Australian spinner Shane Warne, who is serving as London Spirit’s head coach in The Hundred, is not the only person from the team camp who has tested positive. Another unnamed person has also been isolated after proving affected by the contagious virus.
Warne is understood to have reported feeling unwell ahead of Spirit’s fixture against Southern Brave at Lord’s on Sunday. Following this, a rapid antigen test was conducted on the 51-year-old, and it turned out to be positive for COVID-19. He is awaiting the result of a PCR test. None of the playing members of the London Spirit squad have come out positive yet.
Warne is not the first head coach in the men’s Hundred competition to have tested COVID-19 positive. Former Zimbabwe batsman Andy Flower, head of the Trent Rockets’ support staff, also proved affected by the viral disease last week and has been isolated since.
Steven Mullaney, who had been identified as Flower’s close contact, is the only player in the tournament to have been forced to isolate. The Rockets had brought Paul Franks to take over as their coach on an interim basis.
Warne’s London Spirit have not had the best of starts to their campaign, losing three of their four matches, including one no result. Yet to achieve a victory, the team is placed on the bottom of the eight-team points table right now. Rockets, on the other hand, are placed at the top after three wins and one loss from their four games.
Each team plays eight games during the league stage of the first-ever 100-ball competition before the top team in the standings makes a direct entry to the final at Lord’s on August 21. Teams placed second, and the third will have to contest an Eliminator to earn the second finalist’s spot.
In Warne’s absence, David Ripley, one of the Spirit’s assistant coaches, will be overseeing the team’s preparations.
