On Thursday, a positive COVID-19 test resulted in the last-minute postponement of the scheduled second ODI between West Indies and Australia at Kensington Oval, officials announced. This decision was taken after the toss at Kensington Oval once the result was known owing to the strict Covid-19 protocols.
In a statement regarding the same, Cricket West Indies 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 team. All members of both teams and match officials will be retested today. A decision on when the match will be replayed will be made at a later date once the test results are known.”
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However, the ICC informed that the people inside the bio-bubble for the series will be quarantined. Cricket West Indies chief executive Johnny Grave subsequently expressed the hope that the results of a fresh round of PCR tests will be known on Friday morning. After that, they will be taking a final call on the remaining two ODIs of the tour.
News of the postponement came through following a delay to the start of the match after Alex Carey had won the toss and chose to bat first. In the first ODI, Australia won the game by a huge margin of 133 runs on the DLS method two days earlier at the same venue. Players were seen returning to their respective dressing rooms mere minutes away from the start of a match in which fast bowler Riley Meredith was set to make his ODI debut.
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Apart from the two ODIs in West Indies, Australia’s tour to Bangladesh also seems to be in jeopardy now which was only confirmed on Thursday and for which the squad was supposed to depart following the scheduled final match on Saturday, also at Kensington Oval.
Tweeting about the postponement, former Windies pacer, Ian Bishop wrote: “Unfortunate, It’s the risk taken in these testing times. Hope the person is not too adversely affected.”
Unfortunate. It’s the risk taken in these testing times. Hope the person is not to. Adversely affected.
— Ian Raphael Bishop (@irbishi) July 22, 2021
