Suspended West Indies-Australia ODI Series Set To Resume

The One-day International series between the West Indies and Australia will resume on July 25 (IST) following the suspension of the second match minutes before the start on July 23 due to a Covid-19 case.

A non-playing member of the West Indie squad had tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday, following which Cricket West Indies (CWI) had put the teams, umpires and TV crew in hotel isolation.

CWI said in a statement on Saturday that, "all 152 persons tested for Covid-19 returned negative results, following the suspension of the second CG Insurance One-Day International (ODI) before a ball was bowled at Kensington Oval, Barbados.

"All members of the West Indies and Australia teams and coaching staff, as well as match officials, event staff and TV production crew were tested back at the hotel with everyone being in room isolation since."

Following the negative tests, CWI discussed the developments with the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA), the Government of Barbados medical officials and Cricket Australia (CA) and a decision was made to resume the series.

Australia lead the three-match series 1-0.

CWI president Ricky Skerritt said on Saturday that, "We are happy to be able to announce the restart of the CG Insurance ODI series at Kensington Oval tomorrow. We want to thank our counterparts at CA for their co-operation in this matter as we look to get the games going again. Special thanks to our CEO Johnny Grave, Chairman of Cricket Australia, Earl Eddings, his CEO Nick Hockley along with our respective medical and operations teams. I appreciate the crucial role of the BCA and the Government of Barbados for working closely with CWI to ensure everything is in place for resuming the series.

"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," added Skerritt.

The ODI series is a part of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Super League where both teams are aiming to win points towards securing automatic qualification for the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup in India.