have been training in bio-secure bubbles. Warner and Abbott reached Melbourne on Saturday hoping to avoid quarantine issues arising from the Sydney Covid-19 outbreak.
Authorities in New South Wales state haven’t been able to control the spread of the virus that emerged in Sydney’s northern beaches after a long period of no community transmission in Australia’s largest city. The cluster currently stands at just under 100, and the state government announced the second day of single-digit growth in cases Wednesday, but they decided to ease down lockdown restrictions for Christmas.
It remains unclear whether the outbreak will affect the third Test against India, which is due to begin in Sydney on January 7.
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Talking about the same to the reporters, off-spinner than Lyon said, “I know Cricket Australia’s doing everything in their power to have the Test match in Sydney but we’ll know more in a couple of days. Fingers crossed it’s in Sydney, but more importantly, hopefully everyone stays safe and can have a decent Christmas.”
