MELBOURNE: Aaron Finch’s cricket squad will be the first national team to leave Australia during the Covid-19 pandemic when they travel to England ahead of a compressed stretch of six official matches in 13 days.

The tour, which was originally scheduled for July, was granted approval on Friday by Cricket Australia (CA) and the federal government as well as the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

Australia’s 21-man squad will fly out of Perth, Western Australia, on Aug 23.

The Australian line-up will play four warm-up matches in Derby before shifting to Southampton for three Twenty20 Internationals against England on Sept 4, 6 and 8. The series will wrap up with three ODIs at Old Trafford on Sept 11, 13 and 16.

The Australian squad will remain locked in a bio-security bubble at hotels incorporated into the match venues. England, currently playing a series against Pakistan, hosted West Indies under similar conditions last month in the first international cricket to return after the coronavirus lockdown.

Pat Cummins headlines the list of players expected to head straight from England to the UAE for the Indian Premier League, which starts on Sept 19 and is set to finish with a final on Nov 10.

Other players will return home directly for a two-week quarantine period in Perth. Australia is set to host India in a four-Test series later in the year.

ECB chief executive Tom Harrison said the England board owed a significant debt of gratitude to the players, staff and administrators of CA for their efforts in getting this tour underway.

“Their co-operation to ensure these matches are staged is crucial to cricket in this country. It will also provide much-needed financial aid at all levels of cricket in England and Wales as we work through the challenges in front of us.”

AUSTRALIA, ENGLAND CRICKETERS TO MISS IPL START

Meanwhile, top cricketers including England’s Ben Stokes and Cummins risk missing the start of the IPL because of a series between their countries next month.

Australia’s series in England next month ends three days before the start of the IPL.

The coronavirus pandemic pushed the tournament out of India but players will still have to undergo a week’s isolation and testing before they can join their teams.

Chennai Super Kings chief executive Kasi Viswanathan told AFP that quarantine rules will see a number of English and Australian players “will miss two or three games”. “Only after that they will be able to join the team and start training,” he said.

Chennai, led by M.S. Dhoni, has Australian paceman Josh Hazlewood and England’s Sam Curran in their team.

Rajasthan Royals’ captain Steve Smith, Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper David Warner and Cummins of the Kolkata Knight Riders — the most expensive foreign player for the 2020 season with a $2.17 million fee — could also be caught by the international series.

Australia’s senior assistant coach Andrew McDonald has already said he will not join the team in England so that he can be with IPL side Rajasthan Royals, where he is head coach.

“Part of our agreement with him that he would be able to continue as head coach of the Rajasthan Royals — and we’re really comfortable with that,” said Ben Oliver of Cricket Australia.

The Royals appear to be most affected with England stars Stokes, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler and Tom Curran in their team, along with Smith and fellow Australian Andrew Tye. A total of 29 players from England and Australia are part of the eight IPL squads that are scheduled to start arriving in the UAE from next week.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2020